This remarkably original work, with its recurring quotations from the composer’s own songs, notably Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) and Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn), is the perfect expression of one of Mahler’s most quoted sayings, “The symphony is a world; it must contain everything”. The opening movement, filled with sounds that Mahler remembered from his childhood, depicts “Nature’s awakening from the long sleep of winter”, and is followed by an exuberant scherzo and trio based on a Ländler. The disturbing slow movement funeral march, based on the children’s song Frère Jacques, is unlike anything that had been heard before, and the symphony concludes with music of thrilling dramatic intensity.

REVIEWS:

In the finale the brass section is given its opportunity to step forward and they really deliver the goods. The trumpets, tuba, braying horns and tam-tam are thrilling in their impact. There is no distracting applause at the end of the symphony, thank goodness, and this allows for a few seconds thought before realising what a cracking performance has just taken place.

–MusicWeb International

This is a thoughtful performance, very reined-in for the most part, though when Alsop finally lets her Baltimore forces off the leash in the closing peroration the effect is so starling that it blows you away. Earlier on, there are moments when you feel she’s held too much back, particularly in the scherzo, which is overly deliberate. But the sense of wonder of the first movement, together with the ironies of the later funeral march, are breathtakingly done, and all that hard to balance counter-point is beautifully clear.

– Guardian (UK)

The opening concert of the Salzburg Festival, for many regarded as the world's most renowned music festival, is by tradition a high-profile event and the 2011 gala presented here was one of the best in memory. Pierre Boulez, the "grand seigneur of subtle minimalism and exquisitely beguiling sounds" (Der Standard), assembled a cast of tremendous distinction to join the Vienna Philharmonic for this prestigious concert, conceived as a tribute to Gustav Mahler: Dorothea Roschmann, Anna Larsson, Johan Botha and rising star Anna Prohaska. After two works by Mahler's pupil Alban Berg, featuring Roschmann and Prohaska, the main event of the concert if Mahler's large-scale cantata Das klagende Lied - a "great spectral opera for the mind's eye" (Vienna Zeitung).

Also available on Blu-ray

Mariss Jansons is one of the most influential conductors of our age. In 2012 the charismatic Latvian musician conducted his second New Year Concert in Vienna, an honour that very few conductors have enjoyed. For the present documentary portrait, the film maker Robert Neumüller observed Jansons at work in Amsterdam, Riga, St Petersburg, Vienna and Salzburg. The film shows Jansons working with his various orchestras, including rehearsals for the 2012 New Year Concert, and also explores his private life, resulting in a number of fascinating insights into Jansons’ artistic development and philosophy. By way of a bonus, this release features a complete performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Mariss Jansons.

Subtitles: G, E, F, Sp, Chin, Kor
Booklet: E, G, F
No. of Discs: 2
Run time: 145 minutes
Disc Format: DVD
Picture: NTSC, 16:9
Audio: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1
Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Introducing François-Xavier Roth - the charismatic new Principal Conductor of the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden and Freiburg in his debut recording as part of the SWRmusic/haenssler CLASSIC collaboration that has produced so many critically acclaimed recordings. This beautiful program features two Late Romantic paeans to nature: Mahler's popular First Symphony and Anton Webern's early, lushly scored tone poem, "Im Sommerwind".

The journey starts in Switzerland, in the canton of Thurgau, leading from Steckborn and the Bodensee to the Rhine Falls. From Styria, in Austria, comes Hockosterwitz Castle and from Bavaria Weikersheim Castle, the latter intercut with wild life.

MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde • Hans Graf, cond; Jane Henschel (mez); Gregory Kunde (tenor); Houston SO • NAXOS 8.572498 (62:46) Live: Houston 11/19–22/2009


Just as I noted with some dismay the relative dearth of recordings of the original version of Das Lied for full orchestra ( Fanfare 35:4), this new CD arrives from Naxos. It’s also encouraging to see an American orchestra and its music director featured on a major label, since new recordings of orchestras in the U.S. increasingly originate from in-house labels like SFS Media and CSO Resound (though the lack of the former necessitated the latter).


Any performance of Das Lied lives or dies by its soloists, and taste in voices is a particularly individual foible. I’ve found that I have no tolerance for the type of ripe, chocolate-thick mezzo or contralto common to many recordings (and that, alas, includes such greats as Maureen Forrester and Kathleen Ferrier). Given those constraints, I find this performance to be one of the best I’ve heard.


Gregory Kunde is described in the bio included in the notes as a bel canto singer, but he proves more than adequate in the Heldentenor demands of “Der Trinklied” (hard to fake in a live concert recording). His sensitivity to the text, however, may be his strongest quality; the reiterations of “dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod” are each sung with a slight diminuendo and a touch of melancholy that are truly heartfelt. His lyrical side is heard to salubrious effect in “Von der Jugend,” while the two styles combine to make “Der Trunkene” a rousing, tipsy delight.


Jane Henschel, the voice of Maria Aegyptiaca for Eliahu Inbal, Simon Rattle, and Bertrand DeBilly in their respective recordings of Mahler’s Eighth, is a fine Mahler interpreter. Her performance of “Der Abschied” will stand up to most of the competition, but I am also taken with her handling of the fast section describing the handsome youths in “Von der Schönheit”: In a manner approaching Sprechstimme , she navigates the treacherous waters with aplomb, then immediately regains the more stately composure of the rest of the narrative. In “Der Einsame” she combines melancholy and resignation with quiet effectiveness.


Hans Graf accompanies with sensitivity and well-gauged tempos that neither drag nor rush; he allows Henschel the breathing room in “Von der Schönheit” while charging “Der Trinklied” with the kind of momentum needed to convey the angst of the narrator. The Houston Symphony plays as to the manner born. I haven’t heard too much Mahler from this source, but on the strength of this recording, I’d like to hear more. The sound production is another sterling effort by Michael Fine, placing the soloists front and center without undue spotlighting, and revealing plenty of inner voice detailing from the orchestra. Altogether, this is a real bargain at reduced price (texts and translation are available on the Naxos website). Highly recommended.


FANFARE: Christopher Abbot


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Time was when Naxos recordings of core repertoire would be considered cheap and cheerful, but hardly designed to compete with the best in the catalogue. That has long since changed, with a growing number of discs that, while still sold at the super-budget price point, are every bit as desirable as established or more expensive performances. Certainly, Antoni Wit’s Mahler Eight must be at or near the top of the list of recommendations for that work, proof that great Mahler recordings don’t all emanate from Vienna, Berlin or Lucerne.
 
The Houston Symphony Orchestra and their Linz-born music director Hans Graf are both unfamiliar to me, as are the soloists, but as I’ve already hinted that’s hardly an issue where this label is concerned. Indeed, listening to a number of more illustrious recordings in preparation for this review I was reminded of just how difficult it is to alight on an ideal – or near ideal – version of this elusive score. Either the mezzo isn’t up to the sustained demands of that long goodbye or the tenor is overstretched by Mahler’s taxing tessitura; and even if the soloists are up to snuff, the articulation and pacing of the music itself may be problematic. And then there’s the recording quality which, while not the key issue, plays an important part in one’s perception of – and response to - this multi-hued score.
 
Of my selected comparisons two – Raymond Leppard on BBC Radio Classics 9120 and Bernard Haitink on Philips 468 182-2 – feature the limpid tones of Dame Janet Baker. The clarity and directness of her vocal style is always pleasing, and while I don’t share Tony Duggan’s out-and-out enthusiasm for Baker/Leppard and the Alfreda Hodgson/Jascha Horenstein version on BBC Legends 4042-2, I like them rather more than my colleague Marc Bridle does. In particular, Baker’s Der Abschied with Leppard – recorded at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall in 1977 – has a high goose-bump count, and while she sings with characteristic commitment for Haitink she lacks the intensity of feeling that makes the Leppard disc so memorable.
 
Kathleen Ferrier for Bruno Walter (Decca 466 576-2) and Christa Ludwig for Otto Klemperer (EMI 5 66892 2) are her main rivals, although Ferrier’s artless, somewhat old-fashioned, delivery doesn’t appeal to me. Heresy, I know, but I’ve often wondered whether Walter’s link to Mahler and Ferrier’s early death have given this recording a lustre it doesn’t always deserve. And among more recent recordings Cornelia Kallisch sounds warm but all-too-often uninvolved on Michael Gielen’s otherwise admirable version (Hänssler 93.269). Of the men, John Mitchinson – for Horenstein and Leppard – struggles with Mahler’s near-falsetto writing, while Haitink’s James King – placed quite far back - is rather more secure, if a little too generalised for my tastes. Walter’s tenor, Julius Patzak, is full-bodied but a trifle staid, heldentenor Siegfried Jerusalem and the agile Fritz Wunderlich – for Gielen and Klemperer respectively – both fresh and virile.
 
How does the Houston recording fare in this mixed company? In Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde Gregory Kunde sounds pleasing enough, although his voice is less appealing under pressure; at first I felt the orchestra was rather backwardly balanced, but it suits the intimate scale of this performance. The real revelation, though, is Graf, whose reading of the score is very impressive indeed, becoming more insightful as the piece unfolds. He can’t quite match Klemperer for sheer amplitude and nuance, but he does find an astonishing lucidity that works especially well in the trembling loveliness of ‘Der Einsame im Herbst’.
 
In that song mezzo Jane Henschel sings most hauntingly of the loneliness and the transience of life, her delivery discreet but always subtly inflected. In many ways she is the antithesis of Baker, who sometimes strives a little too hard for effect, notably in her recording for Haitink. And while Henschel doesn’t efface memories of Ludwig here, I was captivated by her glowing, unforced response to Bethge’s texts, notably Von der Schönheit. I particularly liked her honeyed lower registers, but again it’s Graf’s lightness of touch and natural rhythms that beguile the mind and ear.
 
Kunde may be overstretched as the drunkard but his delivery has a youthful charm that’s entirely apt; that said, Jerusalem and Wunderlich negotiate those treacherous vocal lines with aplomb, their innig moments more finely calibrated. In terms of sonics the Naxos disc may not be as weighty or tactile as Gielen’s, or as atmospheric as Leppard’s, but at least it isn’t as rough and ready as Horenstein’s. As for the much-lauded Philips sound for Haitink, it isn’t nearly as refulgent as I remember it. The EMI recording for Klemperer is big and bold and, in its GROC version at least, hardly shows its age at all.
 
And despite initial caveats about the Naxos soundstage I have to say the convulsive gong shudder at the start of Der Abschied is just electrifying, ushering in half-an-hour of sublime music and even more sublime singing. For me, Ludwig is sans pareil here, a perfect match for Klemperer’s stoicism, but I can assure you Henschel is just as commanding of mood and line. This is an abendrot like no other, the trembling air suffused with the scents of loveliness and decay. The Houstonians really do capture the evanescence of this music very well indeed; as for Graf, he maintains a sensible and steady pulse throughout, achieving a rare blend of poise and penetration as well. Thankfully the audience is very quiet, and there’s no applause at the end to break this deep, deep spell.
 
Is there an ideal recording of Das Lied von der Erde? Probably not, but as the talents of this newcomer are so prodigious and its faults so minor I’d say this one comes pretty close.
 
-- Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International

The New York Philharmonic - America's preeminent symphony orchestra gave 'A Concert for New York' to mark the tenth anniversary of the events of 9/11. What work could be better suited to the occasion than Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony with it's 'evocation of every aspect of life' and 'it's profound sense of hope', as the Philharmonic's Music Director Alan Gilbert put it? This concert became an unforgettable event, a 'consistently impressive' performance with 'gripping playing', 'magnificent' soloists and an 'excellent' chorus (New York Times).

Also available on Blu-ray

A CONCERT FOR NEW YORK
In Remembrance and Renewal – The Tenth Anniversary of 9/11

On September 10, 2011, The New York Philharmonic presented ‘A Concert for New York,’ a free performance led by Music Director Alan Gilbert of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. This performance, hailed by the New York Times as “intensely moving,” was given in remembrance and renewal of the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. Telecast in the US on Sunday, September 11, 2011 on PBS’ Great Performances, this musical tribute is now available on DVD and BluRay.

“Mahler’s Second Symphony, Resurrection, powerfully and profoundly explores the range of emotions provoked by the memories of 9/11,” said Alan Gilbert. “This great masterpiece has a very special place in the history and psyche of the New York Philharmonic, but its message of renewal and rebirth is universal. We offer it as a tribute to those lost ten years ago.”

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, “Resurrection”

Dorothea Röschmann, soprano
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
New York Choral Artists
New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Alan Gilbert, conductor

Recorded live at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, New York City, 10 September 2011.

Bonus:
- Interview with Alan Gilbert and Zarin Mehta

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: German, English, French
Running time: 96 mins (concert) + 14 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and their Music Director Riccardo Chailly have already acquired legendary status – glorious reviews and many awards for their recordings testifying to their continuing success. At Leipzig’s International Mahler Festival, to mark the centenary of Mahler’s death, they performed his monumental Second Symphony in the Gewandhaus – together with two marvellous soloists and choral forces quite beyond compare. About the final movement the composer said: “The increasing tension, working up to the final climax, is so tremendous that I don’t know myself, now that it is over, how I ever came to write it.” The painting "Morgenrot" was chosen by internationally acclaimed artist Neo Rauch to feature on the cover of this release on DVD and Blu-ray.
Recorded live at Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, 17 and 18 May 2011.

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, German, French
Running time: 95 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

Charles Adler, a student of Mahler himself, provides emotional truth and scrupulous attention to dynamics in this pioneering first ever commercial recording of Mahler's 6th Symphony.

These are 'historic recordings', but you won't have to listen through a sea of crackles to appreciate them. It is astonishing to consider that Mahler's Sixth, long recognized as one of the century's seminal works, had to wait until 1952 for this, its first commercial recording. Its reappearance reminds us just how recent a phenomenon is the Mahler boom. The conductor may be unfamiliar. A refugee from the Nazis, Charles Adler settled in the USA and married into money, using it to subsidize his own record label, SPA. Which is not to decry the venture: SPA issued records of many new and unknown works, while Adler's own musical credentials were impressive enough — he had been a pupil of Felix Mottl and Mahler himself. That said, he wasn't a man to worry too much about fraudulent marketing. On the original LPs, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra masqueraded variously as the 'Vienna Orchestra' and 'Vienna Philharmonia'. Interested readers should note that an article in the winter issue of Gramophone's sister publication, ICRC, provides further useful background. Whatever may be wrong with Adler's Mahler performances, their emotional truth and scrupulous attention to dynamics goes a long way to compensate for indifferent intonation and some rather rough-and-ready orchestral playing. The timpani are the most persistent offenders and brass tuning often slips under pressure.

Adler's pioneering Sixth is said to have been set down in only 11 hours. Writing in these pages, Deryck Cooke was much taken with it, but then he always saw the first movement as a world-weary trudge rather than the brutal, authoritarian march conceived by Bernstein and emulated by most subsequent interpreters (including Karajan whose own recording is due for reissue). Adler is nothing if not direct. Having chosen his tempo, he sticks to it right through the chorale, the 'Alma' theme and even (no exposition repeat) the pastoral interlude. Mahler warns against undue 'dragging' but Adler's cowbells are anything but distant and quiet - the herd is close by and frisky. By contrast, the beginning of the coda is surely too slow. The Andante is placed second (the documentation by Gerald Fox of the Gustav Mahler Society of New York - is exceptionally strong on the composer's vacillations regarding the order of the middle movements). Cooke thought Adler sluggish here and the deliberate speed does rather draw attention to the thinness of the string sound. Notated portamentos, here as elsewhere, are too reticent. On the other hand, the narrow-bore horn produces a slightly 'stopped' tone which seems just right in context: this is clearly some sort of Viennese orchestra. Sadly, brass intonation again slips at the climax. The Scherzo fares least well. Timpani tuning is fairly wretched, and, despite a slowish tempo, orchestral ensemble and intonation leave much to be desired. Adler's finale is also on the slow side (the whole movement lasts over 33 minutes) but convincingly so, as if recognizing at the outset that the battle has been lost. It's a pity that the second hammer blow (18'55") wasn't retaken as the tam-tam is late. But the closing page is remarkable, the fate motif hammered out in very measured quavers, the finality of the strings' pizzicato emphasized by a lengthy, rhetorical pause.

At which point you may need to sprint across to your CD player to avoid launching into the opening of the Third Symphony. Back in August 1962 (its first release in the UK), Cooke was less enthusiastic about this, eagerly anticipating Bernstein's more professional CBS set. On its own terms, however, I found myself enjoying Adler's reading a good deal. The orchestral playing is better, presumably on account of the symphony being easier to play, and Adler's direct and unaffected approach seems well suited to the vernal, 'outdoors' mood of the work. The second and third movements respond particularly well to his unfussy direction, though again intonation can be poor, especially noticeable when flutes, E flat clarinets or horns are supporting the 'posthorn'. The mezzo gives a notably eloquent account of the fourth movement. Inevitably, there are weaknesses too. Cooke pointed out the excruciating wrong entry by the second violins in the finale (9.01ff. -why was this allowed to stand?) and the symphony's peroration is torpedoed by the sour tuning of the wind choir and a curiously abrupt last note. Adler is not the only conductor unsure how to pace the first movement. He has summer march in at a noticeably slower tempo (against Mahler's instructions) at 2304" and the transition to the recapitulation is awkward. The Fafner-like glissandos in horn and bassoon at the outset are strongly characterized, but those seismic runs in the basses are nowhere near distinct enough. Tension is allowed to dissipate.

Conifer find room for Adler's textually suspect torso of the Tenth (the first movement plus the "Purgatorio"). The violas cope well in the rarefied atmosphere of the opening, but the violins struggle later on. For once, Adler and/or his recording team do not make quite enough of dynamic markings and you may feel that a basic tempo is never adequately established. Still, the closing pages are as affecting as ever, notwithstanding a peculiarly 'twangy' and close-miked harp. All in all, this is a set of undoubted historical interest, if not quite on a par with the 'classic' Mahler recordings of, say, Bruno Walter. Those constitute essential purchases for the general collector. Adler's Mahler on the other hand will appeal primarily to Mahler completists who will scarcely believe their luck. Despite the difficulties encountered in preparing the present release, the remastering has been well handled and the notes are excellent.

-- Gramophone [2/1998]

The first official release of Mitropoulos’s mighty vision of Mahler’s Third.

This release is an extremely important one for admirers of Dimitri Mitropoulos. It contains, released officially for the first time, his only recording of the complete Mahler Third Symphony. There is another recording, made in New York in 1956 and that has just reappeared in a fascinating boxed set of Mahler performances by this conductor - reviewed by me recently. Unfortunately, that New York reading is compromised by cuts in the first and last movements and by some eccentrically fast speeds. As I said in commenting on that box, the New York performance shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand; however this Cologne performance surely gives us the best representation of Mitropoulos’s view of the symphony.

The Cologne performance is notable in several ways, one of which is the overall distinction of the interpretation. In addition it is the conductor’s very last performance: just two days later, while rehearsing the same symphony in Milan, Mitropoulos collapsed, felled by a massive heart attack, and died. But, it seems, we are even more fortunate to have this recording because, incredible though it seems, according to Michael Schwalb’s booklet note, the conductor actually suffered a heart attack during the performance of the first movement. There was a scheduled interval after that movement and Mitropoulos insisted on returning to the podium and completing the concert. This was news to me: in his authoritative biography, Priest of Music. The life of Dimitri Mitropoulos (1995) William R Trotter merely states that the conductor’s “physical state was so alarming” at the interval that he was begged to curtail the performance. If Mr Schwalb’s account is accurate it is truly amazing that a conductor could direct such a full-on performance of so taxing and lengthy a work under such circumstances.

No allowances need be made for Mitropoulos’s health when you listen to this performance for it carries all the hallmarks of his conducting, not least the intensity and energy that invariably marked his music making. William Trotter asserts that this Cologne performance is “much superior” to the New York reading. I’m not sure I entirely agree. There are flaws in the playing on both recordings – after all, these are both live readings – but it seems to me that the Cologne orchestra, though they give of their considerable best for Mitropoulos, can’t quite match the overall standard of the New Yorkers. That said, no one buying this set is going to feel seriously short changed by the quality of the playing, I think one can forgive fluffs and the inevitable technical shortcomings of a radio recording made over fifty years ago, when confronted by an interpretation of such intensity and one in which the conductor so evidently believes in the score.

One notices the greater sense of space in the Cologne performance right at the start where I calculate the beat in the great horn call at about 102 beats per minute – by contrast, the New York performance is at about 122 beats per minute. This sets the tone for a really gripping reading of the great first movement. One might quibble with the odd interpretative detail here and there but overall the vision that Mitropoulos has of the music is powerfully conveyed. I’d describe quite a lot of the music as sturdy in Mitropoulos’s hands – there’s never quite the hedonistic rush that one gets at times in Bernstein’s 1961 New York recording, still one of my favourites. But I found myself thoroughly convinced.

Though the many dramatic passages in the first movement make the full effect that you’d expect with this conductor he’s good too in the more delicate passages. In the second movement, where delicacy is called for to a much greater extent, I felt there were too many instances where the tempo either surges a little or is slowed momentarily. The effect is fussy and it rather marred my enjoyment. Much of III has a good, earthy feel but I was rather disappointed by the treatment of the nostalgic post horn passages, where I didn’t feel Mitropoulos gave the music sufficient space; these episodes sound rather perfunctory, almost as if the conductor found them embarrassing.

Lucretia West is a rich-toned, expressive soloist in IV. However, the exposed quiet passages for the brass find the players a little bit over-exposed. I felt that V was rather serious in tone, though the music is lively enough. I missed a touch of lightness but this may not be a problem for other listeners. ICA get something of a black mark for the layout of the discs, I’m afraid. The last three movements should follow each other seamlessly but, instead, you have to change discs for the finale. It would have been perfectly possible to have had La Mer and the first movement of the symphony on disc one with the remaining five movements of the symphony comfortably accommodated on disc two. The way the symphony is split by ICA is nothing short of crass.

Actually, the reading of the finale is the big disappointment for me. In the first place it starts off far too loud – mf, I’d guess. The start of the finale in the New York reading is much more subdued. The last time I heard this music was in a live performance at the Three Choirs Festival just a few days before auditioning this disc. There Susanna Mälkki and the Philharmonia achieved just the hushed intensity that this present performance lacks. In addition the tempo is too swift. I calculate that Mitropoulos takes the opening at about 56 beats per minute. Actually, that’s not much swifter than the pace in New York in 1956 – ca 51 bpm – but it feels fast. As the movement unfolds one feels there’s not quite the same gravity and mystery that one experiences in the very best accounts. And, for my money, the Cologne players, though they play well, aren’t in the same league as the New York Philharmonic or several other orchestras that have featured in recordings of this symphony. The booklet notes reveal that around this time Mitropoulos had agreed in principle to become chief conductor of this orchestra and one wonders how much he might have improved them, given time to work with them on an extended basis, if that appointment had ever come about.

So this account of the finale of the Third isn’t as spacious as I’d like. One might call the reading urgent – or, perhaps apply Tony Duggan’s description, elsewhere, of this conductor’s ‘edgy’ style.

This, then, is a flawed reading of Mahler’s Third but it’s still one that commands – nay, demands – attention for throughout the ninety-five minute span of the piece one constantly has the sense of a great conductor at work and nothing about this reading is routine.

The reading of La Mer is somewhat unconventional in that you will look in vain here for washes of impressionist colouring or for Mediterranean warmth. This is a taut, urgent and dramatic reading. Sometimes, as in the short, quicker passage in ‘De l’aube à midi sur la mer’ (from 4:22), the very urgency of Mitropoulos’s interpretation seems to have the orchestra audibly scrambling to keep up. At times, the end of this same movement being one example, the sound is rather fierce. In ‘Dialogue du vent et de la mer’ one feels that the wind blows rather fiercely and it’s something of a chill wind. Often, during the piece as a whole, one senses that the sea which Mitropoulos is depicting is pretty foam flecked. None of the foregoing should be interpreted as an implicit verdict that the interpretation is an unsatisfactory one. I find it bracing but it may startle some listeners used to the approach of other conductors.

At the end of the second disc we hear a few short remarks made by Mitropoulos during a rehearsal with this orchestra sometime in the 1950s. He speaks in German so I can’t tell you what he says but it’s evident from the orchestra’s reaction both before and after he speaks that he was highly regarded by them.

The recorded sound can be a bit boxy at times and the balances aren’t always ideal – the percussion is too prominent on several occasions. However, these are fifty-year-old recordings so one must make allowances. They’ve been transferred pretty well and there’s nothing to mar ones appreciation of the performances.

This is an important set and I’m thrilled in particular that ICA have brought about the first official release of Mitropoulos’s mighty vision of Mahler’s Third. This is an essential appendix to the Music & Arts box of New York performances and all admirers of this great conductor should snap it up as a matter of urgency.

-- John Quinn, MusicWeb International

With it's enormous vocal, choral and orchestral forces, Mahler' Eighth Symphony, later to be dubbed 'ymphony of a Thousand', is one of the largest and longest symphonies in the active repertoire. Part One, inspired by the Whitsuntide Vesper hymn.