This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Haitink proves in recording after recording that he is at the pinnacle of current Mahler interpretation.



MAHLER Symphony No. 1, “Titan” • Bernard Haitink, cond; Chicago SO • CSO RESOUND 901 904 (Hybrid multichannel SACD: 57:39) Live: Chicago 5/1–3/2008


This is the third installment in a series of Mahler symphony recordings under the direction of the Chicago Symphony’s principal conductor; it may be too much to hope that they will eventually comprise a complete set, but for the time being we can savor each new release. Haitink recorded this work most recently in 1994 in Berlin (for video), and there have been several changes in his interpretation since then (he’s shaved five minutes from the total timing of the earlier recording for a start); what hasn’t changed is the attention to detail and consummate musicianship on display.


It would be overly simplistic to suggest that the first movement is “expansive”; Haitink’s is a slowly evolving interpretation. The exposition isn’t the impetuous one of Zander (Haitink observes the exposition repeat) or (more egregiously) Gergiev, nor is it tentative; rather, it is one of increasing confidence and power. In the development, the horn fanfare is portentous rather than declarative; the end of this section is one of anticipation, which is heightened by the very gradual buildup to the eruption for full orchestra, which is anything but subdued. One is aware more than usual that the whole movement has been leading up to this moment.


The second movement was marked (in the Hamburg autograph of 1893) both scherzo and langsames Waltzertempo (“slow waltz tempo”), and Haitink has both markings in mind for this performance—its tempo is measured and just a bit clumsy, evoking “the village pub” (in the words of one contemporary critic), while the Trio is a more refined dance. Listeners expecting the music of “Under full sail,” with its connotations of vigor and pace, may be disappointed, but I think this is a perfectly valid alternative.


The third movement opens with a shock of sorts: missing is the sour bass solo, and in its place is the entire bass section, producing a less grotesque funeral procession (according to Michael Steinberg, as late as 1893 Mahler had this passage played by the basses plus the cellos). The pall of gloom hangs over the entire movement, unleavened even by the band and klezmer-style music; the overall effect is of muted formality. Haitink plays down the parody and injects a genuine feeling of melancholy, especially in the lovely “Wayfarer” quotation.


The Chicago percussion do themselves proud in the opening of the finale, producing an effective accompaniment for the superb brass “scream.” I usually find this effect to be either overblown or underwhelming, but here it is perfectly gauged, analogous to the onset of the storm in the Beethoven Sixth (and anticipating the finale of the Mahler Second). The later love theme is just as calming and welcome as the opening is jarring. Haitink produces a performance that captures Mahler’s quickly shifting moods with stylish grace and precision, capped by a coda that is splendidly triumphant. The sound production (in the hands once again of the estimable James Mallinson) projects a very effective sense of acoustic space (especially in the offstage fanfares of the first movement), with extremely transparent imaging and lows that ground the soundstage without becoming too prominent. In two-channel playback, the SACD adds presence and even more precise instrumental definition than the excellent stereo version (available on CD, CSO Resound 901 902); in short, this performance is custom-made for the kind of clarity one encounters here—in whatever version.


Haitink proves in recording after recording that he is at the pinnacle of current Mahler interpretation. In comparison to Gergiev’s recent First, with its wayward impetuosity—Gergiev 52: 39; Haitink 57:42—this is an interpretation that manages to sound even more convincingly fresh and innovative, doing full justice to Mahler’s audacious symphonic “Titan.”


FANFARE: Christopher Abbot

Also available as a hybrid Super Audio CD



MAHLER Symphony No. 1, “Titan” • Bernard Haitink, cond; Chicago SO • CSO RESOUND 901 902 (CD: 57:39) Live: Chicago 5/1–3/2008


This is the third installment in a series of Mahler symphony recordings under the direction of the Chicago Symphony’s principal conductor; it may be too much to hope that they will eventually comprise a complete set, but for the time being we can savor each new release. Haitink recorded this work most recently in 1994 in Berlin (for video), and there have been several changes in his interpretation since then (he’s shaved five minutes from the total timing of the earlier recording for a start); what hasn’t changed is the attention to detail and consummate musicianship on display.


It would be overly simplistic to suggest that the first movement is “expansive”; Haitink’s is a slowly evolving interpretation. The exposition isn’t the impetuous one of Zander (Haitink observes the exposition repeat) or (more egregiously) Gergiev, nor is it tentative; rather, it is one of increasing confidence and power. In the development, the horn fanfare is portentous rather than declarative; the end of this section is one of anticipation, which is heightened by the very gradual buildup to the eruption for full orchestra, which is anything but subdued. One is aware more than usual that the whole movement has been leading up to this moment.


The second movement was marked (in the Hamburg autograph of 1893) both scherzo and langsames Waltzertempo (“slow waltz tempo”), and Haitink has both markings in mind for this performance—its tempo is measured and just a bit clumsy, evoking “the village pub” (in the words of one contemporary critic), while the Trio is a more refined dance. Listeners expecting the music of “Under full sail,” with its connotations of vigor and pace, may be disappointed, but I think this is a perfectly valid alternative.


The third movement opens with a shock of sorts: missing is the sour bass solo, and in its place is the entire bass section, producing a less grotesque funeral procession (according to Michael Steinberg, as late as 1893 Mahler had this passage played by the basses plus the cellos). The pall of gloom hangs over the entire movement, unleavened even by the band and klezmer-style music; the overall effect is of muted formality. Haitink plays down the parody and injects a genuine feeling of melancholy, especially in the lovely “Wayfarer” quotation.


The Chicago percussion do themselves proud in the opening of the finale, producing an effective accompaniment for the superb brass “scream.” I usually find this effect to be either overblown or underwhelming, but here it is perfectly gauged, analogous to the onset of the storm in the Beethoven Sixth (and anticipating the finale of the Mahler Second). The later love theme is just as calming and welcome as the opening is jarring. Haitink produces a performance that captures Mahler’s quickly shifting moods with stylish grace and precision, capped by a coda that is splendidly triumphant. The sound production (in the hands once again of the estimable James Mallinson) projects a very effective sense of acoustic space (especially in the offstage fanfares of the first movement), with extremely transparent imaging and lows that ground the soundstage without becoming too prominent. In two-channel playback, the SACD (CSO Resound 901 904) adds presence and even more precise instrumental definition than the excellent stereo version; in short, this performance is custom-made for the kind of clarity one encounters here—in whatever version.


Haitink proves in recording after recording that he is at the pinnacle of current Mahler interpretation. In comparison to Gergiev’s recent First, with its wayward impetuosity—Gergiev 52: 39; Haitink 57:42—this is an interpretation that manages to sound even more convincingly fresh and innovative, doing full justice to Mahler’s audacious symphonic “Titan.”


FANFARE: Christopher Abbot Reviewing SuperAudio Version

Classical Music

Although much of the repertoire on this disc was originally conceived for large orchestra, the chamber versions offered here shed new light on familiar territory. In 1918, Arnold Schoenberg founded his Verein fur musikalische Privatauffuhrungen (Society for Private Musical Performance), whose mission was to promote contemporary works. A great admirer of Mahler, Schoenberg created a chamber version of the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for the Society, while his student Erwin Stein penned a reduction of Busoni's Berceuse diagiaque. Reiner Riehn, who completed Schoenberg's chamber version of Das Lied von der Erde, wrote this arrangement of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder for chamber orchestra. The disc is completed by Mahler's rarely heard Quartettsatz for piano and string quartet. Contralto Sara Mingardo is accompanied by Musica Aurei conducted by Luigi Piovano.

Classical Music

The award-winning Alexander String Quartet joins with acclaimed mezzo soprano Kindra Scharich in this world premiere recording of some of Mahler’s great orchestral Lieder — transcribed for voice and string quartet by Zakarias Grafilo. Commissioned by Lieder Alive! these exquisite transcriptions combine the lushness of the orchestral versions with the intimacy of chamber music — and the result is transcendent. Kindra Scharich has performed more than 50 art songs in 10 languages and sung over 30 roles in the lyric mezzo opera repertoire. Recording projects include Beethoven, Schumann and the complete non-Portuguese song repertoire of the great Brazilian composer Alberto Nepomuceno. A dedicated recitalist with a deep love of chamber music, she has performed and premiered numerous works by living composers. The Alexander String Quartet’s discography includes major cycles by Bartok, Kodaly, Mozart, Shostakovich, and Beethoven. An important advocate of new music, with over 35 commissions and premieres, they have performed on five continents. Directors of the Instructional Program of the Morrison Chamber Music Center at San Francisco State University, ASQ is the subject of an award-winning documentary “Con Moto: The Alexander String Quartet.”

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

SYMPHONY 9 SACD

The series of the complete Mahler Symphonies with the Düsseldorf Symphonic under the baton of Ádám Fischer continues here with the release of the Symphony No. 9. Over the last two years Ádám Fischer’s Mahler recordings grew to a most successful recording project, winning the BBC Music Magazine Award, and the OPUS KLASSIK Trophy in Germany. Adam Fischer: "Mahler wrote his Ninth symphony in 1909, and it is about death. To be more precise it is about dying. And I know of no other language apart from German in which the words 'death' (Tod) and 'dying' have entirely different etymologies."

Recording such a world-spanning œuvre as Gustav Mahler's ten symphonies is truly a Herculean task. After 15 years of intensive musical work, Gabriel Feltz is the only German conductor of his generation to present such an impressive complete recording. Two orchestras, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and the Dortmund Philharmonic, are featured in this highly acclaimed album cycle. It reveals once again Feltz's flair for focusing on the essentials of Mahler's music in these exuberant works. The German magazine Fono Forum praised him for "recordings conceived with a cool head," and the Stuttgarter Nachrichten exulted over "a production of unleashed sonic contrasts." In September 2021, the project will come to a brilliant conclusion with the release of the overwhelming 9th Symphony and the original two-movement fragment of the 10th Symphony.

Lorin Maazel and the Philharmonia Orchestra perform Mahler’s Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. This four-disc box is the second set in a series that will encompass Mahler’s Nine Symphonies, featuring live orchestral recordings from London’s Royal Festival Hall of Maazel and the Philharmonia’s much-lauded Mahler Cycle.

Classical Music

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

The hr-Sinfonieorchester has for decades been numbered among the world's leading Mahler orchestras. Between 2008 and 2013 it gave its most recent Mahler cycle as part of the Rheingau Music Festival under principal conductor Paavo Järvi. The recordings were made in the unique space of the Basilica of Eberbach Monastery, in the magnificent ambiance of the Friedrich von Thiersch Hall at the Wiesbaden Kurhaus and in the outstanding acoustics of the Great Hall of the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. In all of these venues Mahler's symphonies left a particularly fascinating impression.

Gustav Mahler
THE COMPLETE SYMPHONIES

Symphony No. 1 in D Major, “Titan”
Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, “Resurrection”
Symphony No. 3 in D Minor
Symphony No. 4 in G Major
Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor
Symphony No. 6 in A Minor, “Tragic”
Symphony No. 7 in E Minor
Symphony No. 8 in E-Flat Major, “Symphony of a Thousand”
Symphony No. 9 in D Major
Symphony No. 10 in F-Sharp Minor: I. Adagio

Camilla Tilling, soprano
Genia Kühmeier, soprano
Erin Wall, soprano
Ailish Tynan, soprano
Anna Lucia Richter, soprano
Lilli Paasikivi, mezzo-soprano
Waltraud Meier, mezzo-soprano
Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Charlotte Hellekant, mezzo-soprano
Nikolai Schukoff, tenor
Michael Nagy, baritone
Ain Anger, bass

Bavarian Radio Chorus
North German Radio Chorus
Limburger Cathedral Boys Choir
Leipzig MDR Radio Choir
Czech Philharmonic Choir, Brno
Europa Chor Akademie
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor

Recorded at Rheingau Musik Festival, 2003–2013

Bonus:
- Introductions to the Symphonies by Paavo Järvi
- Paavo’s Mahler: The Project

Picture format: 1080i High Definition
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Audio Language (bonus): English
Subtitles: German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese (Symphonies Nos. 2, 3, 4, 8) / German, Korean, Japanese (bonus)
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 12 hrs 35 mins (concert) + 96 mins (bonus)
No. of Discs: 5 (BD 50)

This outstanding performance of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony formed part of Hartmut Haenchen’s Mahler Cycle with the La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra. Haenchen is renowned and respected for his interpretations of Mahler and Wagner and has had a significant presence in many of the world’s leading opera houses. An expressive and dramatic rendition of the Tragische, Haenchen’s high intellect and musical integrity are apparent. The recording also benefits from DTS 5.1 surround sound.

The ICA Classics Live series features performances from ICA’s own artists recorded in prestigious venues around the world. The majority of the recordings are enjoying their first commercial release.

Also available on Blu-ray

The eight Mahler symphonies contained in this box were all recorded live as part of the Leipzig Mahler cycle that began with the acclaimed Mahler Festival in 2011. They once again confirmed the Gewandhausorchester's reputation as a Mahler reference orchestra, which was consolidated in particular thanks to the intensive examination of Mahler's work under the direction of former Gewandhaus Kapellmeister Riccardo Chailly, who emphasized the compositional qualities of the works, traced the origins of their interpretive history and avoided false pathos and sentimentality despite all the drama and urgency. This becomes clear especially in the more than two hours of documentation material which supplements these exceptional Mahler recordings. In addition to Riccardo Chailly, leading Mahler experts such as Henry-Louis de la Grange and Reinhold Kubik give an insight into Mahler's works and their interpretation. In addition to its musical excellence, the Leipzig Mahler cycle impresses with its graphic design. Each cover of the cycle is adorned with a work by the Leipzig painter Neo Rauch that was inspired by Mahler's music and painted specifically for this cycle.

Excerpts of reviews from previously released volumes in this set:

Mahler: Symphony No. 7 / Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig

The Leipzig players do Chailly proud. There are so many stunning solos, from tenor horn at the start to the first trumpet who never splits brilliant top notes in the finale. This of all symphonies requires a terrifying amount of preparation - there's none better than this one.

– BBC Music Magazine

Mahler: Symphony No. 5 / Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig

Chailly is a pleasure to watch, being neither over-demonstrative nor affectedly matter-of-fact. If the rest of this projected second Chailly Mahler cycle is as good as this, then I suspect we have treats aplenty in store.

– Gramophone (Editor's Choice, November 2014)

Chailly's latest Mahler Five surely has the best of all possible worlds for this comprehensive darkness-to-light epic. It's rewarding to see the Leipzig Gewandhaus strings articulating with such mobile engagement.

– BBC Music Magazine

Mahler: Symphony No. 9 / Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig

Here we have something very special, and a good deal more than 'just another Mahler Ninth. This Leipzig Ninth is Chailly off the leash, liberating the music in a way that is impassioned, positive, fitfully fractured and often ethereal. He flicks the Symphony's heartbeat opening into action with the most economical of gestures.

– Gramophone (Editor's Choice, November February 2015)

This recording was made under the direction of Reinbert de Leeuw in December 2019, two months before his death. A few weeks before that, he had called Thomas Dieltjens, artistic director of Het Collectief, to tell him: ‘Since our concert in mid-July 2019, ‘Das Lied von der Erde’ has constantly been on my mind. I am totally fascinated by it and discover new things in it every day. It would be a dream if we could record this music with the exceptional cast of musicians and soloist singers of the Saintes festival, and preferably the sooner the better.” Words failed, as can be gathered from the many concert reviews they received. Mahler’s ‘Das Lied von der Erde’ is already so much more than just music, it encompasses life as a whole, from early birth till death. Reinbert de Leeuw made of this masterpiece an exceptionally refined arrangement for 15 instrumentalists and 2 soloists. How Reinbert manages to render the full force of Mahler’s original score in his arrangement is unparalleled. There is the addition of the harp, some percussion, a contrabassoon and a bass clarinet. With the harmonium as an essential link between cords, winds, percussion and piano. One lacks ears to feel the richness of Reinbert’s arrangement. This is pure musical delight.

•Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony employs the largest orchestral apparatus he ever used. It is a work of extremes, from the Andante’s main, sweetly cantabile theme to the chordal agglomerations breaking out in triple forte “with raw force” at the centre of the Finale’s development section, to its final, inevitable catastrophic ending. This next-to-last release in the OehmsClassics Mahler SACDcycle presents a live recording from the Cologne Philharmonie made in November 2013.

Kassel, in the heart of Germany, is internationally known as the city that hosts the documenta art exhibition every five years. In 1989, Kassel also drew the attention of the musical world when �d�m Fischer, the city's General Music Director at the time, founded the Gustav Mahler Fest Kassel. With the Gustav Mahler Fest Kassel, the city received another internationally important cultural attraction. The inaugural Gustav Mahler Fest in 1989 consisted of three concerts with performances of the first, third and fourth symphonies, the Totenfeier from the second symphony, ieder eines fahrenden Gesellen performed by Thomas Quasthoff, and eight Lieder fromDes Knaben Wunderhorn with Iris Vermillion and Thomas Hampson. The 1989 concert recording impressively documents the spirit of optimism of the participants, but also Fischer's achievement as an outstanding Mahler exegete of international standing.

Classical Music

SYMPHONY NO. 1

Also available on Blu-ray

The highly praised Mahler Cycle with Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra continues with the release of the 7th and 8th Symphonies.

PAAVO JÄRVI CONDUCTS MAHLER SYMPHONIES

Gustav Mahler:
Symphony No. 7 in E Minor
Symphony No. 8 in E-Flat Major, “Symphony of a Thousand”

Erin Wall, soprano
Ailish Tynan, soprano
Anna Lucia Richter, soprano
Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano
Charlotte Hellekant, mezzo-soprano
Nikolai Schukoff, tenor
Michael Nagy, baritone
Ain Anger, bass

Limburger Cathedral Boys Choir
Czech Philharmonic Choir, Brno
Europa Chor Akademie
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Paavo Järvi, conductor

Recorded at the Rheingau Musik Festival, 2011 (Symphony No. 7) and 2013 (Symphony No. 8)

Bonus:
- Introductions to the Symphonies by Paavo Järvi

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Latin, German, English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese / English, German, Korean, Japanese (bonus)
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 149 mins (concert) + 20 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 2 (DVD 9)

Kassel, the city in the heart of Germany, internationally known as the city of the world art exhibition "documenta", which takes place every five years, also attracted international attention in the field of music when the then General Music Director Ádám Fischer initiated the "Gustav Mahler Fest Kassel" in 1989. With the "Festspielorchester", an orchestra of its own quality and characteristics was created. In addition to the concertmaster Rainer Hocke of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the oboe and clarinet groups of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra were formed, whose instruments have special characteristics and thus a specific sound. The same applies to the horns, which play an important role in Mahler's music. The special string sound of musicians such as the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Prague, the orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera as well as the brass, especially trumpets, from German orchestras, supplemented by musicians from Brno, the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam as well as from Frankfurt, Hanover, Cologne and Düsseldorf, gave Mahler's music a particularly adequate sound. Of course, the Kassel State Orchestra, with a total of 20 musicians, who took turns, played a major role in the festival orchestra.

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu presents Mahler’s Symphony Nr. 1 with the original 2nd movement Blumine restored which Mahler excised after a few performances of the symphony. To this day, there is much discussion of Mahler’s decision to drop this lovely movement with many theories attached to the discussion. Nonetheless this recording performs a valuable cultural service with its inclusion, especially in the hands of the very capable FRSO.

Classical Music

In an effort to arrange the first performance of his Seventh Symphony, Gustav Mahler declared it to be his best work, ‘preponderantly cheerful in character’. His younger colleague Schoenberg expressed his admiration for the work, and Webern considered it his favorite Mahler symphony. Nevertheless, it remains the least performed and least written-about symphony of the entire cycle, and has come to be regarded as enigmatic and less successful than its siblings. One reason for this has been the huge – even for Mahler – contrasts that it encompasses: from a first movement which seems to continue the atmosphere of the previous symphony, the ‘Tragic’ Sixth, to a finale that has been accused of excessive triumphalism, and which Mahler himself once described as ‘broad daylight’. Between these two poles, he supplies no less than two movements entitled Nachtmusik (‘night music’) framing a scherzo to which the composer added the character marking schattenhaft (‘shadowy’). Mahler famously said that ‘a symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything.’ The Seventh is as true to this dictum as any other of the symphonies, offering a wealth of emotions, moods and colours. The composer makes full and imaginative use of the orchestra’s extended wind and percussion sections – including cowbells, whips and glockenspiel – as well as a mandolin and a guitar, adding a troubadour-like aspect to the nightly serenade of the fourth movement.

All of this is brought to life by the players of the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, as they continue a cycle praised for the performances as well as the recorded sound.

REVIEWS:

I might have predicted that this of all the Mahler symphonies would chime with Osmo Vänskä’s very particular gifts as a conductor. The brilliance and clarity of this performance (and recording – BIS’s technical prowess much in evidence), to say nothing of Vänskä’s way with rhythm and articulation, is in itself the source of much pleasure.

– Gramophone

Vänskä’s apparent eccentricities here are mostly to accentuate Mahler’s own in his most outlandish ad unpredictable symphony. All the brass do the Minnesota Orchestra proud, and if the strings aren’t of central-European richness, Vänskä usually moulds them to produce the desired effect. The sounds are beguiling to the last, and the essential triumph of engineering in this most testing of symphonies is peerless.

– BBC Music Magazine

Albert Camus once wrote ‘when I describe what the catastrophe of modern man looks like, music comes into my mind – the music of Gustav Mahler’. If asked to specify a particular work, it is quite possible that Camus would have proposed Symphony No. 6 in A minor – the symphony that Bruno Walter claimed portrayed ‘a terrifying, hopeless darkness, without a human sound’. Nevertheless, the period during which Mahler wrote his Sixth was one of the most successful and happiest of his life – prior to any marital difficulties, at the time of the birth of his second daughter Anna, his professional reputation growing. Alma Mahler, in her memoirs, suggested that the symphony was in fact predicting instances of future distress in the composer’s own life, and she and various commentators have proposed various interpretations of different elements. Most famous of these are possibly the hammer strokes in the Finale, falling, according to Alma, like ‘blows of fate’ on the ‘hero’ of the symphony. But Osmo Vänskä has a reputation for engaging with even the most iconic scores at face value, avoiding preconceived ideas and ‘time-honored’ traditions.

His and the Minnesota Orchestra’s recording of Mahler’s Sixth follows upon the 2017 release of the composer’s Fifth Symphony. Nominated to a 2018 Grammy Award, that interpretation has been described as ‘at once committed and detached, intense and transcendentally timeless’ (Norman Lebrecht) and ‘an exceptional performance that promises great things to come’ (allmusic.com).

REVIEWS:

The Finnish maestro opts for the revised order of middle movements, the searing andante preceding the scherzo, with its “old fatherly”, Ländler-like trio. The Minnesotans shine in the eerie sonorities of the finale, building to another allegro energico, but ending, movingly, in the minor tonality.

– Sunday Times (UK)

The interpretation here is intensely focused and utterly compelling, and the playing is impassioned and unnervingly vivid in the multichannel format, so listeners who loved the exceptional analog versions by Solti and Tennstedt or modern digital recordings by Abbado, Tilson Thomas, and Pappano can be sure that Vänskä's audiophile version ranks just as high in quality. The integrity of the performance and the expressive heights that are achieved carry the day and make Vänskä's recording essential for Mahler buffs.

– All Music Guide

David John Pike, one of Canada's leading baritone singers, and the great English organist David Briggs present Mahler: Orchestral Songs - The Organ Transcriptions, an astounding new album offering renditions of three cycles of lieder by Gustav Mahler. The recording of these opulent scores on the phenomenal new Eule organ at the Konstantin-Basilika in Germany, has an immediate appeal. The organ's atonal spectrum and the wondrous acoustic of the basilica give a unique and thrilling dimension to the music. About this recording, Briggs wrote: "I was delighted with David Pike asked me to work with him to record these three wonderful Mahler song cycles. There are many pre-existing recordings with piano accompaniment, but the opportunity to register these opulent scores on the phenomenal new Eule organ at the Konstantin-Basilika, taking the music back to it's very core and recasting it anew, was something that had an immediate appeal..."

Alexandre Bloch, who has been Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lille since 2016, has chosen to devote a whole season of concerts to Mahler’s symphonies. The Seventh (1904-05) is the most rarely recorded of the cycle – unjustly, because this work later nicknamed ‘Song of the Night’ testifies as clearly as its companions to the metaphysical grandiloquence that haunted Mahler during its gestation. From the gloomy Adagio of the first movement to the thundering Rondo that concludes the work, Alexandre Bloch and his orchestra lead us from the anguish of twilight to the ecstasies of dawn.

Also available on standard DVD

Andris Nelsons conducted the Lucerne Festival Orchestra for the third time in August 2015, the orchestra’s second summer without founder and guiding spirit Claudio Abbado. The first half of his concert was already a highlight: the baritone Matthias Goerne seemed completely at home in a selection of songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. His warm, dark voice allows him to capture the somber and tragic atmosphere of this music like no one else. Its shaded timbre is most perfectly suited to the work’s melancholy and nocturnal moods, where one can directly experience how an artist of this caliber can bring music to the edge of the abyss. The Lucerne Festival Orchestra, renowned for its unique Mahler sound, had last played Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in the summer of 2004 with Abbado – a flowing, transparent, and ethereal interpretation. Nelsons finds a completely different approach to the work. His Mahler is fiery, expansive, and powerful. In spite of the introductory funeral march, his reading is more positive than tragic, radiating an intense vitality. It is breathtaking to observe the orchestra’s response to Nelsons’s energetic, physical, and emotional conducting style. The relationship between orchestra and conductor is one of giving and taking, nothing else.

Picture Format Blu?ray: NTSC 16:9, Full HD

Sound Formats Blu?ray: DTS HD Master Audio, PCM Stereo

Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

Running Time: 123:12 min

Disc Format: BD 25

Subtitles: German (Original), French, English, Japanese, Korean

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)