BaL 7.01.23 - Mahler: Symphony no. 6 in A minor

[Alison]

from https://www.edwardseckerson.biz/revi...t-august-2020/

If Henri-Louis de La Grange was, indeed, "in possession of a handbill which proved conclusively that Mahler did in fact perform the Sixth in its original ordering before he left us", why does it appear not to have been reproduced anywhere? Looks like a clear case of hearsay on Seckerson's part, to me. Note that he (Seckerson) makes no claim to have actually seen this handbill.

Yes I was thinking the same. Perhaps Secko can clear the matter up once and for all.

[Barbirollians]

I believe Ed Seckerson prefers S-A. Didn’t he claim to have seen a handbill proving that Mahler changed his mind before death?

Yes I think you are right - sounded very tenuous to me.

As I understand it Mahler conducted the work three times - in each case Andante/Scherzo . All very well to say that personally one might wish the order to be reversed but that was his choice and he went so far as to have the work republished and to refer to the original order as an erratum.

[Wolfram]

This is a long thread already and the programme is still two weeks away, but I have just listened to Bernstein’s 1967 recording and was blown away by it. It is the first time that I have listened to it, it has sat undisturbed in the box of his 1960s recording for ages. The Bernstein recording I usually play is the live VPO, but the last movement in 1967 is terrifying, utterly fearless. I’m not sure that it’s what Mahler intended, and it certainly pays no attention to, nor is bothered by, matters of good taste, but is delivered with blazing conviction. The andante is placed third here and in the context of this reading this is surely right, providing a mood of melancholy introspection before the tempest is unleashed. The final cord is startling, even though you know it’s coming.

[Alison]

For me Klaus Tennstedt was the supreme interpreter of the Sixth. I have all three LPO versions: studio, live Proms and live RFH and would be happy with any of them.

Every bar felt and lived in.

[Alison]

Next best VPO/Boulez

Most overrated BPO/Abbado

[Lordgeous]

For me Klaus Tennstedt was the supreme interpreter of the Sixth. I have all three LPO versions: studio, live Proms and live RFH and would be happy with any of them.

Every bar felt and lived in.

Have just bought Warner Box, which includes these, precisely for that reason.

[Goon525]

This is a long thread already and the programme is still two weeks away, but I have just listened to Bernstein’s 1967 recording and was blown away by it. It is the first time that I have listened to it, it has sat undisturbed in the box of his 1960s recording for ages. The Bernstein recording I usually play is the live VPO, but the last movement in 1967 is terrifying, utterly fearless. I’m not sure that it’s what Mahler intended, and it certainly pays no attention to, nor is bothered by, matters of good taste, but is delivered with blazing conviction. The andante is placed third here and in the context of this reading this is surely right, providing a mood of melancholy introspection before the tempest is unleashed. The final cord is startling, even though you know it’s coming.

You’re not suggesting that when ES chooses Lenny, he might actually be justified in so doing?

[Bryn]

This is a long thread already and the programme is still two weeks away, but I have just listened to Bernstein’s 1967 recording and was blown away by it. It is the first time that I have listened to it, it has sat undisturbed in the box of his 1960s recording for ages. The Bernstein recording I usually play is the live VPO, but the last movement in 1967 is terrifying, utterly fearless. I’m not sure that it’s what Mahler intended, and it certainly pays no attention to, nor is bothered by, matters of good taste, but is delivered with blazing conviction. The andante is placed third here and in the context of this reading this is surely right, providing a mood of melancholy introspection before the tempest is unleashed. The final cord is startling, even though you know it’s coming.

I got the NYPO Bernstein recording when it was first released in the UK. I played it pretty much to death. That, his recordings of the 3rd and 9th with the same orchestra stood out for me as the real gems from his American Columbia Mahler recordings (I did not get to know his recording of the 7th, from that series until much later, having opted for the Abravanel due to lack of available funds). Funnily enough, I got the double album of Bernstein's 6th and 9th out of the 'remastered' box set yesterday with the intention of renewing my acquaintance with those ground-breaking recordings. I intend to spin them later today.

[Wolfram]

You’re not suggesting that when ES chooses Lenny, he might actually be justified in so doing?

I am, so long as he picks the right one.

I have just dug out Tennstedts’s live LPO recording from the depths of the garage; a place slightly more intimidating than Fafner’s cave. But owing to an irritating and frustratingly inconvenient event called Christmas, and people coming, I won’t get a chance to revisit it until they have done the decent thing and taken themselves off home.

[jayne lee wilson]

As I mentioned above, another huge fan of the Bernstein NYPO 6th here....

When I got the DSD remastered Box of the Cycle, it confirmed gloriously how stunningly intense and idiomatic (and brilliantly played) it is. I may never hear the 6th again, or not until the next life, but I remember this as how I always wanted it to be.

[richardfinegold]

As I mentioned above, another huge fan of the Bernstein NYPO 6th here....

When I got the DSD remastered Box of the Cycle, it confirmed gloriously how stunningly intense and idiomatic (and brilliantly played) it is. I may never hear the 6th again, or not until the next life, but I remember this as how I always wanted it to be.

Absolutely. I came to Mahler a bit late, well after the press in the U.S. had declared L.B. as GM reincarnated. I was therefore a bit suspicious of L.B.in Mahler and the only lp that I bought, the Seventh, sounded so bad it put me off further explorations of both Bernstein's Mahler and the Seventh for a few years. When the remastered cycle was released it therefore came to me as revelatory.
Regarding Sekerson, I just read his rave of Rattle's M9 in Gramophone. So will there be a dark horse here? Will he similarly laud the Rattle Sixth as the new one to have?

[ucanseetheend]

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/podcast...usic-of-mahler .I think Ed does say how Tennstedt does the traumatic Mahler symphonic works well,perhaps because of his own demons .Maybe a pointer to his selection .

[Ein Heldenleben]

Ooh there’s a surprise .Tracking down this Proms Tennstedt Mahler 6 is proving tricky. It doesn’t appear to be currently available . I also can’t find it in Qobuz. I have the studio recording already.

[LHC]

Ooh there’s a surprise .Tracking down this Proms Tennstedt Mahler 6 is proving tricky. It doesn’t appear to be currently available . I also can’t find it in Qobuz. I have the studio recording already.

LPO Live either as a 2 disc set, or the box set of live Mahler recordings (which does appear to be NLA)

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7980068--mahler-symphony-no-6-in-a-minor-tragic

[Bryn]

Ooh there’s a surprise .Tracking down this Proms Tennstedt Mahler 6 is proving tricky. It doesn’t appear to be currently available . I also can’t find it in Qobuz. I have the studio recording already.

It does not help that they are rather tardy in getting the release's details up on the website.