Barbirolli - favourite recordings

[Thropplenoggin]

I listened to Barbirolli's 9th today on EMI with the Berliner Philharmonic. It is an imperious rendition. Total mastery of the architectonic of the work - its beauty, its bombast, its grotesqueness, and that melancholic resignation that is not one of despair...more like peace.

I imagine the 9th is a nightmare to conduct - some many places to slip up. Just take the opening, for a start, which sets not just that quirky rhythm but (for me) is sort of mystical, setting up the whole otherworldly atmosphere of what follows. Chailly's sumptuous take feels too slow - others mess things up with quirky rubato.

Barbirolli seems to just nail it, by which I mean, I can't fault any of his musical choices. I also have Klemperer, Nott (destroyed, for me, by falling manuscript and what sounds like a sneeze in the final adagio) and Ancerl in this work.

[BBMmk2]

I am glad someone else likes JB's Mahler 9! Because I think it is one of the best recordings of this work! (I stick my neck out here).Or perhaps one of the best recordings?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Marvellous as Dame Janet is and splendid as is Barbirolli's conception of the work Sargent's pioneering recording has the edge for me with its wonderful soloists.

You and salymap both, Barbi. I find Heddle Nash's tone and diction far more difficult to take than, say, Borg's (which gets such a "bad press").

OT, I was reminded of Britten's superb recording on last Sunday morning's .. err ... Sunday Morning. That makes two Sundays in a row in which the Angel's Farewell has reduced me to tears: must pull myself together! Anyone else hear it?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I am glad someone else likes JB's Mahler 9! Because I think it is one of the best recordings of this work! (I stick my neck out here).Or perhaps one of the best recordings?

Yes, one of the best - and, I think, the best of Barbirolli's studio Mahler Symphony recordings. Up there with Klemperer, Walter's 1938 recording, Bernstein & the VPO and Karajan's two: all very different, all revealing just what an astonishing work the Mahler #9 is.

[BBMmk2]

Yes, one of the best - and, I think, the best of Barbirolli's studio Mahler Symphony recordings. Up there with Klemperer, Walter's 1938 recording, Bernstein & the VPO and Karajan's two: all very different, all revealing just what an astonishing work the Mahler #9 is.

thank you for that Ferney! I havmt heard his 5th yet though?

[amateur51]

There's marvellous 'live' Mahler symphony no 9 available too

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Archipel%2BRecords/ARPCD0520

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

thank you for that Ferney! I havmt heard his 5th yet though?

I have, and was rather disappointed - the Rosette in the Penguin Guides perhaps led me to expect something ... different (perhaps something more like Bernstein's VPO recording, which ticked all the boxes for me). I had it in the old EMI "Studio" series (their first mid-price releases, I believe) which may have had a lessened dynamic range, but it seemed a little under-powered. I deliberately got the "Studio" version because they patched up the missing solo Horn phrase from the Scherzo, infamously overlooked and omitted in earlier and later releases. This is all 20 years ago, now, so time for another listen and re-appraisal.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There's marvellous 'live' Mahler symphony no 9 available too

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/A...ords/ARPCD0520

This is turning into a very expensive Thread! Ah well: I think I have a birthday sometime this year.

[Barbirollians]

I have, and was rather disappointed - the Rosette in the Penguin Guides perhaps led me to expect something ... different (perhaps something more like Bernstein's VPO recording, which ticked all the boxes for me). I had it in the old EMI "Studio" series (their first mid-price releases, I believe) which may have had a lessened dynamic range, but it seemed a little under-powered. I deliberately got the "Studio" version because they patched up the missing solo Horn phrase from the Scherzo, infamously overlooked and omitted in earlier and later releases. This is all 20 years ago, now, so time for another listen and re-appraisal.

What !

No - I am afraid I agree with you . I also have only that Studio pressing with the patched up horn solo . I didn't know they had left it out of later remasterings

I was very much expecting great things having been swept away by his Mahler 6 and 9 and bought the record not long after the VPO/Bernstein and after listening to that awesome awesome Prom performance by Lenny and the VPO and perhaps that was such a hard act to follow that I have never quite warmed to the Barbirolli Mahler 5 as to the 6th and 9th

PS I wish that DG and the BBC could get together to release that Proms Mahler 5 . I remember it , probably wrongly , as being a very hot night when i listened to it and it was intoxicating.

PPS It was the 10/09/1987 !! It wasn't that hot according to the weather records - maybe it was just the performance on an impressionable me !

[vibratoforever]

My first Mahler 5 was some scratchy second-hand lps of Bruno Walter and NYPO with a performance coming in just over an hour. I then heard the 1969 Barbirolli recording taking over 70 minutes, and have always had a problem with the 2nd movement which loses momentum at a couple of important points. The rest is fine, especially the adagietto, and the performance is actually quicker overall than Bernstein's late DG recording.

Like you I can recall the Prom performance in 1987 from the VPO and Bernstein and understand your enthusiasm for it. The BBC does not have a marvellous record in preserving performances so I wonder if a recording still exists. The Nupen documentary about Jaqueline Du Pre includes footage of an excerpt from a performance of Bruch's Kol Nidrei, with the Halle (I think) and Barbirolli. I doubt if any copy of the full performance remains, or surely it would have been issued by now?

[akiralx]

My first Mahler 5 was some scratchy second-hand lps of Bruno Walter and NYPO with a performance coming in just over an hour. I then heard the 1969 Barbirolli recording taking over 70 minutes, and have always had a problem with the 2nd movement which loses momentum at a couple of important points.

Yes, the second movement is not really 'Stürmisch bewegt, mit größter Vehemenz', and I think that is a valid criticism of the interpretation.

I do like most of the performance, especially the warmth of the Finale. I think it is this feeling of Mahler 'con amore' which pervades the recording and which endears it to listeners and critics, or at least those of an earlier generation.

But JB's M5 would not be one of my top recommendations for this symphony (Chailly on Decca and Kobayashi on Exton).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But JB's M5 would not be one of my top recommendations for this symphony (Chailly on Decca and Kobayashi on Exton).

Who on what?! Can you provide details, please aki - I've not heard of this performance.

[akiralx]

Who on what?! Can you provide details, please aki - I've not heard of this performance.

Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi conducting the Czech PO on Exton (Japanese label). I have the CD but I think there is an SACD.

His really great Mahler recording is his SACD version of the Third with the same orchestra and label, that is a favourite with the Mahler discussion board regulars, and my preferred version of the Third among the dozen I have. I think it is a live recording (I don't have it at hand) but it is certainly a powerful and gripping performance played by that superb orchestra - during the long finale there is a surge of emotion that really moves me to tears every time I listen. That it is in state of the art sound in a wonderful acoustic (the Rudolfinum?) is just a bonus...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks, aki!

[Barbirollians]

Elgar 2 with the Halle in 1964 - the Larghetto has been sending shivers down my spine this evening .

Have been reacquainting myself with his Brahms VPO cycle . The Symphony No 2 just strikes me as too slow . The Third is much better and beautifully played with a swiftish slow movement .

The Fourth is next .