Mahler Symphony no. 9

[richardfinegold]

No I mentioned Ancerl too - I think his Brahms 1 is even finer .

And me!

[jayne lee wilson]

I have found it - 31 August 1973 coupled with the Schumann Violin Concerto no less .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/s...august-31/8533

I've just realised this was the very first Mahler 9 I ever heard, on R3! I was suitably stunned and soon bought the Klemperer/NPO, on two LPs with Klemperer's profile en large across each one, and MAHLER 9 grandly capitalised across the top.

I would have had no idea about Maderna's interpretation (or tempi!) of course... but the music changed my life.

[techniquest]

I've just realised this was the very first Mahler 9 I ever heard, on R3! I was suitably stunned and soon bought the Klemperer/NPO, on two LPs with Klemperer's profile en large across each one, and MAHLER 9 grandly capitalised across the top.

Me too, and I still have that LP 2-disc set (in rather excellent condition too).
I have CD recordings in complete box sets (Chailly, Bertini, Tennstedt, Bernstein and Nanut), the Sanderling / BBC Classics disc and a rather good recording by Gunther Herbig on Berlin Classics

[gradus]

Both of Bruno Walter's recordings, the second in its original CBS box with the rehearsal disc.
Its one of those pieces that I prefer to hear occasionally, another is Das Lied, just a personal quirk but they are so emotionally all-engaging that I find them oddly ill-suited to domestic listening.

[umslopogaas]

Techniquest, look after that Klemperer LP set, it could be worth money. My 2006 price guide (the most recent edition available, unfortunately) suggests £175; it very seldom comes up on ebay, but one sold for £132 in 2008. A couple of others have fetched between £100 and £150, but I havent spotted one for a year or more.

Havent got the Klemperer Mahler 2 on Columbia (blue and silver labels), have you? That regularly fetches three or four hundred ...

[Stanfordian]

[QUOTE=akiralx;300816]

The snag with this version is the failure of the entire trombone section to enter at the climax of the finale - which was recently confirmed as a result of an audience member in the choir seats collapsing right behind the trombones.

Hiya akiralx,

I see how that might bother some people. That's the peril of live performaces for you. Untidy in parts, yes, but it certainly doesn’t stop the performance being an intense and moving experience for me.

[amateur51]

The snag with this version is the failure of the entire trombone section to enter at the climax of the finale - which was recently confirmed as a result of an audience member in the choir seats collapsing right behind the trombones.

I wonder if Bernstein proceeded to have a hissy fit with the trombone section (see Lorin Maazel thread )

[Stanfordian]

I wonder if Bernstein proceeded to have a hissy fit with the trombone section (see Lorin Maazel thread )

Hiya amateur51, "Hissy fit", I like it! I've not heard that term for years. I'll have to get out more.

[Barbirollians]

Thanks ams for the heads up re Barbirolli's 1960 account in Turin - thrilling and the Italian orchestra play their hearts out .

[BBMmk2]

I( have Barbirolli's, Abbado's with the Berliners, and Rattle's with the Berliners and Abbado's DVD with the Lucerne FO.

[Barbirollians]

I( have Barbirolli's, Abbado's with the Berliners, and Rattle's with the Berliners and Abbado's DVD with the Lucerne FO.

A fine coverage of recordings - I would not want to be without either Bruno WAlter's 1938 live VPO account or his 1961 Columbia SO account.

[Exonian]

Barbirolli, Walter, Karajan, Haitink, Abbado (BPO) are all superb interpretations - I don't think you could go wrong with any of them. I would add a couple more for luck - Eliahu Inbal with the Frankfurt RSO (an undervalued Mahler set) and a Dimitri Mitropoulos live recording with the NYPO from 1960 which goes along at a fair old pace (the finale is 21 minutes) but never loses grip on the music. It's been released on Archipel which also has the Barbirolli live version with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino Della Rai from Turin also in 1960. This recording can also be found on the Living Stage label on a 2cd set couple with Brahms Second Symphony recorded in 1970 with the Munich Philharmonic.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Barbirolli, Walter, Karajan, Haitink, Abbado (BPO) are all superb interpretations - I don't think you could go wrong with any of them.

I'd swap Haitink for Klemperer, but otherwise , Exonian. (And thanks for the nods towards Inbal - whose Berlioz I greatly admire, but whose Mahler is unknown to me) and Mitropoulos

[Barbirollians]

The live 1960 Turin recording from Barbirolli is stupendous.

[mlb7171]

Mrs. PG and I are going to hear the Concertgebouw Orchestra play it under Daniele Gatti during the EIF and I've started listening to various cds of it. No conclusions yet but It's not a piece I can listen to too often. (Having written that I do like Herbie and the Berlin Phil. - possibly the greatest recording he ever made?!)

I would be interested to hear what the Pastorals made of Gatti in Edinburgh. The Telegraph review is rather mixed. I heard him with the RPO (who were at their radiant best) in Mahler 9 and it sensational, so I'm surprised by the review.

As for recordings, my current favourite is from the radio - LSO and Haitink from the 2009 Proms.