BaL 3.03.18 - Mahler: Symphony no. 7

[mahlerei]

BeefO

Yes, genial/engaging, playing and sound. I reckon Richard is absolutely right about early and later Abbado. Too often the latter is about the performers and performances than the music itself. And that's why his Chicago Seventh and Vienna Third are more appealing/insightful than the remakes.

As for pivot points, I think I know what HD is getting at; how the Scherzo is shaped largely determines the symmetry of the piece. Abbado/CSO and Jansons/RCO judge it perfectly, I feel.

Not sure VG will take the palm, but his M7 is the best of his cycle.

[BBMmk2]

Looks as though I have a lot of Mahler listening to do these up coming days.

[richardfinegold]

Of the ones in my collection, I most prefer Abbado/ Chicago (I had been at one of the Concerts around the time of the recording). I have Gielen on I tunes and listen to it when I travel. The one that I have listened to the most over the past few years is the 1960s Bernstein/NYP. That was my first recording on a Columbia budget lp reissue that just sounded awful, and put me off of the work for years and the remastered version at least allows a non earbleed experience.
I did hear Boulez conduct it here sometime in the nineties and was very impressed but I don’t think I ever got around to purchasing it. MTT and SF are very similar to Bernstein if in SACD and surround sound. Someone mentioned Abravanel and I have that in DVD-A. He was a great Mahlerian; it would have been a treat to hear him with a more upholstered Orchestra; it’s to bad that Leinsdorf was kep in Boston and MA had to stay in Utah.
I like HD discussion about the pivot point.
One to avoid— Barenboim and the Berlin Staatkapelle—well played but DB just doesn’t do much for me in Mahler and he seems more clueless than the norm here

[Beef Oven!]

Not sure VG will take the palm, but his M7 is the best of his cycle.

Interesting. Maybe I'm going by the concert too much. His white-hot 6 was a tough act to follow and the 7 was not in the same class, IMV (I don't think the CD release of the 7th captures anything of the liv performances) - I need to try to listen to the VG's 7 more.

[BBMmk2]

Why then, IIR, I find that various Forum Members, knocked Gergiev in his LSO cycle?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Why then, IIR, I find that various Forum Members, knocked Gergiev in his LSO cycle?

Because they didn't like it, Bbm.

[Alison]

Why then, IIR, I find that various Forum Members, knocked Gergiev in his LSO cycle?

The Seventh is the exception that proves the rule.

[Alison]

Very scathing review of the new Jansons in March Gramophone.

You will know who the reviewer is from the concluding line:

‘Whatever this is, it isn’t Mahler’s Seventh.’

[HighlandDougie]

Very scathing review of the new Jansons in March Gramophone.

You will know who the reviewer is from the concluding line:

‘Whatever this is, it isn’t Mahler’s Seventh.’

Didn't quite get to me before I decamped from Scotland to France so I'm rather in the dark as to the reviewer?? If it's Edward Seckerson, ho hum .... not someone I have much respect for as a critic. While I wouldn't die in a ditch for the new Jansons 7th - and without having read the review - a statement like, "Whatever this is, it isn't Mahler's Seventh", strikes me as being both egregious and really rather fatuous. If you listen to the performance, it clearly is Mahler's 7th.

[Petrushka]

The Seventh is the exception that proves the rule.

The 6th and 7th proved to be the best of the LSO/Gergiev cycle as both were more in tune with his temperament. That said, I can't quite imagine myself wanting to play any of his cycle again with so many better alternatives around. I have a total of 31 versions of the 7th to choose from (one or two not listed above) and most have something worth hearing making SJ's task no easy matter.

BTW it's good to have a BaL topic worth contributing to on here as those so far this year have been of little interest to me.

[Alison]

Yes, it’s Secko....

- All that is awkward has been made safe
- Orchestral colour lush but anonymous
- Rhythms sluggish
- Precious phrasing of second subject
- Bland characterisation in Nachtmusiks
- Dullest finale ever heard
- Coda goes for nothing

That’s about the gist of it!

[jayne lee wilson]

Intrigued by enthusiasm here and ES' review of the latest Jansons Mahler 7, I took a listen on Qobuz HF..... and I'm afraid I found myself agreeing with ES fairly quickly. I wouldn't want to go too far with this one, even if I wanted to hear Mahler more than I currently do. From the very start, so slow and smoothed-over, it does sound - beautiful, all-too-beautiful, and when I compared Kondrashin's Leningrad Phil recording in the scherzo, well.... the superiority of the KK - in tautness and definition, colour, character and sheer aliveness, those bar-to-bar sudden shifts of emphasis and phrase, yet without undue exaggeration - was almost laughable. It very unexpectedly made me want to hear the work again.
Not that there's any time here for an M7 just now - at least not at a single sitting.

I don't always agree with ES but, he's an experienced and knowledgable reviewer, and I've usually more time for him than HD seems to have....
"Whatever this is, it isn't Mahler's 7th" is hyperbolic, but I can see exactly why he said it.
I guess it depends what you want from your Mahler. So it goes.

(I think Seckerson's review of the recent Heras-Casado Bartok album is pretty fair too; a matter of some regret to me, having already purchased, heard, and not been much drawn back to, the hi-res download...

[pastoralguy]

Mahler 7 was my first experience of this composer so it's always been my favourite of his works. This was back in the 80's when I played in the first Scottish performance of the 7th Symphony! I remember buying the tape of Tennstedt and the LPO which had some fluffs so I presume it was a live recording. (Did he record it more than one nice with the LPO?). Alas, all other performances, despite their polish, just don't match up to this recording. I did buy the Abbado/Chicago performance on cd but just found it a bit too refined after the helter-skelter ride that is Tennstedt.

For me, the end of the first movement is one of the most exciting things in all music.

[Beef Oven!]

Why then, IIR, I find that various Forum Members, knocked Gergiev in his LSO cycle?

It's normally for political reasons. you know what it's like on here sometimes. Apart from the 6 & 7th the 5th is rather good too, but it divides opinion. Lately, if I don't reach for Rattle's 9th, it will be Gergiev and the LSO.

[HighlandDougie]

I don't always agree with ES but, he's an experienced and knowledgable reviewer, and I've usually more time for him than HD seems to have....

And he just doesn't like Mariss Jansons .... He is indeed experienced and knowledgeable but just a bit too prone to peddle his prejudices. Later Bernstein in Mahler? Ick ....

I'm sticking to Hans Zender - "Secko" (which rhymes rather aptly with gecko) has probably never heard of him.