| today i made a purchase - and it's not neccessarily one i regret...i had been long pining for the CSO's newest release of the Mahler 3rd under their newly appointed music director Bernard Haitink and today, i finally (for better or for worse) broke down and bought it... overall, i thought it was a fantastic effort matched by a near-flawless performance...it did have its few disappointments but then so does every recording... i've heard a few recordings of this symphony, namely the powerfully muscular CSO rendition under Solti, the gloriously refined San Francisco Symphony account under Tilson-Thomas and this one... i like Tilson-Thomas' Mahler and if memory serves, he's already completed his recordings of the Mahler cycle with the SFS...his approach can best be described as 'appropriate'...if Mahler specifies 'forte' that's what we get, if he specifies 'piano', that's what we get...of course there's nothing wrong with this but there is a certain dramatic effect that unfortunately remains absent and his recording of the Mahler 3rd is no exception...it's a fine recording (even if the retail price is a ridiculous $30), very well balanced with concentration held through-out but not near enough intense for me...others may differ... then we have Solti's (1982?) recording with Chicago...i must say i like this account even better than Tilson-Thomas' refined version even if it's a bit rough around the edges and the closing Adagio is not concentrated enough...Solti's rough way with Mahler works well in the opening movement where, in the closing bars, the orchestra takes an almost barbaric approach...the whole recording is searingly vivid, dramatic and, except for the Finale, utterly captivating...it's typical output from the CSO/Solti collaboration of that period - full of brass, very loud when just 'loud' would probably do (that probably just comes from the recording technology), very precise...yet the MAJOR drawback to this recording is the Finale...i think Solti really missed something here and his usual way with the CSO does not work here...he himself admitted that he was still getting to know Mahler in the '90's...basically, he didn't know what to do with himself or his orchestra and it shows...here's what happened in this recording: excellent brass, good know-how in the louder sections, shaky on overall concept of form... finally Haitink's Mahler which, honestly, is somewhere in the middle of these two recordings...someday, i want to purchase the Solti version but for the time being, i am more than content to make my Mahler 3 listening with Haitink...as long as we're talking honestly, however, this whole recording should not have been as hyped up as it was...there are really two reasons for this: 1) Haitink was just installed as music director and, ooh-la-la, he's already made a recording...2) since the orchestra pays the triangle player $100,000 minimum base salary a year and everyone else $115,000+ a year, they haven't had a lot of money to throw around in the past few years... anyway, the playing is fabulous and it's obvious that some of the rough-hewn edges of the Solti days are long gone...but what has taken it's place is a more soft approach which is good or bad depending on what you like...sometimes, i like it and other times, i really don't but that's just personal preferance...i would really have liked the Coda of the first movement to be a little bit more frenetic but it does not at all diminish the level of playing i have already gleaned...surprisingly enough, the brass has still got it...since the Solti days: Herseth retired, Friedman's topping off at about 68 years old, Clevenger's due to retire, Jacobs is gone, Martin took Herseth's spot and Barenboim happened...considering all that, it's encouraging that the brass, for the most part sound just as rock solid as they did 30 years ago...the articulation is a lot less bitting, though...some people like that...it's a give and take i suppose... i did not get an impression that this is the most concentrated account out there and it's certainly not the most intense but it's not at all wimpy either...like i said, it's somewhere in the middle of the two previously mentioned recordings and that's a hard spot to define...i will say that the microphone placement definately seemed to favor the brass and woodwinds which gives it more of an edge than the Tilson-Thomas version...the intonation on this recording is impeccible and the balance is much more percieved... what makes this recording is the Finale...Haitink did well with it and it is most definately, of the three recordings mentioned here, the most sublime, poignant and passionate...the closing chorale in the brass gave me goosebumps as i was listening to it and the string sound at the beginning is fantastically lush...like i said, it's amazing what that brass section can do...Chris Martin took the spot of one of the most legendary orchestral trumpet players of all time and not only has the most gorgeous pure trumpet sound i've heard from anyone save Herseth himself but also is doing an admirable job of developing his 'forte' trumpet sound...Friedman, pusing 68 years, continues to get increasingly resonant sound every time i hear him...the guy just seems unstoppable and it's the fact that he keeps trying to reach the unreachable in terms of sound concept that partially endears him to me as the model for my own playing... that's it for now...if anything else occurs to me, i'll gladly edit the post... |
