Sam Kemp ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>I have to admit to being a complete novice as far as Mahler is concerned -
>albeit an appreciative one, I hope - and the name of Jascha Horenstein means
>nothing at all to me. If it is quantifiable at all, for what reason do you
>prefer his recordings?

Well, he tends (unlike many) actually to take notice of what's written in
the score; his performances strike to the heart of the music without ever
sounding affected.

Which is why I compared him to Solomon in Beethoven.  In which connexion,
the great critic Sir Neville Cardus was once asked by a friend "Were you
at Somon's recital last night?" to whic he responded "Yes - and so was
Beethoven".

>And on which label are they available - I've never seen any in our local
>record shop, although the classical selection is not superb in terms of
>major labels.

Horenstein's 1950s 1st and 9th are available on Vox.  His 1970 1st and 3rd
are on Unicorn-Kanchana.  The live Stokcholm 1966 6th is on the same label
but BBC Legends are reputedly issuing his Bournemouth 6th soon, which will
render Stockholm obsolete.

BBC Legends also has his 1969 Prom 7th (yes Tony? not sen this one here
yet) his legendary (and rightly so) 1959 8th and the almost equally
legendary 1972 studio Das Lied.

JH's 1970 studio 4th is available on DOnald Clarke's Chief label online
at....

His searing 1966 Prom 9th is on Music & Arts, although again I understand
it may be appearing on BBC Legends.

>On the subject of Decca Legends, I was surprised to see that Bruno Walter
>figures nowhere on your list of recordings - I have always found his
>interpretations to be particularly insight-ful (I don't think that's a
>word....but there we go:-). The Decca Legends reference is to the
>recording of Das Lied which, according to their latest release has been
>remastered to the 96kHz standard or somesuch jargon, and will shortly be
>available.

Well this is famous for the rpesence of the temrinall-ill Kathleen Ferrier
- and Julius Patzak, although past his prime, is fine in the tenor songs
too.  But Walter is for my money often too soft-edged in Mahler, especially
towards the end of his career ("too Jewish" sneered Klemperer) and Alma
herself suggested that Mengelberg would have been a better choice for the
premiere of Das Lied.

>The Solti 8th on the same series also caught my attention,
>although I find a couple of passages a bit underpowered.

Considering that Solti's 8th is one of the highest-voltage performances
recorded (this is not a particular complement BTW) this is a strange
remark.

>...  I have borrowed the Barbirolli 5th from a friend, and I found it
>a bit wearing to listen to.  The tempi never seem to be quite right, the
>whole seems a bit "baggy", if you will, for the tense, acerbic nature of
>the work.

JB only falls down, IMHO, in the finale.  Inoue's version is cast along the
same basic lines as JB, but he maintains the tension in the finale,
although at a similar pace.

>On the other hand, I went into Derby a while ago whilst feeling slightly
>skint, and purchased a recording by Sir Charles Mackeras for 4.99 to
>replace a rather battered old tape (I can't recall the conductor at the
>moment) and found it much better, although it falls down in the second
>section of the first part (Sturmisch bewegt, mit grosster Vehemenz).
>Some people are never satisfied.........

Mackerras is good, but not IMHO in the same league as INoue (and TOny will
add, Shipway) in this repertoire.

>To continue with the thread that started this off, and further demonstrate
>comme il faut (as in Schuricht's Das Lied recording with the dubious
>aleatory feature of a Nazi activist's anti-semitic [Mahler being a Jew,
>of course] interjection of "Deutschland, uber alles, Herr Schuricht"!)

I think this outburst is generally presumed to have been ironic,
directed against the German conductor, not the Jewish composer.

>...  or is the style just a bit off? I find - particularly in the Sixth
>Symphony - that Karajan's skill at bringing out melodic lines (Mahler
>himself said that his way of writing was naturally Bach-like, i.e.
>polyphonic) and rhythmic impetus and drive really lend the work a new
>incisive dimension.

Karajan refused to conduct Mahler until the 1960s - presumably when the
bandwagon was underway.  His legacy, though, shows what he thought of the
music; as Simon Rattle observed after the first time he onducted the BPO
(c1986, Mahler 6) "There are still people in that orchestra who think that
Strauss was a rgeater composer than Mahler".

Herbie's homogenised style IMO just doesn't stand up to repeated
listenings, especially when ther are performances like those of
Mitropolous, T.  Sanderling (although I don't rate this as highly
as Tony does) and Barbirolli in the catalogue.

Deryk Barker
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