Word: mahlers
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...More Mahler...
...Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), one of the most popular conductors of his day, saw to it that his Faustian symphonies and yearning song cycles were performed as often as possible. But he knew as well as anyone that his music was way ahead of its day. "My time will come," he said. And now it has. Today the record companies lavish the kind of attention on him that they used to reserve for Beethoven and Brahms. Some choice items from a recent batch...
SYMPHONY NO. 4, BRUNO WALTER AND THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC (Odyssey); RAFAEL KUBELIK AND THE BAVARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY (Deutsche Grammophon); DAVID OISTRAKH AND THE MOSCOW PHILHARMONIC (Angel/Melodiya). This seraphic, fairy-tale score is the best introduction to Mahler. Bruno Walter's 23-year-old classic recording is rechanneled for stereo, with less bass than the original mono, but more polish in the middles and highs. Those who want a modern recording will like Kubelik's lithe and luminous version. The interpretation by Violinist-turned-Conductor Oistrakh is, unfortunately, unsympathetic and at times eccentric...
SYMPHONY NO. 6, SIR JOHN BARBIROLLI AND THE NEW PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA (Angel, two LPs). The tragic beauty and power of this score can scarcely be matched anywhere. "It is the sum of all the suffering I have been compelled to endure at the hands of life," said Mahler. Barbirolli drains every ounce of Angst from the music, and the recording itself is superbly engineered...
...KNABEN WUNDERHORN, ELISABETH SCHWARZKOPF, DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU, GEORGE SZELL CONDUCTING THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Angel). Though not a happy composer, Mahler could be light-hearted when he turned to folk poetry. In these twelve songs-drawn from the German folk anthology The Youth's Magic Horn-he conjures up an impish world of humorous saints, sorrowful drummer boys, cuckoos and nightingales. As one would expect from such a line-up of talent, this version abounds with interpretive delights. It does not, however, outclass Angel's previous recording by Janet Baker, Geraint Evans and Conductor Wyn Morris with...