Dave's Faves No. 169 (Mahler)
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- Опубліковано 7 лип 2022
- Mahler: Symphony No. 3. New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (cond.) Sony
Mahler: Symphony No. 3. Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink (cond.) Decca (Philips)
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Whaaat? I love "trashy" Italian opera. And I'm a fan of Mahler and Bruckner. And literally the world's biggest JS Bach fan! We exist! :D
I never understood the idea behind complaining that the big, thrilling, emotional symphony is being played like it is big, thrilling and emotional.
I have a soft spot for Levine's and Chicago on RCA, which was the my first CD ever(!) - a double-decker which I cherish not only for the excitment of the marvelous music-making, but for the first thrill of CD sound and (not least) the magical Cover Art by Maurice Sandak... I'm sure we all have soft spots for our first records or CDs - and I wander what were yours...
I love this work. I. call this The Creation Symphony
its actually the creation and the ending
@@hillcresthiker true, but I think it sounds good, or sometimes I call it Symphony of the Earth.
I first heard Mahler 3 on BBC radio 3 in 1976 and I was hooked. The final Movt 'What love tells me' moved me immensely. Later that year I visited family in the USA (MA) During a shopping trip I came across a recording of Mahler 3 on RCA conducted by James Levine, Marilyn Horne (Oh Mensch Gib Acht), Chicago Symphony Orchestra and women's chorus. This recording is my No 1 favourite, it is beautifully recorded.. I have several other recordings including the Haitink and Bernstein as recommended by Dave. Another recording I admire is the BPO/Abbado recording taken from a live performance in the Royal Festival Hall in London.
However, given a choice as a Desert Island disc the RCA Levine recording would be my choice. Mahler 3 is a wonderful symphony that never fails to move me. In my opinion it is probably his best symphony, though I love them all.
@David Smith David, I couldn't agree more. The 3rd is my favorite Mahler; the size, the scope, the sheer audacity. I think Levine nailed the piece in his recording, (oh, that celebrated Chicago brass!) especially in that final heavenly Adagio. Sublime.
Thanks for the Levine recommendation. I live in Boston and was fortunate to hear him conduct the BSO in Mahler 3 twice. Both performances were excellent. He did a great live Mahler 4 with the BSO as well. I found the recording that you mentioned on eBay and plan on picking it up. Thanks again! 🙂
Levine's double vinyl with the amazing Maurice Sendak cover was the Third I "imprinted" on, and I still feel that Levine is the best at pulling the great God Pan right out of the old root chakra and straight into your heart, if you take my mearning.
@@davidblackburn3396 HI David, thanks for your reply. The Levine recording is stunning and despite having many recording of the 3rd it is a classic. Kind regards. David
@@edwinbelete76
Hi Edwin, Thanks for your reply. I hope you enjoy the recording as much as I do!
Sony Music (RCA) released an incomplete box set of Levine's recordings of Mahler Symphonies (symphonies 1,3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10) . I'm not sure if it is still available, if you can obtain it it is well worth the effort and ?cost.
Incidentally Levine recorded (Live) Symphony No 2 "Resurrection" with the VPO and soloists Christa Ludwig and Kathleen Battle, on the Orfeo label. Well worth obtaining if you can get a copy?
To my knowledge Levine has not recorded the 8th Symphony.
Kind Regards. David
I love this Mahler....Recently heard the live performance Mehta with the Berlin Philharmonic....A powerful performance. It is fascinating to watch the orchestra play Mahler. I have over a dozen recordings of the 3rd. But Mehta's is so moving....it has become one of his favorite pieces.
Interesting that these were the first stereo recordings and that both have held up so well.
David Hurwitz, especially here, is brilliant and illuminating
Always thought this was one of Mahler's most profound compositions.
Maureen Forrester is unforgettable in Haitink´s recording. I prefer Lenny´s DG recording because of Christa Ludwig.
I love the NYP Bernstein, and have always wondered whether the anomalous trumpet note in the first movement’s first episode was the product of player error or editorial error in the score. I am referring to the first note of rehearsal figure 8, where Mahler suddenly changes the first trumpet line from treble to bass clef. It’s the only recording I have ever heard with that anomaly. Once you hear it, you can’t unhear it.
One of my favorites (the Sony), too. Currently have the Japanese remastering.
Oh yes. I saw the Colorado Mahlerfest perform this in May. It was as lovely as a pickup festival orchestra can do. The soloist Stacey Rishoi was very good. I was hoping to travel to Atlanta last month to see them play it but we couldn’t make the plan work out. Love the Bernstein Mahler 3.
Hey, I was at that concert. Not bad, the choir could have been stronger. And the hall was shamefully not filled.
@@martinhaub2602 post pandemic blues, I’m guessing. Actually that was my first Mahlerfest. Do they usually sell out?
An excellent choice, and probably the best Bernstein M3 performance, I agree. Not sure I'm in total accord that he always followed Mahler's score markings, though he was pretty close in this performance. He strayed at times in other Mahler symphonies, but that's just interpretive latitude, which Mahler himself exercised as a conductor. As you so rightly point out, the 1st movement, which could easily be played as a standalone orchestral poem, is critical to any performance of this collosal work. The other recordings you noted are fine as well, the Fischer in particular. I'm also partial to Chailly's with the Concertgebouw. As you said, lots of really good ones to be enjoyed.
He didn't stray nearly as much as those who claim he strayed too much.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Heartily agreed.
Hey, recently discovered your channel - incredible stuff, got so many excellent recordings follolwing your recommendations. One question - have you heard Semyon Bychkov's recording of this symhony (2003 WDR Köln Orchestra)? If so - what are your thoughts? Best regards!
I think it's just average--not bad, not great.
@@DavesClassicalGuide thanks for reply. I think what compels me about that recording is an amazing audio quality - I don't have enough expertise to judge the interpretation itself (yet!)
End conclusion: we need to be thankful to German spa towns! :-) Great talk (again)
Agreed, but I would go for "three Fa" and add Abbado and the Vienna. ( With one J. Norman as a bonus.) Yet another example of subsequent recordings not eclipsing the earlier ones.......For all three...... Bernstein, Haitink and Abbado !
Oh, no. That's a very mediocre recordings, and Norman brings nothing special to the picture.
I adore the Berstein New York 3, but (sorry for the sacriliege!) the Berlin Abbado Mahler 3 is still fabulous in my book. The strings in the finale are golden - if you like golden. His version is dramatically Italian (even operatically so?).
An excellent performance and recording.
Just a note for Bernstein-Mahler fans. I liked David's pointing out in his excellent larger Mahler 3 compendium that Bernstein's second recording has the better final movement. For me that extraordinary sixth movement is what makes me reach for that one over the incredible and iconic 60's recording. The Haitink and the Chailly 9th and other similar efforts in Amsterdam point out the obvious: the Concertgebouw is as good as it gets for Mahler. I am sure Dave can point out many recordings by the RCO that didn't make the grade because of lackluster conducting but bad playing???? With that band, is it possible???
Yes, it is.
My friend is brass player stressed Sinopoli / PO / DG is the best very beginning of fanfare in M3 ... what do you think Master ?
Honestly, that is typical talk of a brass player. Who cares?
Aunque Bernstein es muy bueno en esta sinfonía, pero en el último movimiento, Haitink es muy cinematográfico.
Funny how, in some Mahler circles, it is close to sacrilege just to mention Mahler's high opinion of "trashy" Italian bel canto opera, and his occasional borrowings of thematic and rytmic ideas from works by Donizetti ("Dom Sebastiano" : third Gesellenlieder) and as you mention; Verdi.
Now with the risk of being seriously reprimanded by Maestro Hurwitz;
I greatly appreciated the Bernstein recommendation as this was my premiere-listening experience of Mahlers Third that blew me away and still does. It just sounds so "right" as interpretation, wonderfully imaginative in the two first middle movements.
But then shortly afterwards I heard Jasha Horensteins recording which made an equally strong impression; different from Bernsteins but no less "right". However Lenny remains my first choice were I to be forced to choose.
When I first heard the piece I had two recordings, Bernstein's and Horenstein's, and I loved them both equally. I still think Horenstein's was a worthy effort in its day, but over time just think it was outclassed by many other versions, especially those with the willingness to follow Mahler's tempo markings and conduct without the rhythmic rigidity (especially in the first movement) that undermines so much of Horenstein's work.
Just to follow up @@paxpaxart4740 I relistened to Horenstein which I still basically appreciate. I am inclined to think that what what Maesto Hurwitz percieve as lack of "rythmic rigidity" is what some of us percieve as "stoic determination" - which is essential to lend the first movement its pondus. Anyway I do miss the special magic-of-the-moment feel which Bernstein infuses into his first recording (and I still have to find a copy of Haitinks) but just to mention one more recent recording which I greatly appreciate too: Sinopolis DG studio effort with the Philharmonia.
As Hurwitz once pointed out: Sinopoli and his DG sound engineers created a saturated and yummy bordering to voluptuous soundscape for his Mahler cycle which really works its magic in the recording of the third which I believe is also Sinopolis most consistent and successful interpretation in this uneven cycle. Curious if you have heard it ?