Mahler: Symphonien Nr.1-10 / Leonard Bernstein, Et Al [11CD-Box-Set] – Tonträger gebraucht kaufen

wie neu

755 Min.

2010

CD-Box

300 g

Album: NEU und EINGESCHWEISST (OVP), SEALED

Mahler: The Symphonies / Leonard Bernstein [11-CD Collector's Edition]

Release Date: 03/30/2010
Label: Deutsche Grammophon Catalog #: 477 8668 Spars Code: DDD
Composer: Gustav Mahler
Performer: Barbara Hendricks, Christa Ludwig, Helmut Wittek, Trudeliese Schmidt, ...
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Westminster Choir, New York Philharmonic, ...
Number of Discs: 11
Recorded in: Stereo
Length: 12 Hours 35 Mins.

Works on This Recording
1. Symphony no 1 in D major "Titan" by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888/1896
2. Symphony no 2 in C minor "Resurrection" by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Barbara Hendricks (Soprano), Christa Ludwig (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: Westminster Choir, New York Philharmonic
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888/1896; Germany
3. Symphony no 3 in D minor by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: New York Philharmonic
Period: Romantic
Written: 1893-1896; Hamburg, Germany
4. Symphony no 4 in G major by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Helmut Wittek (Boy Soprano)
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1892-1900; Vienna, Austria
5. Symphony no 5 in C sharp minor by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1901-1902; Vienna, Austria
6. Symphony no 6 in A minor "Tragic" by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1904/1906; Austria
7. Symphony no 7 in E minor by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: New York Philharmonic
Period: Romantic
Written: 1904-1905; Vienna, Austria
8. Symphony no 8 in E flat major "Symphony of A Thousand" by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Trudeliese Schmidt (Mezzo Soprano), Margaret Price (Soprano), Kenneth Riegel (Tenor),
Agnes Baltsa (Mezzo Soprano), Judith Blegen (Soprano), Hermann Prey (Baritone),
José Van Dam (Bass Baritone)
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Singverein, Vienna State Opera Chorus Konzertvereinigung
Period: Romantic
Written: 1906; Vienna, Austria
9. Symphony no 9 in D major by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1908-1909; Austria
10. Symphony no 10 in F sharp minor/major by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1910; Austria

Notes and Editorial Reviews
This is an old vintage reissued gloriously. It's far from a new release, but it could well turn out to be one of the most significant issues of this Mahler anniversary year. It comprises Bernstein's DG Mahler cycle of the symphonies (no song-cycles) in a compact space at super budget price. All recordings are live and all benefit from it.

Leonard Bernstein is still Gustav Mahler's most famous and, controversially, most significant interpreter. It was he who really popularised the composer's music in the USA and he invented a whole new performing tradition for Mahler. People still disagree violently over the merits of Bernstein's performances: they are variously exhilarating, infuriating, frustrating, disappointing, revelatory, cosmic, virtuosic or perverse. However, and this is the key point, they are never neutral. Bernstein's Mahler forces you to take a stand. I don't think that anyone will love every performance in this box, but after listening to this set I am convinced that no serious Mahlerian will want to be without it.

Bernstein himself was famous for being a dynamo, and something of a maniac on the podium so it is perhaps unsurprising that he should find such an affinity with Mahler's music. It is the conductor's restless energy that is immediately apparent in this set's first CD: right through the First Symphony's spellbinding opening you are on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. This gives way to a wonderfully exuberant allegro where minor imprecisions of ensemble and a little extraneous noise don't matter in the context of what is going on. There is a real sense of build towards the joyous eruption of the coda. It is entirely typical of Bernstein that he wallows in the vulgarity of the second movement, including ridiculous glissandi and over-the-top winds. He also revels in the contrasts of the funeral march where the brief consolation of the Wayfaring song clashes with the vulgarity of the klezmer music. There is an astonishing explosion at the outset of the finale and the utmost desolation of the opening leads to utmost exaltation at the end. The white-hot blaze of the final bars could have come from the baton of no-one else, and the whole performance is helped by wonderfully clear sound, capturing the atmosphere of the Concertgebouw beautifully.

The other most easily recommendable performance is the Fifth. There is a wonderful sense of scale to the funeral march, helped by slow speeds and a troublingly insistent snare-drum rhythm. The second movement begins with, if anything, an even more vicious attack, though it loses momentum as the music progresses. The chorale theme, when it comes, is remarkably striking and its climax sails out over the orchestral texture. After it the rest of the movement seems to ebb (die?) away and the opening of the scherzo is less manic than one might have expected. Bernstein's Adagietto is controversial for some, but not for me. I found it beautifully played and recorded, and perfectly paced; no self-indulgence or languor here. The finale begins a little slowly but picks up and builds on a rising tide of excitement to the reappearance of the brass chorale, sounding fantastic and providing a fitting culmination to one of this symphony's most successful interpretations on disc.

Elsewhere the story is more mixed, but the energy and vibrancy of Bernstein's interpretations won me over (almost) every time. In the Second he adopts a steady tempo for the first movement, setting the tone for a magisterial reading that takes its time but finds consolation in the more tender moments. It builds to a jaw-dropping climax at the end of the development (around 16 minutes in). The closing bars have a chilling finality to them. The slow pace of the Andante takes a bit of getting used to, but it's not an invalid reading. The scream of the Scherzo is an almighty climax followed by nothingness. The Urlicht is paced well but Christa Ludwig is unsteady both here and in the finale where she is matched with a radiant Barbara Hendricks. The finale begins in a frenzy, though I thought Bernstein would make more of the vast drumroll crescendos. The entry of the choir is truly magical and the climax thumps with conviction. The sonic spectacular of the final bars loses much of the detail but that's almost inevitable in music of this scale.

In the Third the conductor straddles the vast structure of the first movement with confidence but he has a great ear for detail and the individual solos are beautifully pointed, leavening the texture very convincingly. Tongue is kept firmly in cheek for most of the scherzo and tempi slow down wilfully (or should that be comically?) for the run-up to the posthorn solo. Bernstein lingers lovingly in this section, for which all is shimmery radiance. He takes the fourth movement faster than you might expect, thus it is less hushed and intense than you might like. Ludwig is more focused here, however, and the orchestral colour is brightly lit. The fifth is an abrupt jolt into the light with tremendous brightness of mood, and the Brooklyn Boys' Chorus sound like street urchins! The problem comes at the start of the finale, which begins in interminable, dragging slowness. However the intensity of the string playing is incredible and the final pages are searing, sweeping away any doubts I might have had.

Back in the Concertgebouw, the Fourth has wonderful recorded sound and you can hear the orchestral detail with remarkable clarity. Bernstein captures the innocence and quiet darkness of the first two movements and there is gorgeous warmth in the third, but his decision to use a boy treble in the finale is just perverse and shows the conductor at his most wilful. The whole point of this movement is that it is imagined innocence, and a boy's voice just sounds wrong.

The Sixth begins well with a march rhythm that is savage in its intensity. There is even an element of agitation in the central “cow bell” interlude which here brings little peace. The Andante (coming third) pours oil on the troubled waters of the Scherzo's mania and, again at an expansive tempo, convinces as one of Mahler's most profound utterances. The opening of the finale carries great breadth but not as much scale as I had expected, though the sense of the epic definitely develops as the movement goes on. The hammer blows (three of them) are devastating, as is the delirium they unleash, though all told this symphony has a less convincing reading than one might have hoped for.

The slow tempo for the opening of the Seventh lends bounding energy to the Allegro when it arrives but there is a beautiful stillness for the central interlude. The ending is clamorous and fundamentally optimistic. The first Nachtmusik is full of light and shade with expertly played solo contributions, and you really get the feeling that Bernstein is enjoying himself for the first trio section. The scherzo is dark but not especially threatening and the second Nachtmusik has well played solos but lacks humour. However, the ebullient, eclectic finale could well have been written for this conductor's personality, and the closing bars seem to embrace the vulgarity enthusiastically.

The Eighth has long been recognised, with a degree of truth, as a weak link. The conductor died before the planned new recording in New York was to take place, so instead DG had to trawl the archives to find a radio recording from the 1975 Salzburg Festival. Too many factors militate against this recording, not least the boxy, often foggy sound which comes dangerously close to distortion at the climaxes. It is also here where the live-ness of the occasion does least good and most harm, such as in scrappy ensemble or sledge-hammer direction. The female soloists are good but the men often sound distinctly uncomfortable, especially tenor Kenneth Riegel. For a real glimpse into what Bernstein could have achieved here, go to the DVD of the similar cast, recorded on DG and excellently directed by Humphrey Burton.

Many critics have great problems with Bernstein's 1985 Concertgebouw recording of the Ninth but I am not one of them. True, Bernstein's finest recording of this work is his 1979 live recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, the only occasion on which he conducted them. Happily this has recently been reissued on one CD as a DG Original and it demands to be heard, in spite of its imperfections. Don't dismiss the 1985 version, though: it's far from perfect but has a lot to recommend it. The vast Andante comodo feels expansive and well paced, and Bernstein manages the transitions through consolation and tragedy very effectively, though the final collapse at the end of the “development” (if you can call it that) is not as total as it should be. The horn soloist plays beautifully. The swaggering clumsiness of the Ländler is unsettling while remaining witty and the Concertgebouw trombones have a great time attacking their lines. The Rondo Burleske crackles with intensity but has a radiantly still central section. The finale is controversial (“protracted and pulseless” according to David Gutman) but I still found it utterly involving and never did I find it indulgent or wilful. In fact the final bars moved me immensely.

The Vienna recording of the Tenth's Adagio is a good bonus for the hugely expansive arch of the string playing in the main theme. The famous nine-note chord grates violently, though at the end of the movement the tone is fundamentally upbeat.

So where does this stand in the overall pantheon of Mahler cycles? Well, in spite of its virtues I wouldn't recommend it to anyone coming to Mahler for the first time. What you hear is Mahler refracted through Bernstein. True, that is the case every time a conductor conducts, but with Lennie this process of interpretation means more than for most. Uniquely distinctive as these interpretations are, they're for people who already know and have opinions about Mahler's music. Only then can you really get a handle on the unique slant that Bernstein puts on this music, for better or for worse. He sometimes exaggerates the markings to the brink of perversity in order to make his point, but when Bernstein gets it right he really gets it right and the music takes off in his hands in a way that no other conductor manages. In fact I would suggest that the dynamism and innovation of later Mahler interpreters like Rattle would have been much more difficult without the trail that Bernstein has blazed. Solti or Chailly, both on Decca, remain top recommendations for a cycle which is safe but still by turns exciting, and Rattle's collection of performances – not a cycle, he insists – has fantastic things to say, but for some challenge and excitement in this great music it is this set I will come back to.

-- Simon Thompson, MusicWeb International

Review by Blair Sanderson [-]
Of the two Mahler cycles Leonard Bernstein recorded in his career, the most influential and culturally important was the first, recorded with the New York Philharmonic in the 1960s and early '70s for Columbia, then later reissued by Sony. Even though it has been criticized for several faults, not least of which were Bernstein's willful choices of tempos, phrasing, and dynamics, it has nonetheless been recognized as one of the foundations of the Mahler revival and of true historic value. The second cycle was recorded in the 1980s for Deutsche Grammophon, and though these recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic were noted for their polish and greater faithfulness to the scores, they were less musically significant overall, for they came after many other conductors had raised performance standards for Mahler recordings, transcended Bernstein's interpretive powers, and expanded listeners' range of choices. The DG recordings were gathered in a 1991 box set of 13 CDs and laid out in a sequence fairly close to their numerical ordering, with few breaks between discs. This 2010 set presents the CDs in a trimmed-down box on 11 CDs, with the symphonies dramatically out of sequence and with breaks in all except the Symphonies No. 1 and No. 5. The reduced packaging and squeezed-in programming may be attractive to collectors who like saving space and who won't listen to the set often, but it will prove to be frustrating and confusing to people approaching Mahler for the first time. While Bernstein's legacy will hardly be affected by these externals, they are of some consequence to the listener's ease of playing and satisfaction with the product, which in turn will color reception and may dissuade some from giving this later cycle serious consideration for its musical worth.

Pressestimmen

Penguin Guide: "Ein neuer Maßstab und ein großartiger Beweis für Bernstein als bedeutenden Mahler-Interpreten. Dies ist ein persönliches Zeugnis eines großartigen Musikers für einen großartigen Musiker und eine monumentale Veröffentlichung."

DGG 477 8668A