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Chailly Mahler 9th

The new Riccardo Chailly/Concertgebouw Mahler Ninth from Decca just might be the best-sounding recording ever made of a Mahler symphony. And as a performance it moves straight to the top of the class.

I am in awe of this powerful, moving, impeccably prepared, beautifully crafted performance of Mahler's last completed symphony, and of the magnificent, state-of-the-art sound Decca has provided for it. Chailly's tempos all work; his performance is profound and utterly convincing. The Concertgebouw has Mahler in its bones, and its committed playing and sumptuous sonority are all that could be desired. And Decca's engineers have captured every nuance with unrivaled immediacy, clarity, richness, and impact, revealing countless felicitous details, as well as exceptionally wide frequency range and dynamic range. Soft passages have beguiling delicacy; climaxes have potent bass and gut-wrenching power. The grand, heaven-storming scale of the reading is fully conveyed; what we hear here can stand as a model of how to record a Mahler symphony. This recording marks the triumphant conclusion of Chailly's distinguished Concertgebouw Mahler cycle for Decca. It was made in the Concertgebouw Great Hall, famed for its superb acoustics, in June 2004, in conjunction with Chailly's farewell concert as principal conductor of the orchestra (but it is not a live recording).

I've been a Mahler buff for 40 years and have many recordings of his symphonies, including half a dozen Mahler Ninths. But I've never heard a more eloquent Ninth than this one, and I've never heard one in which every thread of the complex orchestration is so clearly revealed. If I could keep only one Mahler Ninth, this would be the one. In addition to Chailly and the Concertgebouw, Decca engineers Jonathan Stokes and Philip Siney deserve to take a bow. Anyone who loves Mahler, anyone fond of the Ninth, anyone curious about how good a recent digital recording of a Mahler symphony can be, ought to hear this recording.

Have any of you guys listened to this one? What did you think? Also, my comments apply to the standard redbook CD version, but there is also a (separate) SACD version. Anyone heard that one?
texasdave
rushton's avatar
rushton
2,445 posts
 
Mario_b

During the analog recording era, DGG orchestra recordings were, as you point out, a very miss and miss affair, particularly after about 1971. The orchestral recordings from the 1960s and earlier are often quite good. The difference was the move by DGG engineers into vastly over-miked territory after the 1960s.

On the other hand, DGG recordings of chamber and small ensemble music from the analog era are often extremely well recorded and rarely seemed suffered from the multi-miked malaise. I do not pass these up. Examples of well engineered DGG recordings from the analog recording era include:

Orchestral...
Shostakovich, Sym 10, Karajan/BerlinPO, 139020
...(NOT the later mess on 2532030)
Beethoven, Pf Conc 1, Leitner/BerlinPO, Kempff, 138774
Tchaikovsky, Sym 5, Mravinsky/LeningradPO, 138658

Chamber...
Stravinsky, Octet for Wind Instruments, Boston Symphony Players, 2530 551
Stravinsky, Dumbarton Oaks, Boulez/Ensemble Intercontemporain, 2531378
Stravinsky, L'Histoire du Soldat, Boston Symphony Players, 2530609
Beethoven, Pf Trio in B, op97 (Archduke), Kempff -pf, Szeryng -vn, Fournier -vc, 2530147
Zemlinsky, Str Qt 2, LaSalle Qt, 2530982

All of my listening is to the LP versions, so I can't speak to the quality of any CD transfers for any of these. But the recording quality on the master tape is certainly evident.
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seurat
63 posts
 
Of all the Mahler synfonies the 9º is my favorite.
Chailly performance is good. No more no less, and that isn't enough for me and for Mahler. It's not just a matter of the tempi used, the climaxes in the first movement aren't there. Soundwise the recording is spectecular, but we are talking of the Concertgebouw Hall, wich has one of the best acoustics in the world.
Like others have writen here, i much prefer the Bernstein and Abbado last recording, although the sound is not up with the performance.
jhwalker
23 posts
 
Mario,
I was referring to CD issues not LP. I totally agree with what others have said about sound quality among various labels. I agree with TDAVE about DG sonics. I much prefer many of their analog CD recordings to their Digital ones, but I agree that the DG 4D process is a step in the right direction. Others mention recording venues which play a vital role in the sound. Venues like the Concertgebouw Hall and the Sofiensaal in Vienna have phenominal sound. I would nominate the Decca Legends CD issue of Bruckner's 4th with Bohm/VPO as one of the all time great performances in both sound and performance. In many cases, I find a performance is so good it tends to out weigh any sonic limitations, and sometimes the reverse is true in that the sound is so good it out weighs any limitations in performance.
Happy Listening,
JWALKER
tfkaudio
591 posts
 
I'd recommend the Solti CSO recording as a comparison. It would definitely give you two very different looks at this work.

Cheers.
jwinder
6 posts
 
While my favorites for Mahler 9 go with the majority here (Bernstein/Berlin, Abbado/Berlin, Karajan/Berlin"live"), I think a word should also be put in for Giulini/Chicago, which has some sonic limitations, but has a wonderful flow with great intensity.
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