Abbado's Mahler 9
After his cancer was cured, Abbado seemed to have gained a deeper understanding of Mahler. His Mahler 9 was spiritually uplifting - perhaps it is because it is a symphony about death. Abbado's second cycle of Mahler has been consistently better than his previous recordings. I already have his 2,3,6,9, which all sounded deep and reflective. The Berlin Philharmonic was at its best. Highly recommended for those who are looking for something to add to their library. I would consider ranking it alongside with the Karajan 1982 live version.One thing I don't like though: why on earth did they include the applause at the end of Mahler 9, which is supposed to be dead silence? The producer is crazy in making the decision to include the applause.
posted by Andy at 1/09/2007 10:03:00 PM
4 Comments:
I actually prefer this Abbado's recording to Karajan Gold one. I am Abbado's fans after all, haha.
Have you ever watched the documentary film about Abbado called "Hearing the silence"? When I think of that documentary and think about some of the live recordings of Abbado (like the Brahms' ein deustches requiem, 1997 in Musikverein, there was half minute or so silence and followed by applause too), I could feel that Abbado can create an atmosphere in between music and no music. And Abbado said he likes the audience that can hear the silence and keep the silence before applause longer. I don't know, perhaps to include the final track in this Mahler 9 is a mean to re-create that sense of atmosphere in the concert hall. I don't know, it is just my guess.
Marketing strategy increasingly popularises the inclusion of live applause to give the "liveliness" of a live recording. See those big words mentioning "LIVE RECORDING" on some of the discs. Although we all know that live recording doesn't mean no editing: a live recording is usually an edited outcome of several, if not thousands of, splices over two or three concerts of the same thing.
Though, the Mahler 9 applause doesn't sound too odd at end. At least, the ending silence is at a good pace between the final dead note and the first, warm but not too excited applause. You can always exclude the last track from your playlist. :-) I wonder if anyone would like to have absolutely no applause after this and, say, Mahler's 6th in a concert hall? I think that would be stunning.
More: I'm not an Abbado fans, especially his Mahler. It's not until his second series, which is totally different. I got them all... and don't miss the 3rd.
Dennis, although I am Abbado's fans, honestly I don't like his first cycle. I hope he can re-do Mahler 8. The best in the first cycle was probably Mahler 2 for me, but it is still incomparable to the new one.
Abbado's Mahler 2 with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra was actually above average, although it did not surpass Simon Rattle or Klemperer's EMI recordings or Haitink's BPO version.
For Mahler 3, I am still in favour of Horenstein. Haitink's 3rd with BPO and Berstein with NYPO remain two of my favourite versions.
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