Been hitting a ton of stuff but I am also currently doing the complete Tilson Thomas Mahler symphonies. The sonics and playing are generally fantastic on these and the interpretation is solid to great. I'm currently on M5. I wish the finale to his M2 took me over the edge but it just lacks that extra bit of magic compared to the best like Lenny. The playing of SFS has to elevate this group to absolute world class status. They play the living cream cheese out of this stuff.
Frank, are you streaming those T.T. Mahler recordings? I'd have probably bought the box several years ago if it was not premium priced. My library has most of them. I've listened to 7 & 8 but not recently.
Yeah but I own them all on disc. Streaming makes me lazy.Originally Posted by StarThrower
Are the Mahler the same performances that were released on SACD? I have all of those, but haven't gotten around to listening to them yet. They're very cheap on Amazon. --Peter
The ones I have are hybrid-SACD's (or have that logo on them).
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
Do you have any recommendations for top performances in that cycle?
It's hard to fault any of these to be honest. What these all have going for them is terrific sound (some of my favorite sounding Mahler recordings), and an orchestra that just plain kicks ass. Everything is where it should be, great intonation, tonal balance, etc etc. I think where some people find fault with MTT is his persistence to occasionally impart his own personality into this music - some see that as an attribute and others don't. I personally don't get annoyed very often with his choices here and the great sonics and playing make up for any other shortcomings. Of course any Mahler cycle is going to be imperfect from the outset - it's a LOT of music to get "right", but for my money he does way way more good than not. I am now: a) Wondering why I don't listen to this cycle more? and b) This is fast becoming a favorite Mahler cycle of mine. Take your pick - M1, M2, M5, etc they are all good.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
I picked up the Gielen cycle last year for a great price during a sale. The sound is great and the orchestra playing is beautiful. Gielen's approach is a bit on the reserved end of the spectrum so it doesn't give me any goose bumps. I'm really liking no. 7 these days so maybe I'll try T.T.
I really dig the Gielen cycle. Yes, its not over the top - more akin to Boulez. You should try some Chailly/Royal Concertgebouw recordings especially M3 and M9 - both of those are stunningly good. The playing is terrific and the sound is really organic, big, full, lush, Romantic, but with lots of detail. Over the top Mahler will always belong to Lenny as far as I'm concerned. I love his approach, yet it's not the only Mahler I want to hear. It's amazing that as detailed as Mahler was in his scores, the music can sound so different in so many ways with various orchestras, conductors, soloists, etc. MTT seems like a nice hybrid of passionate Lenny-isms mixed with the clarity of Boulez and Gielen.
MTT also made another M7 earlier on with the LSO from 1999 - I have that recording as well, and I sort of remembering that I like the older LSO approach better but the sound of the SFS recording more. I could be wrong but that is what I'm thinking. I might hit both of those when I get to it - same with the 2 versions of M6 (there is a brand new 2020 version that I can stream on Spotify).
Reidster - if you can scoop up some MTT discs used for cheap on Clamazon, I don't think you'll regret it. EDIT: just checked on Amazon....these discs are like $4 -6 used! Buy, man, buy!!
Last edited by chalkpie; 03-02-2020 at 08:35 PM.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
I've been doing the eBay thing lately. I find a lot of stuff cheap plus free shp. I hate that four bucks a pop shp charge at Amazon. Rick L. turned me onto World Of Books site. Free shp there.
I snagged the TT LSO M7, and SF M5 for under 10 bucks, shp included from World Of Books.
Y'all ever hear the M5 with Frank Shipway conducting the Royal Philharmonic? That's got some heaviness on it.
Haven't heard Shipway. I'm trying out some more M7 recordings. Listening to Tennstedt's live performance.
No but I'll give 'er a spin if I can find it. I always love hearing different interpretations of M5. I have always loved the Trauermarsch and the adagietto (of course), but over the years its been the 2nd and 3rd mvts that have been the music that really makes this symphony interesting for me.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
Super low price on the Gielen Mahler box at JPC at the moment.
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/det...6/hnum/7443586
^^ His 5th has always been my favorite.
"Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama
It's a rarity to find composers I hadn't previously run into, but this 10-CD of British Symphonists does that. Lots of new discoveries amidst some (to me) warhorses. Highly recommended to fans of Holst, Bax, Arnnold, Vaughan Williams, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Elgar-Bax-Del...3581381&sr=8-1
My favorite has allways been the 2.
How is the soundquality on this?
I cant hear it 'in my country' ...
That movement was very nice RickWell played, well recorded.
A fun "activity" with Mahler is just randomly pick any 10 second segment of virtually any movement and sometimes you hear details that are otherwise lost when you do the whole thing in one go. I just randomly chose a few spots and it sounded like I had never heard that movement before
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
Gun to my head - I think M2 might be my fav, along with M7 and M9....maybe M3 too.
If it isn't Krautrock, it's krap.
"And it's only the giving
That makes you what you are" - Ian Anderson
I listened to that clip and I didn't even recognize the music. But No.5 is probably the symphony I listen to the least. I had to rectify that and I listened to Bernstein's DG recording.
A fun "activity" with Mahler is just randomly pick any 10 second segment of virtually any movement and sometimes you hear details that are otherwise lost when you do the whole thing in one go. I just randomly chose a few spots and it sounded like I had never heard that movement before
Bummer you can't check it out. I have the original CD release with a different cover. Sounds great.
My piano teacher and I go rounds on this one. He refers to composition as "creative" and performance as "re-creative", giving the performer some latitude. He talks about the progression from Baroque composers giving very little direction to the performer, to newer composers (particularly Debussy) being prescriptive about how the performer should interpret. Even with the Debussy preludes (La Cathedral Engloutie at the moment), we're finding a lot of "wiggle room" for interpretation.
On the other hand, I recently discovered this performance of Pictures at an Exhibition and fell in love with it. She's Russian, and brings her Russian perspective to this in a way that other Russian pianists haven't (specifically, Ashkenazy and Richter). My piano teacher didn't care for it so much, and called her interpretation of Baba Yaga's Hut "disturbing." ("Yes, it's supposed to be disturbing!") Anyway, here's an interesting perspective on Pictures.
I think the subtext is rapidly becoming text.
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