BaL 26.11.11 - Mahler: Symphony no. 8

[Flosshilde]

Purple & green & white, aren't they? (I don't know if the suffragettes copied them, or vice-versa)

[BBMmk2]

I still say that the Solti version is the one for me.

[visualnickmos]

I still say that the Solti version is the one for me.

And me..... but I like Bernstein's as well - New York.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

And me..... but I like Bernstein's as well - New York.

The SONY/CBS remaster, visnick? That's the LSO (and it is superb - as is the video of his VPO performance; the one they co-opted into the DG set when the maestro died before recording a digital version).

One of Solti's finest occasions, it's true - even if Rene Kollo had to telephone his solos in part two.

But Kubelik (in the studio, but even more so live) deserves highest praise, too.

And, before zucchini pops up, all conductors now dead! Any recommendations for recordings by any conductor still with his/her own teeth and the ability to use them?

[ostuni]

One of Solti's finest occasions, it's true - even if Rene Kollo had to telephone his solos in part two.

But Kubelik (in the studio, but even more so live) deserves highest praise, too.

And, before zucchini pops up, all conductors now dead! Any recommendations for recordings by any conductor still with his/her own teeth and the ability to use them?

Kollo is astonishingly imprecise in some of Part 1, too (try fig 13) - I can't believe he was in the same studio for this, either.

Agreed about Kubelik, too. For the present-day mob, how about Markus Stenz with the Gurzenich Orch, and a very decent bunch of soloists?

[Black Swan]

I agree with the previous comments, it is Solti for me. I am puzzled and a bit disappointed that Abbado did not add Mahler 8 to complete his marvellous Lucerne Festival Cycle. So many of them, such as No. 9, are very moving and delightful performances.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

For the present-day mob, how about Markus Stenz with the Gurzenich Orch, and a very decent bunch of soloists?

Thanks for that, ostuni - the Amazon reviewer is rather sniffy, but then he seems to approve of the way Kollo is recorded, whilst thinking Solti is too fast - so what does s/he know?

If you've got singers who can sing the notes correctly you might be half way there. Not here. Strained, flat singing, off key. It's happening with nearly all the modern Mahler 8's coming our way now. What's wrong with the singers these days??

We should go back to Solti for a near perfect cast, unfortunately he ruins the piece by rushing it. Wyn Morris and Tennstedt also do a pretty good job and so does Bernstein in Vienna.

Nevermind how great this SACD sounds in terms of SACD, the balance of the instruments is terrible - where was that solo violin in part 2? Stenz doesn't quite make the piece a whole. Jovanovich ain't Kollo and some of the female voices are just wooly. I'm not projected to the ecstatic as I am in Inbal, Ozawa, Tennstedt, Abbado, Bernstein and Wyn Morris's recordings. Stenz's Mahler 8 fails as it does not do justice to Mahler's genius creation.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I am puzzled and a bit disappointed that Abbado did not add Mahler 8 to complete his marvellous Lucerne Festival Cycle. So many of them, such as No. 9, are very moving and delightful performances.

Well, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra isn't a full-time ensemble, and Abbado worked with them only for just over ten years. He died before performances of the Eighth could be programmed. As you suggest - a sad loss to the discography.

[BBMmk2]

Well, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra isn't a full-time ensemble, and Abbado worked with them only for just over ten years. He died before performances of the Eighth could be programmed. As you suggest - a sad loss to the discography.

That would have been the recording to have. Up there with the Solti, I would imagine. The Berliner account, I don't think did justice?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

That would have been the recording to have. Up there with the Solti, I would imagine. The Berliner account, I don't think did justice?

Oh, it has merits of its own, I think, Bbm - and was the chosen recording on this BaL (which I remember remarkably well, as I was listening to it in the car on the way to a day at the Huddersfield Festival; a very well-balanced review, I thought). It's less "spectacular" than the Bernstein/Solti way (more in the Kubelik "tradition") and emphasizing the Symphonic aspects of the work. It's closer, perhaps, to how Bruno Walter (or even Klemperer) might have presented it - highly successful in its own terms.

[BBMmk2]

Oh, it has merits of its own, I think, Bbm - and was the chosen recording on this BaL (which I remember remarkably well, as I was listening to it in the car on the way to a day at the Huddersfield Festival; a very well-balanced review, I thought). It's less "spectacular" than the Bernstein/Solti way (more in the Kubelik "tradition") and emphasizing the Symphonic aspects of the work. It's closer, perhaps, to how Bruno Walter (or even Klemperer) might have presented it - highly successful in its own terms.

Will give it another listen. It's been a while.

[Barbirollians]

Got hold of a reasonably priced second hand CD set of the RAH Horenstein - leaving aside his fascinating mention in an interview with Alan Blyth of Berg's admiration for Delius ! - it is very good I bet it was an amazing experience back in March 1959 - Horenstein's Mahler is never dull IMO.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Horenstein's Mahler is never dull IMO.

I agree - and would go further and say that it is amongst the very best. I couldn't help lamenting (yet again) the absence of a complete studio Horenstein Mahler cycle when I read that Gergiev has started his second run-through of the Symphonies.

[Barbirollians]

Or a complete Barbirolli set .

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Or a complete Barbirolli set .

- but I'll see your "or" and raise you an "and"