John Smyth <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>(a distillation:) "technically assured and polished...a star-studded
>cast...and yet--a curiously earthbound performance...."
>
>Well, I owe myself $35.99.  Whether the above is a disease of modern
>performers or modern critics, I don't know.  In any case--Mahlerians out
>there--say it ain't so!

I think it's at least a little bit of both, and not just a one-sided
problem of modern performance.  I have a feeling that a lot of critics
are looking back on past performances (with which they often grew up and
were weaned on) through rose-colored lenses, failing to acknowledge:

1.  that similar qualities can be found in very modern recordings as well.
(On first listening to Walter's old Mahler5, I found his interpretation no
more fantastic than Chailly's modern recording...  both are nice and
mobile, [Unlike the Barbirolli, my comments against which caused such a
furor in another thread] but Chailly's simply *sounds* better, in
recording, orchestral tone, and ensemble.)

And

2.  That those romanticisms aren't always to the benefit of the music
anyway.  (Bernstein's waywardness, for instance, rarely convinces me as
"natural.")

I love my recording of Chailly's M5, and thus just clicked in my order
for his M6.  And if I like it as well, I just might give his M8 a chance,
regardless of what those critics say.  (Although, honestly, of Mahler's
symphonies, I've only really warmed to #s 5 and 6.)

Albie