[scottder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears Scott, I'm glad that you are now gainfully employed, as you certainly kept me busy this afternoon. After searching all over the internet for the Giulini, it's a relief to know I have the recording in question right here.

See I saved you money, sorta...

Thanks...

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottder See I saved you money, sorta... Thanks...

Yes, but I didn't want to save that money. I was really hoping there was a Giulini M5. Or at least something to compare the Sinopoli M5 to. Btw, I'm glad the sinopoli only cost a buck or two, as it is certainly not a great performance. It's pretty good, but that only puts it somewhere near the top of the second tier of Mahler 5s. (the M1 in the double is just incredibly ordinary, a quagmire of mediocrity.) All in all, the Sinopoli is nothing to look for and easy to pass up.

 

[bigshot]

Sinopoli is better in stuff where texture and color is more important than architecture and proportion. I have a Pines of Rome by him that's excellent.

See ya
Steve

 

[Doc Sarvis]

This may have already come up in this thread (who can tell now!), but I'm currently blown away by Mehta's M2. I picked this up on a recommendation from bunnyears, and I can't believe how much I am enjoying it. This is a unique, unmistakable interpretation, in a thousand different ways. From tempos to entrances to dynamics, Mehta made his mark in a truly one-of-a-kind reading. His buildup of tension in the finale is about the best I've heard.

I'm sure this reading would make the literalists like Kaplan (I'm a Kaplan fan) have fits. It's really out there, almost to a Fried-like level, kind of the anti-Kaplan.

Highly enjoyable and recommended.

 

[Bunnyears]

Doc,

Do you have the Klemperer M2? That's another very worthy but idiosyncratic interpretation.

Btw, I have decided to get the Esa-Pekka Salonen M3 and M4. They get either great reviews or bad ones, so ofcourse I have to know exactly what is going on.

 

[scottder]

Saw this on the Mahler list, and thought I would pass it on. No idea what the release date may be.

Pierre Boulez conducts Mahler's Symphony No. 2
Artists:
Christine Schäfer, soprano
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
Wiener Singverein
Johannes Prinz, chorus director
Wiener Philharmoniker
Pierre Boulez

Repertoire:
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911):
Symphony No. 2 »Ressurrection«

Recording Information:
Recording: Musikverein Wien (Großer Musikvereinssaal),
Wien 05-06/2005
Executive Producer: Dr. Marion Thiem
Associate Producer: Ewald Markl
Recording Producer: Christian Gansch
Balance Engineer (Tonmeister): Rainer Maillard
Recording Engineer: Wolf-Dieter Karwatky
Recording Coordinator: Matthias Spindler

 

[mbhaub]

Now that's good news! One to go - M8.

 

[PSmith08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottder Saw this on the Mahler list, and thought I would pass it on. No idea what the release date may be. Pierre Boulez conducts Mahler's Symphony No. 2

My excitement is palpable. Boulez will either do a triumphant job with this, or I will have a new coaster.

 

[mbhaub]

Have you heard the DG recording with only the first movement, before Mahler attached it to a symphony? If the rest of the work gets the same treatment, I think it will be a winner.

 

[PSmith08]

Oh. The "Totenfeier" draft.

I will say only this: analytical approaches to the 2nd have failed, or been less-than-successful, in the past.

Mahler needs to sweat blood, especially in the 2nd. If Boulez hits it, he'll do beautifully.

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSmith08 My excitement is palpable. Boulez will either do a triumphant job with this, or I will have a new coaster.

I don't know if Boulez has the necessary mysticism for M2. I'll be excited to see. I love his M3.

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears Doc, Do you have the Klemperer M2? That's another very worthy but idiosyncratic interpretation. Btw, I have decided to get the Esa-Pekka Salonen M3 and M4. They get either great reviews or bad ones, so ofcourse I have to know exactly what is going on.

Yes, I have this one. I found the Mehta to be much more spontaneous and "full of surprises".

I like this M2 (I like Klemperer in general, especially his famously slow St. Mathew Passion), but there's a bad tape edit near the end of the Klemperer M2 finale that always comes across as a glaring problem to me - don't know why (I forgive much worse on other recordings). I should give it another chance.

Levi M2 on Telarc is supposed to get here shortly.

Off Topic: BTW, Borders (at least the ones out here) are selling Telarcs for 20% off. I picked up the new Kunzel / Cincinnati Pops recording of Rozsa film scores rearranged as choral suites (Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, King of Kings) with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (which according to a TAS article this month was actually recorded in Utah at Abravanel Hall, then mixed into the Cinci recording). Wow, what a disc! If you want a big sound, pick it up. Could be my new audiophile standard, and I got the RB version. The MCH SACD must be phenomenal.

 

[Mark from HFR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSmith08 My excitement is palpable. Boulez will either do a triumphant job with this, or I will have a new coaster.

If it matches the live concert in Chicago 3 years ago, it will be one of the greats. That was one of the best live Mahler concerts I've been to.

Edit: I should add that I'm one of those who sometimes finds Boulez a bit too clinical, but I was surprised at how broadly epic his reading of M2 was in concert. Look at it this way: If a performance like Klemperer's seems more like the fiery transcendance of El Greco's crucifixion painting, Boulez was more like Matthias Grunewald's crucifixion painting, dark, detailed, emphasizing the pain more than the glory (at least until the last half of the finale).

 

[Doc Sarvis]

I picked up the MTT Mahler M4, and I agree with Mark about it being a very smooth performance (I need to listen more to form more impressions).

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark from HFR If a performance like Klemperer's seems more like the fiery transcendance of El Greco's crucifixion painting, Boulez was more like Matthias Grunewald's crucifixion painting, dark, detailed, emphasizing the pain more than the glory (at least until the last half of the finale).

El Greco did so many Crucifixions, I presume you refer to the Prado Crucifixion? But the Crucifixion seems such a strange comparison for the M2! It is a symphony that is concerned with resurrection and the reunification of the soul with God in triumph. If I had to compare the Klemperer or any M2 to crucifixions, the one that comes to mind is Dalí's Crucifixion of St. John of the Cross. (See below left.) There you can see the cataclysm so clearly separated from the dawn. I haven't heard Boulez's M2, so I cannot judge whether it matches Grunewald in dark and unremitting horror. (His Christ figure actually shows a body ravaged by bubonic plague as well as by man made torment, as was fitting for an altarpiece painted for a hospital specializing in skin diseases.) Are you at all familiar with the Resurrection panel which is part of the Isenheim Altarpiece? (See below right.) Let me know if Grunewald's vision of the Resurrection matches that of Boulez.

Perhaps you might find El Greco's Spoliation a fitting image for the M6, especially an M6 with only two hammerblows?