Personally, I am a huge fan of Bernstein's interpretations of the Mahler symphonies. The 5th symphony with NY Phil and Chambers playing the 3rd movement obbligato is a fine recording of that piece.
Paul On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 11:26 AM, John Dutton <[email protected]> wrote: > Of course since Bruno Walter was pretty much the disciple of Mahler, > worked and studied with Mahler, and was instrumental in championing > those works. I'd have to believe Dr. Walter had a pretty good idea of > what Mahler intended with his symphonies. Better than the sheer > bombast of today. Also, Walter's interpretations changed-sometimes > dramatically-over his life. If one listens to the Vienna Philharmonic > recording of #9 (1938) and the Columbia recording of 1962 there are > many lifetimes of experiences coloring the latter including the death > of his own daughter in 1942 (I think). In the end, Walter would only > conduct a few of Mahler symphonies, primarily 1, 2, 4, 5, 9. Those I > think had the most philosophical importance for him. Many of those > recordings are worth listening to even if the audio quality is not up > to today's sterile standards. > > That said, there is room for any well thought out interpretation in my > opinion. My issue with many current conductors is that they fail to > maintain the arc and arch of the emotional impact from the first note > to the last. The overall intent is destroyed by too much bombast in > the effort to play everything equally overwrought. > > Having played some Mahler under Solti's baton I can say with certainty > that there was plenty of excitement combined with a musical plan. It > wasn't all about being loud. > > The Jack Attack! > > On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 11:00 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Send Horn mailing list submissions to > > [email protected] > > > > I have always found the Bruno Walter recording to be fascinating, but not > very > > satisfying. The approach is vastly different from most more-recent > > performances. Most striking for me is that the whole production is far > less > > powerful and bombastic. In general, this performance does not sustain > loud > > sections nearly as much. Also, the audio quality is very poor, which can > make > > it difficult to enjoy. > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/parsifal560sec%40gmail.com > _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
