jeffw@tekecs.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) (12/15/83)
I guess I'm just perverse, but I LIKE the Bernstein recordings of Mahler
symphonies. For one thing, when the music is as fine as Mahler, I tend
to get lost in it and pay less attention to recording quality (sacrilege!).
But the real reason is probably that the first Mahler I ever heard
(at the tender age of 14) was the first movement of the Ninth on the
Bernstein recording. I've never been the same since.
The way to listen to Verklaerte Nacht, in my opinion, is to hear a GOOD
string sextet play it. I've never been very enthusiastic about the
transcription for string orchestra - too mushy. But the original version,
if well played, comes across. (If it's poorly played, and you don't listen
too closely, you're likely to mistake it for some much later Schoenberg piece.)
Jeff Winslow