cbf@allegra.UUCP (12/15/83)
The First is very well represented on records, and I would recommend the Kubelik (QUEUE-blik) recording on DG Privilege which is cheaper and, I think, a better performance than the Ozawa which is surprisingly good and boasts better recorded sound. [Another mini-flame: Ozawa is another one of my pet "hate" conductors. A friend of mine once summed it up perfectly: fit only to conduct Strauss waltzes. There's a dreadful rumour that Ozawa, the chief guest conductor at the Berlin, is the conductor most likely to succeed Herbert von Karajan (CARR-e-ian). I refuse to believe it. That would be one of the great disasters in the history of recorded music, almost at the level of the shady way in which Karajan replaced Furtwangler at the Berlin. But again that's another story.] A while back, someone on the net placed a strong plug for an upcoming Solti recording of the First. You might want to wait for that, as it's bound to have superb sound and at least a very good performance. Solti is in the midst of his SECOND Mahler cycle by the way. He made an earlier one with the London SO. There have been a number of great recordings of the Second by names like Walter, Klemperer and Bernstein. More recent recordings include another one by Solti (his earlier one also has a great reputation) on London (digital) and Abbado on DG. I haven't heard the more recent Solti, but he's supposed to whip up a lot of excitement. I own the Abbado and recommend it, as does Oscar. Very intense and deeply felt with superb sound. Footnote: Bernstein will be conducting the NYPO and my two absolutely favorite singers in the whole wide world (Jessye Norman and Barbara Hendricks) in a performance of "Resurrection" in January. This is going to be one hot ticket, as his performance of that piece with the NYPO in the sixties is legendary. I recommend the very recent Tennsdedt recording of the Fourth on EMI. I've only heard it once, but I felt it was more true to the intimate spirit of the work than my Karajan recording which is a little too lush and refined. This is one of Mahler's most likeable symphonies. Very playful and quite wonderful. I believe that it was Kubelik who conducted the awesome Adagietto (4th movement) from the Fifth for the movie "Death in Venice". By the way, this (great! in spite of what most people say) Visconti movie is based on a Thomas Mann novella, which is almost blatantly inspired by Mahler's life, complete with the death of his daughter and his fascination with youth and death. The classic recording is the Barbirolli on EMI. The one I own is the Karajan. He takes the Adagietto even slower than I thought possible and makes it a spine-tingling event. The Sixth is second only to the Seventh in difficulty of interpretation. However, it's found its match only in the Karajan recording. The first movement, a grim march which makes the one in the Symphonie Fantastique seem like a ball by comparison, is the only easily accessible movement. The last one marks the darkest point of Mahler's output, and ends with a practical joke which is too horrible to be funny, in a way the inverse of the end of "Resurrection". The Seventh, as Oscar points out, has not had much luck on records, except for the Haitink recording. The symphony was written for the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and they make it the high point of Haitink's cycle. A wonderful record. Still, it will be interesting to see what Karajan does with it. Currently, the only acceptable recording of the Eight is indeed Solti's, but his recording doesn't begin to do justice to the massive forces involved. Any day now, one of the big guns is bound to tackle it in digital. I recently read somewhere that Abbado has a new contract with DG, involving the completion of his Mahler cycle, which consists so far of 2,3,4,5 and 6. Eight might be next. My thoughts on the Third and the Ninth in yet another article. -- "Yes, but is it art?" Charles B. Francois (decvax!allegra!cbf)