Rach3 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:09 pm
I think I’ve heard Mahler’s 3rd Symphony complete only once previously. The only Mahler symphonies I listen to by choice, although it has been years, are Nos.1,5, and , particularly, 6 . ( I do also enjoy “Kindertotenlieder.”) But, as I’m not getting younger, the ticket price here was good, and the performance historical , did hear 3rd once more. Fortunately , I lasted longer than the performance, a risk for anyone my age listening to the 3rd. As I believe the usual practice is the soloist and chorus sit on stage from the beginning (?) , what an endurance test.Especially since the vocal “ parts “ are much like the viola and flute parts in Ives’ “Concord” Piano sonata. The RCO was magnificent. Can I now partly blame Mahler for the birth of the Second Viennese School ? And cuts used to be made in Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Symphony !
I of course realize there are many Mahler fans, and I respect those differing views.
June 9,1978, live, Claudio Abbado, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at the Concertgebouw,Amsterdam, Christa Ludwig,Collegium Musicum Amstelodamense :
https://www.nporadio4.nl/concerten/4323 ... t-mahler-3
Wow!
Rach3, you have indeed found a treasure here.
I listen to complete cycles of Mahler, Bruckner and Shostakovich each Spring when the weather becomes mild, so that I don't have to use either the fan or the air conditioner in my home, both of which cover the softer passages in music when in use. The Bruckner of choice for me is Barenboim's set of DVDs with his Berlin Staatskapelle Orchestra, and the Mahler is split between Bernstein/Vienna and mostly Abbado/Lucerne. The Shostakovich cycle is a mixed bag, with some by Bernstein, Kondrashin & Ormandy, and occasionally some newer examples.
That said, Abbado is really superb in Mahler III: the only recordings I have that compete with him would be a Martinon in Chicago (live) and Bernstein in Vienna. Mahler III really gets to me, even though it took me many years to grasp the
beauty of the last movement. Today, I have no favorite Mahler Symphony, only a list of great moments contained therein, and the brief movement in the Third Symphony for Boys' Choir is one of them.
As I just heard/saw Abbado at Lucerne two weeks ago perform Mahler III, I'm really looking forward to hearing your posted concert at the Concertgebouw in 1979 for the first time very soon, as it was never released on CD TMK.
Many thanks!