BaL 22.04.17 - Mahler: Symphony no. 2

[gurnemanz]

I seem to have 17 of these recordings, rather more than I expected .

Rattle for me. I'm also very partial to VPO/Mehta and LSO/Kaplan (which can be had very cheaply on the Amazon MP).

I already had Rattle/CBSO, Klemperer/Philharmonia and Bernstein/New York (1963) but last year noticed the DG Complete Mahler as a download for only £25 at Presto (now out of licence in UK, I note). It came with many fine recordings (and almost no duplcates) including that Mehta/VPO 2nd which I did not know at all and turns out to be an absolute favourite along with those other three. Fine orchestral playing and sound (and Christa Ludwig!).

[verismissimo]

I bought the 1924 Oscar Fried recording on Naxos a good few years ago for the sake of completeness but have never dared play it fearing that it will be killed stone dead by utterly dreadful sound. Anyone taken the plunge and tried it?

I've listened to the Fried from 1924 a couple of times and enjoyed the experience. Decent transfers by Ward Marston for Naxos. So take the plunge, Pet, and let us know your thoughts. Mahler certainly liked his conducting of this symphony in 1907 and 1908. Amazing that the recording exists given the black hole that Mahler's symphonies fell into between the wars.

I'm having a similar standing-off situation re Klemperer's off-air recording with the Sydney Symphony from 1950. I bought it recently because it was suggested that we should have included the Australian soprano Valda Bagnall in our 'From Melba to Sutherland' set.

Think I'll bite the bullet with it - and give the Fried another spin.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I can't challenge Petrushka's 'very high proportion' of the listed recordings but I do have a few, and two have been added (or re-added) in the last few months thanks to good luck in the Cornish charity shops

My full listing is KRSO/ Bertini, LSO/ Kaplan, BRSO/ Klemperer, PO/ Klemperer (std EMI studio recording), VPO/ Mehta, CBSO/ Rattle, LSO/ Solti, LSO/ Stokowski, LPO/ Tennstedt. The 're-added' above reflects a recent snapping up of the Decca LSO/Solti twofer of 1 & 2. I bought the 2nd c.1974 on LP for my girlfriend after taking her to a Prom performance, BBCSO/ Boulez, which completely blew her away. But she scratched it before we got married!!! On the LPs I had a feeling that you could hear the engineers rather cranking back on the final few pages, but this didn't strike me on the CDs so perhaps it was the LP cutting technicians? Or perhaps I imagined it??

The other recent addition was the Bavarian Klemperer. That really is terrific, and not just the dream pair of soloists!

One in the LP pile, bought for pennies and still awaiting its first spin, is the Stoko. Sorry to read above that it probably won't light any big fire in the LMP music-room
(And before anyone suggests another way to achieve this, the room doesn't have a chimney)

[Pulcinella]

I can't challenge Pulcinella's 'very high proportion' of the listed recordings but I do have a few, and two have been added (or re-added) in the last few months thanks to good luck in the Cornish charity shops

Wrong chap, Mr Fisher King: Petrushka, not me!

[Barbirollians]

I don't have any version I do not like ! CBSO/Rattle, LSO/Kaplan ( worth getting on Pickwick for the booklet alone) , LSO/Solti, CSO/Abbado, NYPO/Bernstein and Philharmonia/Klemperer all have much merit .

[gurnemanz]

I've listened to the Fried from 1924 a couple of times and enjoyed the experience. Decent transfers by Ward Marston for Naxos. So take the plunge, Pet, and let us know your thoughts. Mahler certainly liked his conducting of this symphony in 1907 and 1908. Amazing that the recording exists given the black hole that Mahler's symphonies fell into between the wars.

I'm having a similar standing-off situation re Klemperer's off-air recording with the Sydney Symphony from 1950. I bought it recently because it was suggested that we should have included the Australian soprano Valda Bagnall in our 'From Melba to Sutherland' set.

Think I'll bite the bullet with it - and give the Fried another spin.

I did bite it a couple of years ago with this 8 disc historical Mahler selection. Well worth considering. The Fried Auferstehung from Berlin in 1924 is a fascinating document in thin but listenable sound which you do get used to. I rather enjoy the historical "authenticity" of the somewhat alien sounds wafting back from over 90 years ago with some rather imperfect instrumental playing at times, unfashionable portamento and very odd, almost comical-sounding percussion effects. There are very thorough and interesting notes in the booklet: Fried had performed the 2nd in Berlin in 1905 with Mahler in attendance as consultant and a 20-year-old Otto Klemperer as assistant, conducting the off-stage band. The soprano was the famous Emmi Leisner and the other soloist was Gertrud Bindernagel who later suffered the bizarre early demise of being gunned to death by her estranged banker husband aged 38 outside the theatre where had just sung Brünhilde in Siegfried. Fried went on to conduct the 2nd several more times in Berlin, Vienna and pre-revolutionary St Petersburg. He later became the first foreigner to conduct in the Soviet Union, supposedly being met at the station by Lenin in person.

The box contains many fascinating items, including another Resurrection Symphony - a live concert performance from Eugene Ormandy with the Minneapolis Symphony in 1935. Also Heinrich Schusnus singing two Mahler songs in 1931 - just before the Nazis banned the composer.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Wrong chap, Mr Fisher King: Petrushka, not me!

Oops, duly corrected!

(More work on telling Stravinsky ballets apart clearly needed chez LMP...)

[Stanfordian]

Sterling work, as ever, Alpie, and it seems churlish to comment, but are the entries for Klemperer (Philharmonia) and Kubelik (Bavarian Rundfunk) inadvertently duplicated? Also, the Bavarian DVD higher up the list is missing its conductor (Jansons?).
I'm hoping that the Barbirolli Berlin performance gets an airing: is it sung in French?

Kubelik and the Bavarian Rundfunk recordings are different performances, one of the soloists is different, released on two different labels Audite (Live) and DG (studio). I was at one of the performances used in Munich for the Bav RSO/Jansons DVD/Blu-ray. It was a terrific performance in the concert hall that night even if the person next Mrs Stanfordian on the front row fell to the ground mid performance and was attended to by a doctor and medic all within 4m of Mariss Jansons conducting.

[Pulcinella]

Kubelik and the Bavarian Rundfunk recordings are different performances, one of the soloists is different, released on two different labels Audite (Live) and DG (studio). I was at one of the performances used in Munich for the Bav RSO/Jansons DVD/Blu-ray. It was terrific in the concert hall.

Oops! Not only churlish but completely out of order to mention to Alpie, then.
Humble apologies to him.

[teamsaint]

Oops! Not only churlish but completely out of order to mention to Alpie, then.
Humble apologies to him.

Still a bit of time left for some Lenten penance, Pulcers.


Anyhow, I am happy to bet that this becomes the longest pre show BaL thread ever.

[Alison]

I think Lent ended yesterday.

Getting back to Tennstedt I believe there at least three available versions, studio, live 1981 and live 1989.

Top marks to Alpie in any case.

[teamsaint]

I think Lent ended yesterday.

IF I ever knew that,and I should have,I'd forgotten.



Thanks Alison.

[verismissimo]

I'm not so big on comparative timings (and I don't have a score), but these caught my attention:
SSO/Klemperer (1950) ... 67.04
BFO/Fischer (2006) ... 81.52
BSOO/Fried (1924) ... 83.45
NYPO/Bernstein (1963) ... 84.38
LPO/Tennstedt (1989) ... 93.57
NPO/Klemperer (1971) ... 98.50

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I bought the 1924 Oscar Fried recording on Naxos a good few years ago for the sake of completeness but have never dared play it fearing that it will be killed stone dead by utterly dreadful sound. Anyone taken the plunge and tried it?

No, but I have the Oskar Fried Alpensinfonie, and it isn't at all bad (though also the fastest on record).

[Beef Oven!]

I have a few recordings of M2, not sure I have an out and out favourite. Like RB says, I tend to pick a different one each time. Lately I’ve enjoyed Boulez , VPO. Rattle’s been a favourite of mine ever since it was first released.

Ivan Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra (a fine performance)
Rattle CBSO
Boulez VPO
Kaplan LSO
Klemperer X2 (might have an ancient recording too)
Sinopoli Philharmonia
Bernstein NYP (Sony)
Gergiev LSO

No Kubelik, Tennstedt, Kaplan VPO, Haitink or Maazel.