Dame Janet Baker, Jennie Tourel - Mahler: The Complete Symphonies ~ Bernstein
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Free Music Notes for Mahler: The Complete Symphonies ~ Bernstein
Free Music Review: Bernstein's Mahler - Exceptional Passion, Wonderful Craft
Hit: 4 Stars
Leonard Bernstein brought Gustav Mahler to the public. For that, he is to be lauded or cursed -- based upon what the listener receives from the presentation.I have a numbered copy of the CBS 1960's release of the Symphonies under Maestro Bernstein. Carefully protected and maintained, the vinyl continues to enthrall a listener with Mahler's powerful heart and Bernstein's grasp of each beat.
In agreement with other viewers, I think the CD compilation is ALMOST five-star.
As regards Bernstein's youthful verve in these recordings -- what can one say? He was more powerful then, but contemplative at the same time. His DG recordings are different because, I think, they played to a German/European audience that preferred Mahler's contemporary, Richard Strauss. Strauss was easy to listen to: Mahler is much more challenging.
One can "tech-up" music only so much. This CD package is well worth the price -- and saves unblemished what my vinyl slowly loses. I highly recommend this CD bundle to anyone who loves Gustav's herculean work and wants to remember Leonard Bernstein when he absolutely was in his prime. A better combination of composer to dirigent cannot be had
Free Music Review: Buy it before it goes out of print -- it's only $$$
Hit: 4 Stars
What an incredible bargain! All of Mahler's symphonies in a convenient box in superb performances in excellent sound. Bernstein's may not be my favorite in every symphony, but there's not a bad performance here. Everything is beautifully played by the NYPO, with a lot of enthusiasm -- there's a freshness to these recordings that Bernstein never recaptured in his later recordings (which are much different, though equally great in their way). Some favorites include #3 (a landmark recording at the time) and #4 (passionately played -- some prefer Bernstein's remake on DG, but, come on! The Concertgebouw strings can't play in tune in the slow movement! And that boy alto....) #6,7,9 are all superb. I don't know if any of these performances is the best ever, but they all achieve a level of excellence in playing, sound, verve, and emotion that no other set matches. And it's only $$$! How can you miss? Sony has been a pathetic classical label in recent years, who knows how much longer their classical division will last? Buy it now.Free Music Review: Disagree with GTrain
Hit: 4 Stars
I acquired this album even though GTrain panned the work of Reri Grist in the 4th Symphony. I feel that the quality of Grist's voice is exactly the quality voice that Bernstein was looking for in this symphony. She has a child-like quality to her voice which fits exactly with the sentiment being conveyed in the 4th movement.Free Music Review: Varied Ways of Looking at Mahler
Hit: 3 Stars
In general, I don't find "complete symphonies" of anybody with the same conductor satisfying overviews (exceptions that break the rule, Beethoven: Karajan's from the 1960s, Harnoncourt's, and Furtwangler's compilations which include the wartime Eroica from Berlin and the Pastorale from his return to the BPO concert). Conductors as a rule are better at some than at others. Specifically with Mahler, I need to admit that I don't like all the symphonies equally, nor do I find any one conductor doing them equally as well, so overall, I suggest don't get this box but look for individual items. Let's take one symphony at a time:
First: not one of my favourites, I think it's very loud. Bernstein brings out the klezmer aspects which are cute, but perhaps more subdued highlighting would be enough. It's the "Titan," not the "Jewish" symphony. The performance I enjoy, given that I'm not a fan of the work, is Ormandy with the Philadelphia Orch which includes the Blumine movement (excised by Mahler after the premiere), and shows the later Philadelphia sound at its best.
Second: The earlier movements of the symphony are insufferable, as well as parts of the last.... just when you hope Mahler is through with gaucheries, along comes another embarrasing little march. Notwithstanding shortcomings, by the time the chorus comes in, it becomes sublime. No one can top Klemperer/Wilhelm Pitz, serious music making at its best. Abbado from Lucerne a close second. Rattle from Birmingham a refreshing third.
Third: Have not heard fabled Horenstein, so regrettably, not part of this survey. Otherwise, Abbado from Vienna (Jessie Norman), slower, Abbado from Berlin (Larsson),a bit sprightlier, Essa Pekka Salonen from LA (Larsson), great clarity and passion. This is one of my favourite Mahler symphonies.
Fourth: Reiner with the CSO and Lisa della Casa, to my knowledge his only Mahler symphony, and a great one it is, lyrical and powerful. This symphony has lovely moments, even if the end is a bit saccharine/silly, nonetheless, it is quite fine. Bernstein on DG is fine, but having a boy soprano (Alan Bergius, whom he also used in live concert with the VPO in New York) just doesn't work and is distracting.
Fifth: Another of my favourites and hors de concours go to Karajan. He totally commands the structure of the entire piece and brings it all to bear in the climactic conclusion. ..... a stunning, moving job. Barbarolli is more leisurely but persuasive in a somewhat muted way. Bernstein brings his sense of drama to this sprawling work, very effective in individual parts but does not convey a feeling that one has travelled a musical journey from the first note to the last. The later recording is preferable to the NY Philhamonic.
Sixth: For a budget price incredible buy, there's George Szell with the Cleveland in a live performance who keeps you at the edge of your seat. It's Tragic going on Hysterical, but a thrill to hear. Karajan excels as do Bernstein and Boulez.
Seventh: I've yet to fully make this symphony work for me. Nonetheless, Abbado with the BPO does as much for it as I have been able to grasp, closely followed by Boulez. Bernstein makes much drama out of the music which to my ears, just makes it sound even more hollow, to paraphrase WS much sound and fury, signifying nothing. To summarize my feelings about this symphony, it sounds like a second rate, ingenious composer trying to write a symphony that will sound as if by Mahler. I've changed my mind about specific pieces of music in the course of my life, but every time I've heard this symphony, even with renowned conductors and orchestras, it reinforces past disdain.
Eighth: Solti and the CSO recorded in Vienna. No one comes close. The Veni Creator movement noisy and musically messy as always and as with everybody. Once we get to Goethe it is sublime.
Ninth: Karajan's live performance with the BPO is powerful verging on sublime. An entirely different approach, with double underlining whenever he can, Bernstein's ONE performance with the BPO is the best ninth he ever recorded. Extraordinarily moving overall, except some accents to which one reacts: Lenny no, it's just a bit too much, nonetheless a great performance. His with the Concertgebouw is also fine. The Walter/VPO is a must for historical reasons and it is a good performance, even if orchestral discipline is spotty.
Tenth: Rattle seems to have staked a claim on this reconstructed work and does quite efficient work with it. However, I am very fond of the Ormandy version (the first ever made of the Cooke fleshing out). He conducts it as a feast for Phildelphia Sound..... and succeeds splendidly. It's a joy to hear and endures repeated hearings.
Das Lied von der Erde: With a deep historical bow to Kirsten Thorborg, Kathleen Ferrier, Patzak, Walter and the VPO, in more modern sound we have three superlative recordings, each with Christa Ludwig, who probably understands this music better than any other solo around, and for the longest time had the richness, intelligence, heft, evennes, and tessitura to do it full justice: Klemperer with Wunderlich, Karajan with Kollo, and, on DVD with Bernstein with Kollo and the Israel Ph. from the Vienna Kontzerthaus. The DVD is particularly moving. Nan Merriman with Eugen Jochum, and Maureen Forrester with Reiner are also fine options.
Thus, don't settle on one conductor....... there was Mahler before, during and after Bernstein. My reluctance to endorse Bernstein wholeheartedly, though I find much to appreciate there, is that the hyper-emotionalism more often than not is episodic, thereby taking from the musical structure of the pieces as a whole and, ironically, thereby diminishing their emotional impact. I guess it all becomes too much about Lenny and not about the piece.
Free Music Review: Groundbreaking but partly outdated
Hit: 3 Stars
Recorded 1960-67, this is the first complete cycle of Mahler's numbered symphonies (1-9 + no. 10 Adagio), and, as such, an essential purchase. Add Bernstein's 1966 classic recording of Das Lied von der Erde (Decca), and you get a piece of recording history: the development of the Mahler boom in the sixties.
How do these recordings stand today? The interpretations of the third, fourth, and seventh are very fine, even exceptional, and, despite their age, the recordings are sonically impressive as well. NYPO plays marvellously. The seventh, in particular, is a reference disc.
The remaining recordings are not really for the desert island, however. The fifth, for instance, is very unsuccessful and badly recorded too. Bernstein's later account on DG is clearly an improvement. The same holds for the second symphony, which you also find on DG in a later, much improved and moving interpretation. But here we have also a crowded field of classic performances, such as Klemperer's second (EMI) and Walter's fifth (SONY). Both are preferable to Bernstein's recordings, old or new.
The first, sixth, eight and ninth are quite good but not exceptional. No one beats Kubelik's first (DG). Mitropoulos (BMG Great Conductors) and Barbirolli (EMI) own the sixth. The eight - well, here we have Horenstein (BBC) and Mitropoulos (Orfeo) as classic, first choices. And for the ninth, Ancerl (Supraphon), Barbirolli (EMI), Klemperer (EMI) and Walter (SONY) sound far more attractive and fresh than Bernstein's mannered account.
If you're a collector this box is of course essential - regardless all critical considerations. But if you just look for an excellent and consistent Mahler box, go for Gary Bertini's cycle on EMI, which you get for a super-bargain price. It's a contemporary and future classic.
Thus I recommend a pick of individual Bernstein SONY CDs: the third, the fourth and the seventh. Add his seventh, sixth, fifth and second from his DG recordings, and his 1966 Das Lied von der Erde (Decca). These recordings are what I take to be the "essentials" of the Bernstein Mahler legacy.