Mahler: Symphony No2

On this CD:

1. Symphony No. 2 in C minor ("Resurrection")
Composed by Gustav Mahler
Performed by Magdalena Hajossyova, Uta Priew, Berlin State Choir
Conducted by Otmar Suitner

Tracks:

Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': 1. Allegro Maestoso. Mit Durchaus Ernstem Und Feierlichem Ausdruck
Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': 2. Andante Moderato. Sehr Gemachlich
Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': 3. In Ruhig Fliessender Bewegung
Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': 4. 'Urlicht'. Sehr Feierlich, Aber Schlicht
Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': 5. Im Tempo Des Scherzoz. Wild Herausfahrend

Customer Reviews:

A Great-Sounding, Vigorous, Grandly Romantic Reading.......2001-11-30

I bought this recording on a "why not?" basis, because I was frustrated with other recordings of Mahler's 2nd I had heard on CD. Either they were rushed, dragged out or had sonic problems. This one is just right. Its 78 minutes long, on one disc, (as Sony's Bruno Walter recording by rights ought to be), and the comparison to Walter's reading does not end there. It possesses a similar warmth and intesity to that legendary performance, and this one sounds a lot better, even on headphones, so you can listen to it loud without being distracted by non-music. The mid-price is equally fine.

Mahler: Symphony No2; Beethoven: String Quartet No11

Average customer rating:

Mahler: Symphony No2; Beethoven: String Quartet No11

Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Mahler: Symphony No2; Kindertotenlieder Nos1-5

Average customer rating:

Ur-Mahler!
Naxos' Resurrection of Fried's Mahler's "Resurrection"

Mahler: Symphony No2; Kindertotenlieder Nos1-5

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00005K3PE
Release Date: 2001-07-17

Tracks:

Kindertotenlieder: Nun Will Die Sonn' So Hell Aufgeh'n - Heinrich Rehkemper
Kindertotenlieder: Nun Seh' Ich Wohl - Heinrich Rehkemper
Kindertotenlieder: Wenn Dein Mutterlein - Heinrich Rehkemper
Kindertotenlieder: Oft Denk' Ich - Heinrich Rehkemper
Kindertotenlieder: In Diesem Wetter - Heinrich Rehkemper
Lieder Und Gesange (Aus Der Jugendzeit): Ich Ging Mit Lust - Grete Stuckgold
Des Knaben Wunderhn: Wer Hat Dies Liedlein Erdacht? - Grete Stuckgold
Wer Hat Dies Liedlein Erdach? - Lula Mysz-Gmeiner
Rheinlegendchen - Heinrich Schludnus
Der Tamboursg'sell - Heinrich Schludnus
Lieder Nach Ruckert: Ich Bin Der Welt Abhanden Gekommen - Sara Charles-Cahier
Sym No.2, IV Urlicht (Excerpt) - Sara Charles-Cahier
Sym No.2 'Resurrection': I. Allegro Maestoso - Gertrud Bindernagel/Emmi Leisner/Berlin Cathedral Chor

Tracks:

Sym No.2 'Resurrection': II. Andante Moderato - Gertrud Bindernagel/Emmi Leisner/Berlin Cathedral Chor
Sym No.2 'Resurrection': III. In Ruhig Fliessender Bewegung - Gertrud Bindernagel/Emmi Leisner/Berlin Cathedral Chor
Sym No.2 'Resurrection': IV. 'Urlicht' - Sehr Feierlich, Aber Schlicht (Choralmassig) - Gertrud Bindernagel/Emmi Leisner/Berlin Cathedral Chor
Sym No.2 'Resurrection': V. Im Tempo Des Scherzos; Wild Herausfahrend - Gertrud Bindernagel/Emmi Leisner/Berlin Cathedral Chor

Customer Reviews:

Ur-Mahler!.......2002-03-14

This is a review of the performance by Oskar Fried et al, which I know from its brief appearance on 33rpm vinyl (Pearl label, I think), circa 1985, and assume it sounds as good or better now on the Naxos CDs. Strangely the ancient acoustic recording never seemed to be much of a factor in my listening experience - the sense of the firey presence of the music itself blew away all other considerations. The music is just THERE, more immediate and urgent than on any other recorded - or live! - performance of the Resurrection Symphony I've experienced. Fried never gets in the way of the music, but if you're aware of him at all, it's because there's an incendiary intensity other conductors don't seem to muster up - the DIRECTNESS of the performance is self-effacing but in a way that only adds, paradoxically, to the character and quirkiness of the thing. Fried isn't breathing down your neck like some 'intense' conductors do; instead, he's blowing the flames of the music itself white-hot. Get it and give away all other versions - in this most sonic of symphonies, the technology doesn't matter at all. (Well, maybe it does... My enthusiasm for this recording should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt - I happen to love ALL acoustic recordings or orchestral music!)

Naxos' Resurrection of Fried's Mahler's "Resurrection".......2001-12-14

Oskar Fried's 1924 acoustic recording of Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony (1892), with the Berlin Cathedral Chorus and the Berlin State Opera Orchestra (and soloists) represents a very nearly mad endeavor. Audaciously undertaken by Deutsche Gramophon, it also represents a stunning success and constitutes a milestone, not only in recorded Mahler, but in recorded music. The requirements of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony, colossal enough on their own, certainly challenged the limitations, perfectly understood by the engineers, of acoustic mastering. Fried (1871-1941) pared down the performing forces, reconstituting the ensemble as necessary to account for the kaleidoscopic changes of instrumentation. The players addressed themselves, in a small studio, to a large horn; the horn directly agitated a stylus that chiseled groves in a spinning platter. No electrical amplification or equalization took place. It was as crude as it sounds. In Ward Marston's digital transfers for the new Naxos issue, we can nevertheless hear Fried's remarkable interpretation of Mahler's towering symphonic edifice. Fried knew Mahler and received advice from him on early performances of the First and Second Symphonies. This 1924 traversal thus brings us as close to Mahler himself as we are ever likely to get, and it tells us something significant about what has happened to the idea of Mahler over the last eighty years. In 1924, Mahler still appeared as a radically contemporary composer, a modernist in the context of the time. The word "expressionistic" might describe Fried's performance as a whole. He takes the First Movement (Allegro Maestoso) at a fair clip and without sentimentality in the levitating second subject. The cellos and basses bite deeply into the familiar opening figure. The Second Movement (Andante Moderato) benefits from a slightly faster tempo than we expect and gains a hint of irony under Fried's direction. The Third Movement Scherzo (In Ruhig Fliessender Bewegung), based on "Saint Anthony's Prayer to the Fishes" from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn," rollicks along in three-quarter time. The ensuing "Urlicht" will stun first-time listeners to the performance. This movement sets a text by Klopstock about Christian conversion for contralto and orchestra. Fried finds distinct Jewish elements in the score, especially in the persistent solo violin accompaniment, akin to those in the Funeral March of the First Symphony. The conjunction of what sounds like a Yiddish lullaby in the violin with the contralto's articulation of Klopstock's devotional poem emphasizes the ecumenicity of Mahler's concept. To my mind, Fried's gesture markedly transforms the character of the symphony, forcing one to grasp it in a new way. The Fifth Movement Finale, with its offstage brass bands and large choruses, poses the severest challenge to the conditions under which Fried worked. Rarely, however, has the SHAPE of this movement been so clear. Recorded over many days and possibly in two separate locations, Fried's efforts defy circumstace by bringing amazing coherence and truth to Mahler's sprawling tableau. Even the grandiosity of it (of the symphony as a whole) remains in evidence. The closest subsequent thing to Fried's account is Otto Klemperer's Vienna performance (available on Vox) from 1951. Klemperer, like Fried, brought a modernistic idea to Mahler's score and never wallowed in the music. In addition to Fried's performance of the Second Symphony, this two-disc set also generously gives us several other items:
*Jascha Horenstein's 1928 performance, with baritone Heinrich Rehkemper and the Berlin State opera Orchestra, of the "Kindertotenlieder," the earliest electrical recording of Mahler;
*Soprano Grete Stuckgold's 1921 performance, with an unidentified orchestra, of Mahler's youthful "Ich Ging Mit Lust" and her 1915 performance, again with an unidentified orchestra, of "Wer Hat Dies Liedlein Erdacht" from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn";
*Soprano Lulu Mysz-Gmeiner's 1926 performance, with piano accompaniment, of the same song;
*Baritone Heinrich Schlusnus' 1931 performances, with the Berlin State opera orchestra under Hermann Weigert, of "Rheinlegendchen" and of "Der Tambourg'sell," both from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn";
*Mezzo Sarah Charles-Cahier's 1930 performance, with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra under Selmar Meyrowitz, of "Ich bin der Welt Abhanden Gekommen," from "Lieder nach Rückert," and her 1930 performance, with the same accompaniment, of "Urlicht."
-- All of which fascinates mightily and no doubt exhausts the archeo-discography of Mahler. (Rumors circulate, however, of a 1930 performance of the Fifth Symphony under Willem Mengelberg preserved on Dutch air-check platters. Get your hands on that, Naxos!) Horenstein's "Kindertotenlieder" is on a high level artistically and is finely recorded. In sum: A treasure-trove and a "must buy" for fans both of Mahler and of early ambitious recording.

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