on 11/26/02 9:42 AM, Steve Smith at ssmith36@sprynet.com wrote:
I've made an exception, patching together favorite recordings of the various symphonies by a variety of conductors and orchestras, heavy on Bernstein and Rattle
Much as I love Leonard Bernstein, I really don't dig his choice of Jeanne Tourel for the vocal Mahler. I know his 1960s Mahler recordings are supposed to be definitive, but the rubatos tend to be a bit extreme and his way with dynamics tends towards melodrama. Mahler built enough of the highly emotional right into the pieces, and it's easy to overdo. About four years ago, I had the fortune to attend a concert of the 9 conducted by Zubin Mehta. For those of you not familar, the last section of the adagio that closes the symphony is a long, slow fadeout. Of all the bits of business in Mahler's canon, this tends to be handled the most sloppily (tempos deccelerating, dynamics that don't make much sense etc). Mehta, OTTH, handled it as a kind of slow march into the sunset -- super-steady tempo, with an ongoing diminuendo that seemed regulated by the tempo. It gave the ending -- and therefore the whole piece -- a stately quality one usually associates with Brahms, and also gave the orchestra something to play that they could -- as a band -- latch onto, a common feeling to communicate. It was splendid. Afterwards, I was introduced to Zubin, with whom I spoke for a minute (he was quite aware of Mark Feldman's playing on Uri's record). Then -- ohboy ohboy ohboy ohboy -- the score librarian (whose brother got us the tix) asked if I wanted to see something interesting. Sure. We went back to the libaray room, and there, on a desk, was Mahler's own finished score for the 9. "Those markings there are Stoki's. Those -- he pointed -- are Lenny Bernstein's. And those -- again pointing -- are Mahler's." I put my hand on the thing, hoping something of Bernstein's musicality would infiltrate my palm. So far, no luck. skip h