Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[Mirror Image]

MI what is your assessment  of Ashkanzy's Mahler 3?

I haven't heard it, but Ashkenazy doesn't strike me as a Mahlerian.

[Jay F]

Here's my review of Chailly's 3rd (written in '09):

Riccardo Chailly's Mahler cycle is one of the best recorded and performed I've heard (and I own them all).

You owned all Mahler cycles when you didn't even like Mahler?

Then you must try Bernstein's and Abbado's first No. 3. I like them more than the later versions. And since you own them all, easy peasy.

[André]

Ashkenazy's 6th symphony (Czech Philharmonic, Exton label) is a sterling account. And in the case of the 6th I use this qualifyer very sparingly.

Chailly's 3rd is indeed a great performance (by dint of fantastic playing/engineering). No argument. As for the rest of his cycle, it's all over the Richter scale.

But when it's all been said, few versions equal the frisson of Horenstein's LSO M3 version on Nonesuch. Haitink's M3 is also to be reckoned with, whether in his homespun, unsophisticated first try on Philips, or in his infinitely wise, classy and powerful CSO account (une main de fer dans un gant de velours, as they say).

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I haven't heard it, but Ashkenazy doesn't strike me as a Mahlerian.

Seems competent to me but that's about it

[André]

Isn't "competent" in Mahler an acknowledgment of high technical and artistic proficiency ? Just asking... 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Isn't "competent" in Mahler an acknowledgment of high technical and artistic proficiency ? Just asking... 

It certainly is! But it isn't outstanding especially for Ashkenazy's standards.

[Mirror Image]

You owned all Mahler cycles when you didn't even like Mahler?

Then you must try Bernstein's and Abbado's first No. 3. I like them more than the later versions. And since you own them all, easy peasy.

My dad owns them all, which I didn't feel the need to put in the review, which was written seven years ago. As I stated in my posting past on GMG, my dad was initially the Mahlerian in the family. He collected everything he could get and, alas, a huge collection was formed. Abbado's first 3rd (w/ the Wiener Philharmoniker) is excellent indeed. I don't remember Bernstein's 3rd on Columbia off-hand, but his DG remake makes me less curious about his first go-around as I don't think anything could top this one. Not even Chailly's.

[Heck148]

I can't get enough of Mahler's 3rd........ Anyway, also, the last movement, Langsam—Ruhevoll—Empfunden is just magnificent --- there are no other words.

Yup.. the final Adagio of Mahler # is one of the great ones....many do it very well - but the best I've ever heard is Martinon/CSO - live from 3/67 [Archival set "CSO in 20th Century"] - it is magical - develops so beautifully and convincingly - great dynamic contrasts.
amazing execution after the grand climax at the end - the orchestra is absolutely blowing the roof off the hall - shatteringly loud - then hushed silence - the trumpet/trombone entrance is so perfect - pianissimo, dolce - the far off "call of eternity", so to speak. quite magical....
I wish I'd been there for the live performance - the audience must have gone totally nuts....

[Mirror Image]

Yup.. the final Adagio of Mahler # is one of the great ones....many do it very well - but the best I've ever heard is Martinon/CSO - live from 3/67 [Archival set "CSO in 20th Century"] - it is magical - develops so beautifully and convincingly - great dynamic contrasts.
amazing execution after the grand climax at the end - the orchestra is absolutely blowing the roof off the hall - shatteringly loud - then hushed silence - the trumpet/trombone entrance is so perfect - pianissimo, dolce - the far off "call of eternity", so to speak. quite magical....
I wish I'd been there for the live performance - the audience must have gone totally nuts....

Sounds like a great performance indeed.

[Cato]

Yup.. the final Adagio of Mahler # is one of the great ones....many do it very well - but the best I've ever heard is Martinon/CSO - live from 3/67

Sadly, Jean Martinon did not have the happiest years in Chicago.

...Martinon drew savage reviews from the Chicago Tribune's all-powerful Claudia Cassidy. Those critical drubs — combined with a nasty imbroglio that pitted a hapless Martinon against the musicians union and the late Ray Still (an outspoken Martinon detractor whom the conductor tried to remove as principal oboe) — finally prompted him to resign and head back to France. The modest maitre enjoyed later success as principal conductor of the French National Orchestra (1968-73) before his untimely death in 1976, at 66.

Martinon's CSO recordings came in for consistently high praise among reviewers, and in fact these razor-sharp performances of scores by Bartok, Varese, Ravel, Hindemith, Carl Nielsen, Albert Roussel and Frank Martin remain benchmarks roughly a half-century after their initial release...

...Delving through this trove of treasures, I was reminded of Martinon's prowess as a composer, with the return to circulation of his craggy, powerfully argued Symphony No. 4 ("Altitudes"), commissioned for the CSO's 75th anniversary. The score repays repeated listenings, as does its disc-mate, Peter Mennin's athletic, hard-boned Symphony No. 7 ("Variation Symphony")....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/vonrhein/ct-classical-recordings-20150804-column.html

[André]

Claudia Cassidy was the Hillary Clinton of critics. Such a nasty woman  !

Sorry, but one has to laugh at all the misogynous scorn heaped upon her (both Claudia and Hillary  )

Oups ! Wait: this isn't the Diner, it's a regular musical thread... Sooooooorry...

.....................................................

Back to the subject at hand:

Martinon was one of the very few conductors born outside the Prussian or Austro-Hungarian Empire of his time to have performed Mahler symphonies - ever ! His CSO broadcast recordings of the 3rd and 10th symphonies are apparently classics. Wish they were more widely available.

Meanwhile, there's that superb RCA set, which contains sublime, ancient greek statuary examples of what classical music could sound when in the right hands (conductor and players):

[PerfectWagnerite]

My dad owns them all, which I didn't feel the need to put in the review, which was written seven years ago. As I stated in my posting past on GMG, my dad was initially the Mahlerian in the family. He collected everything he could get and, alas, a huge collection was formed. Abbado's first 3rd (w/ the Wiener Philharmoniker) is excellent indeed. I don't remember Bernstein's 3rd on Columbia off-hand, but his DG remake makes me less curious about his first go-around as I don't think anything could top this one. Not even Chailly's.

I would rank Lenny's SONY M3 as one of his finest recordings and a reference recording if there is one on this work. THe DG version is still excellent but really doesn't improve upon the SONY effort, which unlike some in the set is recorded in excellent analog sound. The final Adagia ebbs and flows like a single phrase, a remarkable achievement.

THe Chailly is very fine also. I just think it is a bit heavy and dark and times and misses some of the fairytale nature of this work. But it does not take away from this excellent recording much. A darkhorse recommendation is Litton/Dallas fantastically played and recorded.

[Heck148]

Martinon was one of the very few conductors born outside the Prussian or Austro-Hungarian Empire of his time to have performed Mahler symphonies - ever ! His CSO broadcast recordings of the 3rd and 10th symphonies are apparently classics. Wish they were more widely available.

Yes, both 3 and 10 are from live concerts...both are outstanding....Martinon used the then-new Cooke version of 10, basically the same used by Ormandy/Phila....under Martinon, it sounds like a totally different piece!! wild, diabolical, almost frenzied at times...
I have both, wouldn't want to be without either.

Meanwhile, there's that superb RCA set, which contains sublime, ancient greek statuary examples of what classical music could sound when in the right hands (conductor and players)

That's a great set - I had most of those disc individually, but the complete set is mastered better - the sound is better. outstanding collection - highly recommended - some real recorded classics - Nielsen #4, Bartok "Miraculous Mandarin", Varese Arcana"; Hindemith "Noblissima Visione", Bizet Sym  in C, etc, etc....some real top-liners here...

[Mahlerian]

Martinon was one of the very few conductors born outside the Prussian or Austro-Hungarian Empire of his time to have performed Mahler symphonies - ever !

Mitropoulos and Mengelberg come to mind as other early champions of Mahler who were not from that area.

[Vaulted]

Yes, both 3 and 10 are from live concerts...both are outstanding....Martinon used the then-new Cooke version of 10, basically the same used by Ormandy/Phila....under Martinon, it sounds like a totally different piece!!

I didn't know he'd recorded 10. What year was that?

[Heck148]

I didn't know he'd recorded 10. What year was that?

recorded from live concert - 5/66 - Archival set- "CSO- First 100 Years"

[Vaulted]

Thanks!

[André]

Mitropoulos and Mengelberg come to mind as other early champions of Mahler who were not from that area.

Mengelberg, of course... How could I have possibly not thought of him in relation to Mahler... 

As for Mitropoulos, he was a bit late in the day, don't you think?

My hunch is that "very few conductors" were hailing from outside Mittel Europa in the period following Mahler's death - and of course, his "rehabilitation" after WWII.

[Mahlerian]

Mengelberg, of course... How could I have possibly not thought of him in relation to Mahler... 

I couldn't tell you either, because he was a good personal friend of Mahler's and possibly Mahler's greatest champion in the period after his death, establishing a Mahler tradition in the Netherlands that lasts to this day, including a Mahler festival.

Of course, there's not much record of this in the discography, but Mahler was not part of the repertoire yet at that time, so it's not too surprising that producers didn't jump to put his works on stacks of 35s.

[Mahlerian]

Hey Mahlerian my friend, I've never asked oddly enough but what is your favorite Mahler symphony? 

Why, the Sixth of course.  Like I said in the thread dedicated to it, it's about as close as a symphony can get to absolute perfection.