Mahler: Symphony No. 9

Gustav Mahler (Composer), Jascha Horenstein (Conductor, Performer), Janet Baker (Performer, Conductor), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Scottish National Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Jascha Horenstein, Janet Baker
• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish National Orchestra
• Conductor: Jascha Horenstein, Janet Baker
• Composer: Gustav Mahler
• Audio CD (October 23, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: BBC Legends
• ASIN: B00005NSW8
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252,340 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the premiere Mahler 9ths, August 28, 2002

By 

R. J. Claster "rjclaster" (Van Nuys, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mahler: Symphony No. 9 (Audio CD)

This live performance from 1966, in very good stereo sound (in particular it captures effectively the concert hall ambience in a way that makes most studio recordings sound antiseptic by comparison), is one of the most powerful I have heard of this music. It achieves its impact through a weight and emphatic intensity of utterance that highlights the dark, fatalistic elements of the music rather than its songful, lyrical qualities, as with Barbirolli-Berlin (or, to a lessor extent, the live Kubelik on Audite, which may be the most balanced interpretation of the 9th), or its volatile, manic changes of mood, as with Bernstein. Although the orchestral execution of the Rondo-Burleske is, admittedly, somewhat disjointed in spots, Horenstein achieves both a seamless flow and unbroken concentration of mood in the sublime concluding adagio movement, surpassing in these aspects most other performances I have heard. Expensive, yes, but an essential purchase for dedicated Mahlerians.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven but interesting, August 3, 2004

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LJM (Earth) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mahler: Symphony No. 9 (Audio CD)

This live stereo recording of a Horenstein Mahler 9 deserves its place in every Mahlerite collection, mainly for the first and last movements - the first in particular. The two other movements are less memorable or even to forget. Moreover, the sound is not great but OK. The audience's behavior is acceptable. An oddity is the applauses between movements.

Pros first:
I am not a fan of Horenstein, but it must be said that his interpretation of the first movement is impressive. Especially the climaxes come off very well. Excellent brass playing! Considering the last movement, it is getting a very slow presentation. Although I prefer the swift takes, such as Kubelik's (Audite, live) and Walter's (EMI, live), Horenstein's sensitive grasp is more convincing, than, say, Karajan's simplified and syrup-sentimental view (DG, live).

Cons:
Here we have the second movement, of which Horenstein doesn't make anything interesting. Compare with Klemperer (EMI)! The third movement, finally, is deeply problematic for other reasons, with playing "out of bounds". How bad is it? It is one thing to be out of key, if we talk about winds and brass. But it is another thing to be out of tune, which is the matter here. At the end of the movement the timpanist is bars ahead of the rest. It sounds very odd if you know the piece.

Who's to blame? Horenstein is the usual suspect, I suppose. All rehearsal concentration put on the first and last movements; the two inner sections performed on routine.

The present recording can be recommended anyway, but certainly not as a first choice. Go for Barenboim (Teldec) or Abbado (DG) you want a great live, and for Ancerl (Supraphon) or Klemperer (EMI) if you want an excellent studio take.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A glorious recording!, January 31, 2005

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mahler: Symphony No. 9 (Audio CD)

The elusiveness, the slender touch, the precise accent and the absolute domain and total understanding of this work considered as musical testament are some of the fundamental tools to perceive the real intention of Mahler in his Farewell Symphony.

Curiously the Symphony begins with a theme that it might be well considered as a mesmerizing cradle song. More than an Adagio Gustav seems to go to the ancestral matrix , the primary origin or the maternal roots if I may expressing in mythological language: the candid innocence.

And suddenly the happy harmony will be faced to the existential anguish, the hardness of living with his peaks and lows: the first loves, the first depressions, the nature song, those admirable landscapes so well depicted from his native Vienna.

The last movement emerges as the final resolution: the fate of man dissolved in the cosmos infiniteness.

Curiously, the structure of that Symphony goes from the human unity to universe's integration and in this sense goes in opposite direction to Beethoven's Ninth spirit.

Jasha Horenstein was a champion director of Mahler and somehow he explores this far universe with absolute expressiveness keeping in mind every little detail to remark the Mahlerian pathos.

One of the best versions ever recorded. If you add Walter Vienna of the last thirties, Scherchen Vienna Symphony you will obtain the most honest and convincing performings of this supreme work to date.