[Bunnyears]

I can't understand why Fischer wouldn't do a complete cycle as he's already been touring with the 1st and 5th, which usually precedes the recording for him. It would be lovely if he did record it.

If we all live long enough, such a cycle will eventually come to be. James Levine will probably not be recording with the Chicago SO again, which is a pity! I'm just pleased that I managed to get his Brahms cycle (Japanese Edition) while the dollar was strong.

 

[mbhaub]

Another conductor that I would be very interested in getting a Mahler cycle from is Eiji Oue. His six is as near to a perfect interpretation as I know. Simply overwhelming. His Das Lied is a killer, too. And the HDCD sound is breathtaking -- as good as sacd as far as I can hear.

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbhaub /img/forum/go_quote.gif Another conductor that I would be very interested in getting a Mahler cycle from is Eiji Oue. His six is as near to a perfect interpretation as I know. Simply overwhelming. His Das Lied is a killer, too. And the HDCD sound is breathtaking -- as good as sacd as far as I can hear.

Concur!!!!

Oue also has one Bruckner (8th), one Shosty (7th), and now one Strauss (Heldenleben) in SACD (fontec). I want MORE!!!

Edit: this is not the same recording he did of the Heldenleben for Reference Recordings which is in HDCD.

 

[DarkAngel]

Oh yes more Oue Mahler recordings would be most welcome......

Also what happened to Daniel Gatti, he had a couple great Mahler recordings then nothing

 

[Facade19]

New favorite list of recordings.

1. Bernstein on Sony
2. Solti with the LSO on DECCA
3. Cobos-Lopez on Telarc
4. Levi on Telarc
5. Chailly on DECCA
6. Bernstein on DG
7. Barenboim on Warner
8. Solti on DECCA
9. Bernstein on Sony (yup, finally Abbado has been dethroned,

)

I have been listening to the entire Bernstein/Sony cycle, with the exception of the 5th, all of the symphonies are top-notch. Sound quality is excellent and I think I would recommend the Bernstein/Sony Cycle over the Bertini cycle (though the Bertini cycle is fantastic!).

 

[pbarach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can't understand why Fischer wouldn't do a complete cycle as he's already been touring with the 1st and 5th, which usually precedes the recording for him. It would be lovely if he did record it.

Fischer doesn't like all of the symphonies--that's a good reason not to do all of them.

 

[pbarach]

Facade19: I like most of your choices, but I'd definitely pick a different 4th. My favorites are two very different performances: Mengelberg and Szell. They are probably at polar extremes of performance style, but each represents a beautifully played and personal vision of what the conductor thought Mahler had in mind.

 

[uhcmos1]

Karajan
great！！！

 

[DavidMahler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Facade19 /img/forum/go_quote.gif New favorite list of recordings. 1. Bernstein on Sony 2. Solti with the LSO on DECCA 3. Cobos-Lopez on Telarc 4. Levi on Telarc 5. Chailly on DECCA 6. Bernstein on DG 7. Barenboim on Warner 8. Solti on DECCA 9. Bernstein on Sony (yup, finally Abbado has been dethroned, ) I have been listening to the entire Bernstein/Sony cycle, with the exception of the 5th, all of the symphonies are top-notch. Sound quality is excellent and I think I would recommend the Bernstein/Sony Cycle over the Bertini cycle (though the Bertini cycle is fantastic!).

Hey Facade....

Some excellent choices here. The Levi 4th is one of my favorites and would actually be my favorite if it were not for Von Stade's less than perfect performance. Her voice doesn't fit the music for me, at least it doesn't anymore, her vocal with Abbado 30 years ago was better. I think a youthful voice is needed for that movement.

I love Bernstein in the 1st as well, and I think he probably understood the work better than anyone, but if you haven't heard his 2nd recording of it, with the Concertgebouw, I would definitely check that out as I feel it beats out the Sony version by a considerable margin.

Chailly's 5th is one of the better ones, but I think after hearing Barshai's few times, you will never listen to the Chailly's again. Barshai's 5th contains the best conducted and most well-performed version of every movement in my opinion.....and I'm sure you love the adagietto, Barshai's adagietto has to be what Mahler heard in his head, it makes so much more sense than any other I've heard.

Lastly, I know you love the 9th symphony, and that is my absolute favorite piece of music. I love Abbado, I love Bernstein, I love numerous others.....for years my favorite was Haitink's original 1970 recording. I also always had a deep appreciation for Karajan's digital take.

BUT........the greatest recording of the work I've ever heard is Ozawa's very new and hard to find recording on Sony Japan....you have to order it from HMV Japan, possibly ebay. I'm telling you man, whatever the cost and aggravation, you will be very pleased..........it is such Mahleresque performance. It will make you rethink the symphony and see more of its potential. A piece like the 9th, and there's only one Mahler 9th, is just limitless in how great it can be. For me, and I'm not ashamed to make myself look like a blubbering lunatic.......the 9th is the most profound and awesomely constructed piece of art by any human being.

 

[Bunnyears]

New Mahler 9 by Ozawa? with Saito Kinen Orchestra or is this a reissue of the 9th with the BSO? The only new Mahler recording that I've seen at all is the the Mahler 2nd with the Saito Kinen orchestra. His Mahler 9th with Saito Kinen isn't in SACD and dates from 2004, so that's certainly not a new recording.

Please be more specific when you mention recordings!

On the other hand Kobayashi does have a newer Mahler 9th in SACD which is very highly rated with the Japan PO but that's not on Sony Japan but on the Japanese label Exton.

 

[Bunnyears]

OMG! After a number of years, I just put on George Szell's recording of the Mahler 6th, and was I surprised (no flabbergasted) to find that I dislike it intensely! I had always held it in my memory as a reference, but now for some reason it just sounds hollow. Yes, Szell had complete control of the Cleveland and those poor musicians played their hearts out for him, but there is just something so incredibly mechanical about the performance. "Sound and fury signifying nothing," to quote the bard. There's no doubt that Szell knew how to wring out every bang, bang, bang and clatter, clatter, clatter from the tympani-- it's almost phony sounding, like a cheap horror-film score -- that he forgets that there are interludes of lyric beauty that have to emerge in order to give contrast and build the tension. The horns have just the right sarcastic sneer but it's as if Szell was mocking the music. He was so clearly emotionally uninvolved in this performance -- afraid of the emotionality of the music. Even the Andante is cold and mechanical.

Today it sounds to me like the coldest, most uninflected performance -- as if Szell were just doing this because he didn't want anyone to accuse of him of not being au courant with the latest big wave in music. It is mechanical -- each note as written but nothing, absolutely nothing more. To compound the nastiness, the accoustic of Severance Hall is bone dry without a hint of reverb. Where other great performances take you on an emotional rollercoaster from panic to relaxation to panic to reminiscence, to confidence to final agony, this performance just seems to be going through the motions.

Please excuse me if I'm repeating myself, but I am in a total state of shock. I suppose this is a great cautionary tale for anyone who would seek to make Mahler too objectivist. It's cold, cold, and completely lacking in tension. There's no hope or happiness in this. Now I understand that Szell truly didn't care for Mahler! Thank goodness he didn't record many more of the symphonies.

 

[LarryK2]

. . . last night with Chailly and RCO. It was the first time I have ever literally gotten goosebumps when listening to digital music (happens with vinyl with some regularity). Of course my digital playback has improved considerably in the last six months.

 

[mbhaub]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now I understand that Szell truly didn't care for Mahler! Thank goodness he didn't record many more of the symphonies.

And yet this has always been a highly regarded recording. I don't find it cold, just very detached and objective. This is, after all, Mahler's most classical symphony, and that's how Szell approached everything, and that's not always bad. You can tell he didn't really love the score: he omits the first movement repeat.

His fourth is similar. Spectacularly played, but very analytical. Not unlike Boulez.

Maybe it was just a Cleveland thing, because his recording with Schwartzkopf of Das knaben Wunderhorn is marvelous.

But don't throw out the 6th. I find that I change my mind in preferences all the time. Sometimes I want the 7th with Barenboim, sometimes Scherchen, and sometimes Boulez. Just depends on the mood I'm in.

 

[DavidMahler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryK2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif . . . last night with Chailly and RCO. It was the first time I have ever literally gotten goosebumps when listening to digital music (happens with vinyl with some regularity). Of course my digital playback has improved considerably in the last six months.

That is the Best M3 ever recorded in my opinion......good pick

 

[Hadden]

Chailly's M3 is the best of that set. I find him rather heavy and slow generally in many places in the others.