Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[Drasko]

Ok, voted for many of Jens' suggestions, but I'd be surprised if we can make past usual suspects.

[not edward]

Same here.

[Sergeant Rock]

Ok, voted for many of Jens' suggestions, but I'd be surprised if we can make past usual suspects.

It's a long shot, I know. Worth taking though.

Sarge

[The new erato]

What's the value of a new set where everybody votes for their faveorites who they already love and presumably have? Inquiring minds wants to now. A great idea by Universal dragged down bt (the usual) smallest denominator.

[jlaurson]

It's a long shot, I know. Worth taking though.

Sarge

Just you wait. I have a radio station at my disposal*. [Evil laughter]


* Disclaimer: I have no power whatsoever over our programming, listener habits, or anything else WETA-related.

[Joe Barron]

This was exactly the conversation I was hoping to avoid. There are simply too many opinions and too many recordings to make sense of them all, and not eough money to sample everything. For the 9th, I'll stick to the Levine and Walter recordings I have (including Vienna 1938).

[Sergeant Rock]

What's the value of a new set where everybody votes for their faveorites who they already love and presumably have? Inquiring minds wants to now. A great idea by Universal dragged down bt (the usual) smallest denominator.

Yeah, it's nothing more than a publicity stunt and if the results are the "usual suspects, the "lowest common denominator," then it might actually backfire with few sales. Simply reissuing the rarities, or cycles long out of print, would seem to make more financial sense. But if they did that, we wouldn't be having as much fun 

Sarge

[Scarpia]

Yeah, it's nothing more than a publicity stunt and if the results are the "usual suspects, the "lowest common denominator," then it might actually backfire with few sales. Simply reissuing the rarities, or cycles long out of print, would seem to make more financial sense. But if they did that, we wouldn't be having as much fun 

Sarge

The problem with these anthologies is that they try to please everyone and please no one.   If I were head of the company I would assemble two sets, one for newbies that would have a selection of most widely admired recordings, and a second "oddball" set with unfamiliar things, like that ancient Kubelik Mahler 1, maybe the Solti London Symphony 9, and other rarities (they must have some old Mengelberg or van Beinem recordings in the Philips catalog, no?).

[Herman]

I'm a big Giulini fan generally, but I don't think I'd pick his CSO Mahler 9 as the top choice: where's the agitation? It's all a little too monumental. And of course Chicago is not a Mahler orchestra.

Inclusion in a special edition seems pointless as the Giulini is one of the most available Ninths (just like the Karajan). I'd prefer the old Barbirolli which as it happens is out of circulation right now.

[Opus106]

I'd prefer the old Barbirolli which as it happens is out of circulation right now.

He recorded for EMI, didn't he?

[Herman]

And if it should be from the Universal catalogue I'd pick Haitink's 1987 final Xmas matinee. That's a rare item indeed, and a stellar performance.

[The new erato]

I see Sinopoli's complete cycle at amazon.de for 22 Euros. Any views?

[Drasko]

I see Sinopoli's complete cycle at amazon.de for 22 Euros. Any views?

Depends on your reaction to amsi, if that doesn't bother you buy.

[The new erato]

Depends on your reaction to amsi, if that doesn't bother you buy.

Yes I know they do that. i have the Bach set by Schiff and have no problems with that at least, still a full orchestra might be something different?

[Drasko]

Yes I know they do that. i have the Bach set by Schiff and have no problems with that at least, still a full orchestra might be something different?

I have only one amsi-fied disc but don't have different release of the same to compare. The disc in question has Brahms' 1st Symphony by BPO/Karl Bohm from 1959 and Tragic Overture with VPO/Bohm from 70s. So if anyone has Australian Eloquence release of the 1st Symphony or Tragic Overture from the set and is willing to upload maybe we could do A - B comparison.

[jlaurson]

I see Sinopoli's complete cycle at amazon.de for 22 Euros. Any views?

Totally! Superb, superb singing and individualistic, often very good performances. For 22 Euros, it's a steal.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm a big Giulini fan generally, but I don't think I'd pick his CSO Mahler 9 as the top choice...I'd prefer the old Barbirolli which as it happens is out of circulation right now.

And if it should be from the Universal catalogue I'd pick Haitink's 1987 final Xmas matinee. That's a rare item indeed, and a stellar performance.

Neither Barbirolli nor Haitink 1987 are among the choices. The choices are these:

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini (p) 1977

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink, (p) 1970

Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli, (p) 1995

Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Leonard Bernstein, (p) 1986

London Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti, (p) 1967

Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan, (p) 1981

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti, (p) 1983

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, (p) 1991

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez, (p) 1998

The Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnanyi, (p) 1999

Berliner Philharmoniker, Leonard Bernstein, (p) 1992

Europa Orchestra, Bernard Haitink, (p) 1993

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly, (p) 2004

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Rafael Kubelik, (p) 1967

Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan, (p) 1984

Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Leonard Bernstein, (p) 1986

Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado, (p) 1988

Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado, (p) 2002


Jens suggested (along with Sinopoli) Giulini and I concurred. I voted for Giulini because that's one of the few from this list that I don't already own. The list that we forum members came up with, and Jens published, is not our best of list (if it were there would be several lists, all completely dfferent ) but a list of perfomances, many not readily available, we'd like to see issued as a box set.

Sarge

[Herman]

But the Amsi is a big problem.

[Scarpia]

But the Amsi is a big problem.

It is just an example of idiocy.  I have a DVD issued by DG of some Karajan video from the 60's and they bill AMSI as their method of generating "geniune" surround sound from a 2 channel source (although what is genuine about it I can't imagine).   But what is the logic of using this process to generate surround sound, then distributing it on a CD with 2 channels? 

[knight66]

It sounds like voodoo. I read abou it as I have a Karajan DVD that has been given this treatment. Pseudo science.

Mike