Abbado in Mahler

[Karafan]

I am, at this very moment, licking my lips in a most lascivious manner.

The reason? I became quite unconscionably giddy yesterday and ordered Abbado's Mahler symphonies traversal (1-7 and a separate No 9) from Lucerne on BluRay. 1-7 are in box from Euroarts http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ef=oss_product, while the 9th (in what, by all accounts, is yet another sublime performance) is available from another label (Accentus, also BluRay) http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ef=oss_product.

I have had, and hugely enjoyed, some of these when released on DVD but the BluRay experience promises to be a great one.

Abbado - Mahler - Lucerne. The combination seems, to me, to be an unbeatable one. Of course, having a hand-selected orchestra, with many first desk principals from Europe's finest bands scattered liberally throughout, certainly doesn't hurt!

I'd be interested to hear of fellow posters' impressions - and from anyone who might have already been sampling this partial cycle in BluRay.

Bws

Karafan

[Bryn]

I 'pre-ordered' them set then cancelled the order very quickly upon reading several reports of severe audio problems of he surround mixes on the Blu-rays. I too have the DVD versions and also the Blu-ray of the 9th, which I am happy with. Do let us know how you get on with the surround audio on the earlier symphonies.

[BBMmk2]

I have quite a few of the DVDs.

Quite honestly, how can you beat n orchestra such as this?I saw on TV last year, the BBCSSO doing Mahler's 3rd.I thought the orchestra was having difficulties with this? When you pay the DVD of the 3rd with Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, well, there is no contest!

[Karafan]

Bryn

From what I've read, Euroarts have addressed the audio problems for the BluRay boxset - this review goes into some detail:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Mahler-Symphonies-1-7-Blu-ray/22655/#Review

Bws
K.

[Bryn]

Karafan, according to one of the responses here, though the problems with the 2nd have been addressed, those with the 4th have not. Have a look a the amazon.co.uk listing for details of the mess that was made of the audio re. the 4th.

[Mahlerei]

Of the three I've heard (all DVD so far, but I have one on Blu-ray that's still unopened) the PCM stereo mix sounds perfectly fine. As I understand it the problems only affected the multi-channel tracks.

[Mahlerei]

I have just finished watching the Blu-ray of Abbado's Mahler 7 and I am nonplussed. It's a powerful performance but, thanks to the recording, it's crude and overblown too. There's something strange about the PCM stereo mix, it sounds flat and somewhat synthetic, not at all like the three-dimensional, nicely etched sound I've heard on some of the DVDs. I'd be pleased to hear what others think.

Oh, and that's not all: the end titles include credits for 'Soloist: Renée Fleming'. Weird.

[Alf-Prufrock]

Oh, and that's not all: the end titles include credits for 'Soloist: Renée Fleming'. Weird.

That's because the original concert had Renee singing Berg's Early Songs in the first half. What a shame they weren't included on the DVD.

[Mahlerei]

Thanks for that :)

[reinerfan]

Does anyone know whether the Abbado/Lucerne Mahler Symphonies are to be issued on CD, as I'm afraid that I cannot stand watching orchestral concerts on DVD or BluRay. I appreciate that I can watch without the picture, but feel a little cheated at having to spend substantially more than i would on CDs.

[Alf-Prufrock]

It looks as if they are not all to be produced on CD. Only one symphony is available on CD as far as I know - the Resurrection - but that is an overwhelmingly fine performance.

One point in favour of having the Lucerne performances on DVD (and, I trust, Blu-ray) is that the sound is spectacularly good. In 5-1 it is considerably better than CD sound. Of course, you have to have the set-up to do it justice, but even the stereo appears to me to be better than CD quality. That reason may justify the higher price.

[Bryn]

Ahem. If the 5.1 is standard Dolby Digital or DTS, the audio quality is considerably below that of which a CD is capable of carrying. Both standard Dolby Digital and DTS employ lossy codecs. That used by Dolby Digital is also known as AC3. However, the higher quality versions of Dolby Digital and DTS used on most Blu-ray discs is indeed superior to what can be achieved on a Red Book CD.

[HighlandDougie]

I can vouch for the fact that the 2-channel blu-ray sound on the Abbado/Lucerne discs is excellent. In the French hovel, I have a blu-ray player hooked up to my little Sugden system and the Abbado Mahler symphonies which I have in Blu-Ray (3; 4; 9) certainly sound better than any CD in my collection: very wide dynamic range and sound-stage. The bass in particular sounds very realistic. Contrarily, the Scottish but 'n ben is where I have a multi-channel set-up but SACD/DVD only - no blu-ray (yet) and where I also have Abbado 2 & 3 plus the 5-DVD EuroArts set from Lucerne. While the sound is not up to Blu-Ray standard, it is, as Alf says, pretty good, especially in 5 channel DTS. Thick stone walls so having the volume turned up for the end of the Resurrection really gets to you. As to having an aversion to watching music on DVD, I have some sympathy for that and do normally listen rather than watch/listen. But with the Lucerne Orchestra, there is a good deal of pleasure to be had in watching the likes of Natalia Gutman, the Meyers (Sabine and Albrecht), the Hagens - and all the rest - give their all for Abbado. How lucky we are to have the choice. And if anyone wants to sell a spare ticket for the LFO/Abbado visit to the RFH in October ......

[johnb]

I'm curious about Blu-Ray and debating whether to test the water so I would be grateful if someone could recommend one of the Abbado Mahler discs to use as a test.

Although I don't have a Blu-Ray player as such my new PC has a Blu-Ray capable drive and a sound board with a digital output and which can handle up to 192/24 also the graphics board supports HD output to a TV - so I thought I would experiment, using the Stereo Mix.

[Mahlerei]

johnb

The Seventh is the only one I've heard on Blu-ray, the rest have been DVDs. One Blu-ray I can recommend in terms of fine sonics is Maazel's Ring without words. The PCM stereo mix of the Berlin Phil in full cry is just sensational.

Also, I believe the Naxos Blu-ray Audio version of Wit's Mahler Eight is spectacular. Still awaiting my copy.