Haitink Mahler 5 on DECCA Pure Analog

@rvpiano 

Gramophone tends to have a bias towards British performances, but I agree Barbirolli’s Mahler 5th is my favorite version

I would agree they were biassed towards British hifi hardware, but I thought they were very even-handed when it came to judging performances.  They treated all the great Hungarian conductors living in the USA with much the same respect as the great USA conductors living in Europe!

It is very odd that the British, at least until Elgar, had so few significant composers but by far the biggest concentration of orchestras, particularly in London.

@audphile1 

when it comes to Shostakovich, my preference is towards Soviet conductors of the same era

The most electrifying conductor I've ever heard live was Kirill Kondrashin, who recorded all Shostakovich symphonies with the Moscow Philharmonic, including world premieres.  When I saw him, he knew the scores by heart and conducted without a baton.  He seemed to guide every instrumental entry while balancing everybody else.

Towards the end of his life, he defected to the Netherlands and the Soviets banned his recordings.  I'd guess he fully understood the terror of living or dying under Stalin.

The young Norwegian conductor Klaus Mikela on Decca has started to record the symphonies with much better sound quality.  Thinking of Norway, I was surprised when I ran off the road in northern Norway and was rescued by a Russian driving an Audi Q8 SUV.  Turns out the Russian border was just a bit further up the road.  (In Australia, poles marking the edge of the road are on the road, not in the middle of a bloody snow-filled ditch).

@richardbrand funny story. glad you drove off the road before the border. It would have been a different Russian, and not on an Audi, and you would be chopping trees down now in Taiga instead of posting on the forums :)

Thanks for mentioning Kondrashin. He’s great. Haven’t listened to his recordings in a while though. For Shostakovich, I have to be in certain mood. Or he puts me in that mood forcefully which is not what I crave often. 
 

@dwette any thoughts on the DECCA records?

I just bought Stravinsky on eBay 

@audphile1 

The Stravinsky is awesome. I love this record. BTW: it is 45 RPM. The jacket says so in fine print, but it’s not all that obvious.

This is maybe the best release of the Decca Pure Analogue series so far...except I just listened to the Varese and that’s pretty awesome too.