Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 9

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Since all three of Bernstein's Mahler Ninths have been reviewed on Amazon as the "best," I thought I'd sit down and compare them side by side. The two commercially recorded versions are with the New York Phil. from 1965 (Sony) and a live Concertgebouw concert from 1985 (DG). the third account is a live concert with the Berlin Phil. on DG from 1979. As other reviewers have detailed, this version was released posthumously; it commemorates Bernstein's only appeaarance with the Berlin Philharmonic--I think he had stayed off Karajan's turf by mutual agreement, although no doubt there were anti-Nazi feelings as well.

Timings: Although Bernstein's tempos grew slower with age, his Mahler Ninth was never one of the faster ones. The first movement takes 28 min. in NY, speeds up to 27 min. in Berlin, then reaches 29 min. in Amsterdam. (By comparison, Abbado takes 25 min. in his recent Berlin Phil. reading on DG.) In the second movement Scherzo NY and Berlin are around 15 min. (the same as Abbado), and again the Concertgebouw performance is notably slower, 17 min. All these vresions, along with Abbado, take roughly 12 min. for the third movement Rondo-Bulreske. The biggest change in tempo occurs in the fourth movement Adagio, where NY is 23 min., Berlin 26 min., and Amsterdam a very prolonged 29+ min., compared to Abbado's 25 min. or Boulez's brisk 21 min. Bernstein always permitted himself expressive freedom, and a case can be made for all three tempos, including the agonized farewell from Amsterdam.

Sound: The NY recording never sounded all that clear or detailed on LP, but the Sony remastering is very good. It is warm in the string tone, and there is a good orchestral blend. One doesn't feel that individual mikes are highlighting various solos. The Berlin recording is bright, somewhat thin, and considerably more aggressive. The balance keeps strings and winds a bit far back, while at times the brass and percusison leap out. Through earphones one can detect a low-level buzz, but overall this is good sound if you can accept Bernstein's podium noises and some intrusive coughing in exposed soft passages. With the Amsterdam recording we are back to higher standards, but not as good as in New York; the orchestra sounds thinner and consierably more distant. The Sony remastering is a clear winner here.

Orchestras: The New York Phil. plays very well but without any particular Mahler sound, and there isn't a great deal of personality in the phrasing. The Berlin Phil. is more distinctive, alert, and quite diverse in phrasing; the string section is sweeter as well. (The Amazon reviewer who says that the orchestra learned the Mahler Ninth under Bernstein has forgotten the excellent Barbirolli recording they made for EMI in 1964, admittedly 15 years earlier. The further claim that Karajan piggy-backed on Bernstein's tutelage is silly.) The Concertgebouw sounds very fine but not distinctive; the overall feeling is mellow and not extremely detailed, but they are certainly premier in their own right. All three orchestras are, and only the sonics let down Berlin.

Interpretation: Considering that Bernstein was considered a Mahlerian firebrand, his NY Ninth struck me as a bit bland on its initial release, but now it sounds very musical and balanced. For anyone who wants Bernstein without excessive personality, emoitonal underlining, and over-dramatizing, this is the version for you. In Berlin the interpretation is more intense but still controlled; the sense of a great orchestra giving its all is palpable. There are many new insights not heard in NY, and Bernstein has found a sense of mystery and dramatic suspense that must have kept hte audience on the edge of their seats. In Amsterdam this special ambience isn't present. Despite the long drawn-out finale, Bernstein is not at an expressive extreme here. He doesn't have a hysterical approach to this work in any of his three readings, but I'd say the Concertgebouw performance comes in third, with Berlin first and NY second.

Overall, I feel drawn into Mahler's world with all three readings, yet that feeling is most intense in Berlin. In Amsterdam Bernstein sounds autumnal, a bit weary and resisgned, and in the last movement he holds on to every note of farewell for dear life. But one msut remember always that this is Bernstein--these three readings rise to a very high level of artistic expression, and if the NY and Amsterdam readings were the only two that existed, they would be in the front rank of Mahler Ninth recordings.

As Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University in 1973, Leonard Bernstein eloquently expressed his thoughts about the contemporary meaning and relevance of Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony during his lecture on "The Twentieth Century Crisis" in music. Besides Mahler's own personal demons, Bernstein felt that Mahler's Ninth represented the death of Romanticism in the wake of Arnold Schoenberg's advocacy of atonality, and foreshadowed the very real horrors of the 20th Century: two World Wars, mass genocide, the threat of nuclear annihilation, and the period of crisis the U.S. was facing at the time with its involvement in Vietnam.

Nearly 30 years later, we have confronted our own crisis in the beginning of the 21st Century. My heart sank while I was watching live television coverage about the first plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center Towers, and then saw another plane explode into the other tower. I finally wept when I saw that a third plane had hit the Pentagon. I realized that many people had lost their lives, and that the lives of many more would change profoundly.

With the events of 11 September 2001, I thought about Mahler. He wrote his haunting Ninth Symphony and began work on his 10th Symphony just a few years before World War One devastated the seemingly placid status quo of the great European empires and profoundly changed the "Western world." At least two major U.S. orchestras had already scheduled performances of Mahler the week of the attacks, with the Fifth Symphony in Cleveland (other works on the program were eventually dropped in memoriam) and the Sixth Symphony in San Francisco. With the many casualties among firefighters in New York, I also thought about the story of how Mahler had been moved upon seeing a funeral procession for a fireman when visiting New York in 1908, and incorporated a drum stroke he heard from the procession into the sketches of his unfinished 10th Symphony. I also thought about Bernstein's musings that Mahler's Ninth symbolizes the cataclysms of the Twentieth Century ("the death of society, of our Faustian culture"), as well as the late-night drunken parties, keeping-up-with-the neighbors, and other quotidian things we do when death is waiting to swallow us without warning.

This Deutsche Grammophon release documents a stunning performance of Mahler`s Ninth, and was the only collaboration between Bernstein and the Berlin Philharmonic. The initially tentative partnership between Herbert von Karajan's orchestra and Bernstein yielded two intense performances of this symphony, if the first performance (the one preserved in this recording) is any indication. Between Bernstein's personal investment in this symphony and the playing of the Berlin Philharmonic, the result documented on this recording is incredible. Unfortunately, this recording is now "out-of-stock." I can only hope that it will be re-released on Deutsche Grammophon`s mid-priced "Legendary Recordings" series, perhaps accompanied by Bernstein's Vienna recording of the Adagio from Mahler`s 10th.

Compared to von Karajan's recording of the Ninth from a few years later, Bernstein's version may sound a bit overindulgent. However, what may be "overindulgence" for some may be an urgency of emotion for others, and that urgency is what makes this recording special to me. It's the orchestra unapologetically giving in to Mahler's music and Bernstein's direction with sweetly screaming strings, blasting brass, and thundering timpani; it's the pounding fists of fate in the first movement, followed by meditative yet wistful calm; it's the distended second movement laendler trying desperately not to collapse into chaos; it's the protest and struggle against fate in the third movement, re-emerging sporadically amidst the fourth movement's hymn-like Weltschmerz; and it's the fourth movement's Zen-like conclusion in the strings, transcending our fears and struggles, and dissolving into the vastness of the universe.

I ascribe to Bernstein's belief that there is something life-affirming and refreshing about Mahler's Ninth, even though it takes us to the precipice of death... and perhaps beyond. Reflecting on this symphony is like a meditation, a genuine prayer. And in difficult times such as we have been experiencing, we need Mahler's music more than ever to help us grieve, and to help us heal.

In many respects, this is a very remarkable performance. But there has to have been a reason as to why this never was released during Bernstein's lifetime, and that reason presents itself at the start of the main climactic passage in the fourth movement: the trombones simply aren't there! This is no minor squable, as the trombones belt out the main theme of the movement at a full fortissimo. If you listen on headphones, something happens there: somebody falls out of a chair; someone had a heart attack - something! As one reviewer mentioned, you can even hear some people talking in the background. I'm sure that this would have been reason enough for Bernstein to not want to have it issued to the public. Too bad, because the rest of it is really very good, with just a few very minor slip-ups. The start of the Rondo-Burlesque (third movement) is'nt well coordinated. But once things get rolling, everyone gives a great performance of it. I like how you can hear the horns play their low A at the climax of the first movement - just after the big gong smash. It really gives the feeling of flames from hell surrounding the listener; rising to the surface. So, procede at your own risk. You might just hear the climax of the fourth movement, and simply not care that the trombones aren't there. If so, lucky you!

This is an important historic recording, if only for the reason that it was Leonard Bernstein's only recording with the world's finest orchestra. The music-making here happens to be transcendent as well.

I agree with most every positive comment made by the other reviewers. However, I can't believe how many neglect to mention the terrible mistake in the fourth movement. At the climax of the movement, and in effect the entire symphony, the trombones are simply...not there. They were supposed to be belting out the motif at full bore, but something happened. They don't play.

After listening to all the wonderful music leading up to that point, you'll feel like you were about to receive a passionate kiss, and were instead shoved into a dumpster full of swords. I consider that moment one of the most powerful in all of music, so I'm sorry to say that the glaring omission nearly ruins everything.

Because of this, I consider this recording to be primarily of documentarian interest. Bernstein did not want it released during his lifetime. But for anyone curious to hear how the Berliners responded to Bernstein, it's obviously essential. Again, it does contain wonderful music. Just don't consider it one of the definitive recordings of this symphony.

This is one of those recordings you can't miss if you really like Gustav Mahler's music; the most exciting Ninth ever conducted, in a historical concert played by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Leonard Bernstein in 1979.

This was the first and last time they have ever met and the results are outstanding as you can hear in this live recording full of emotion and energy. This very last days I've been watching the new Mahler & Bernstein cycle on DVD released by Deutsche Grammophon in which you can find some documentaries of the rehearsals of this 9th Symphony, together with a concert with this work played by the Wiener Philharmoniker in the berliner Philharmonie, that jewel of the architecture. Watching them you can really feel how technically and wonderful the wieners play, but, at the same time, the `distance' they put between themselves and the work they are playing, something felt in their faces, in the way they stand quite motionless, in the sense and style of their playing... Even having Leonard Bernstein with the baton joining them seems not to be enough to put them on, to turn this wonderful orchestra on fire. In fact, I really think they give them best on the rehearsals, in which they seem to lose their control sometimes in order to play with really compromise and vehemence, bleeding out the symphony.

This recording with Berlin is the opposite reverse; they really play wonderful, like Vienna, but they give them best, the maximum implication in every note, in every phrase, in every emotion the work contents. That's why most of the people who know the Ninth feel something special, something further the notes when they listen this recording for the first time. I even know people who can't carry this extra emotion and who feel that it's too much, since the very beginning and specially in the last movement in which Bernstein really close a world in the history of music.

Like the recording of Das Lied von der Erde with Vienna (Decca), where the orchestra is really on fire all the time, this performing could be defined as total expressionism, because of the way they play and the way they accent all the emotions expressed through a perfect technical playing in a way only Berlin can express, as you can here in the brass sections, really dark, really full of premonitions and with that sinister colour.

The tempi in this version are faster than Bernstein's recording for DG with the Concertgebouworkest, where Lenny extends the final movement to eternity. Here we can find a very fluid phrases, specially in second and third movements, in which sometimes other conductors miss the pulse, as it happens, in my opinion in Giulini's version for the 2nd movement. Bernstein understand all this movements as a farewell to something and the tempo is really in connection that. First movement is for him a farewell to life in the sense of intimate feelings, inner life, familiar life... Second movement is understood by Bernstein as saying goodbye to the country, to the landscape, to the rural feelings, to the laender and austrian folk culture. Third movement is a farewell to the city, to the pleasures and demons of Vienna, with his operetta tunes and his trying of create something else, closer to spiritually, an attempt that finally fails in the tumultuous chaos in which the movement ends, wonderfully, outstanding conducted by Bernstein. Of course, final movement is saying goodbye to life, to his own life, a movement, in Bernstein's words based on silence more than in notes, specially in the final section of the movement, in the adagissimo really made as a net of strings that try to stand alive and that finally disappear into nothing, a kind of dissolution. The string playing of the Berliner in this last movement is so great that you can hardly believe how can be something played with this enthusiasm and conviction. The climaxes in all the work, and specially in this final movement, are every time higher and higher, even in strong playing like in emotion, until the final one can't be completed and it's signed a turning point into nothing, living can't be extended anymore. All this route is perfect described in this recording, and for this reason is why you should only listen this performing if you want to go deep inside Mahler's world, a world full of pain in this farewell. If you only want to listen notes and technical execution you can find some other recordings without the compromise you can listen here.

The recording is not very good, I know it comes from a RIAS recording and it was not remastered in the last years; DG should clean the master with they new techniques in the Emil Berliner Studios, where they are remastering some recordings in an incredible way. Releasing it in mid-price would be great too, as the sound is poor and it has been in top-price for years. I imagine they sell lot of this recording every year.

In my opinion this is, in many senses, the top recording of Mahler's Ninth. There are other great recordings, like those by Riccardo Chailly (Decca), Carlo Maria Giulini (DG), the own Bernstein (DG, DVD-Vienna- and CD-Concertgebouworkest), but you should not miss this recording of my all-time favourite symphony.

I have always loved the recording Bernstein made with the NY Philharmonic. I always felt that was the recording that set the standard. Unfortunately, his later DG recording is much to mannered for my tastes. But here he gets it right. Its just beautiful throughout and he gets really outstanding playing from the Berlin players. It must have been quite an event and this recording documents it well. Very recommended.

This, Bernstein's only appearance with the Karajan's orchestra, belongs in everyone's classical collection simply because of the historical importance to it. But it is also a great performance of quite possibly Mahler's single greatest work. The whole piece is an emotional rollercoaster from beginning to end. And Bernstein, of course, only makes the ride even more exciting, beuatiful and at times terrifying.

The first movement's is what many people consider to Mahler greatest single symphonic movement. It's a piece of unbelievable drama, typically Mahlerian in its constantly changing moods. Bernstein handles all the shifting changes in mood and tempo with all skill. And the Berliners play remarkably well throughout.

The 2nd movement is not as rustic as some might like. The word that came to mind when I first heard it was jolly, which is not a word that usually comes to mind. But I think it sounds just fine.

The 3rd movement is taken pretty much as it is on Bernstein's other two recordings of this work. Very fast. While this draws some attention away from the contrapuntal nature of Mahler's extremely complex fugal writing, it does have a lot of adrenaline going behind it at such a breakneck speed. And the Berlin Philharmonic at that time was technically excellent enough to keep up with Bernstein.

Perhaps the most memorable part of the performance, for some good and some not so good reasons, is the great Adagio finale.

The Berlin Philharmonic has been great during the entire performance, but they are truly awesome in the finale. In particular, the strings. OH those strings! The tone is so rich, full, and gooey, that you almost don't want to listen to the piece so as not to get tired of it. Unbelievably gorgeous. The last few minutes will sent chills down your spine. But there are a few things in this performance of the Adagio that are quite bizzare. At one point, it sounds like someone just falled off the stage or something. You can clearly hear the thunk. One person who was doing a review of a bunch of different recordings said that it sounded as if Lenny just fell off the podium from getting too much into conducting! Additionaly right at a surge of dynamics from the orchestra, you can clearly hear ol' Lenny groaning. I must admit I almost laughed at this part. Let me say again, when he was conducting, Leonard Bernstein was REALLY into his conducting. But perhaps the most shocking thing comes last. At bars 118 to 122, a few seconds after we hear Lenny, a great climax comes and the trombones are supposed to play at full force. But, they are no where to be heard. And yet they come right back next time they are supposed to. It is kinda suspicious for a pro orchesta of the calaber of the BPO to have 4 musicians miss the exact same passage completely, Bernstein and Karajan being somewhat rivals.

HOWEVER, having said all that, these facts should not at all deture you from getting this performance, as it is full of very memorable momentsand has great historical significance. Forget about any of the imperfections. If you happen to see it, grab it without any hesitation.

This is without a doubt the best Mahler recording that Bernstein ever made. While some of his Vienna recordings are great without a doubt this one is better.

This recording brings the only time that Bernstein conduted the Berlin Philharmonic as far as I know. The results are electric. Bernstein might have known he'd never have an orcherstra this good to work with again and so he made the most of his chance. The BPO plays with its customary excellance.

There are many details or spots that could be pointed out in the recording to show how great and wonderful it is, but I choose only one. Listen to the close of the 3rd movement. The tempo is perhaps the fastest I've heard, but it doesn't sound hurried or rushed as the BPO play the tempo Bernstein demands with clear cut ensemble.

This rates as one of the best Mahler 9ths ever (only Karajan is better I think), and is Bernstein's best Mahler record.

File this one under "warts and all," because it not only marks a momentous occasion (the one time Bernstein conducted the Berlin Philharmonic) but also sums up Bernstein's incandescent, if sometimes overwrought, communication of Mahler's music. That excess emoting is one of this set's shortcomings, along with the conductor's all-too-audible (and distracting) vocalise and the "legendary" missed entry by the trombones at a crucial moment in the finale. I wouldn't count this as the all-around best of the recordings this orchestra has made of the Mahler Ninth (for that, look to the 1964 Barbirolli performance, which set the pace for Bernstein and Karajan to follow). But once heard, it won't be forgotten, and it sets an emotional temperature that is matched only by Bruno Walter's 1938 set.

First, let's address some myths that rank around the two Mahler Ninth live recordings by the BPO from 1979 (Bernstein) and 1982 (Karajan):
1) Bernstein taught them the Ninth: Nonsense! If somebody did that, then Barbirolli in the early sixties.
2) Bernstein and Karajan were "hostile" to each other: They were rivals. Not more and no less.

My evaluation of this recording versus the 1982 vK version: It's the orchestra, due! Conductors make a difference inthe subtleties, but the foundation are the players of the glorious BPO.
Still, to compare side by side, just for fun:

I Andante Comodo: Advantage Berstein: His expressionistic style fit this halting exploring movement better than vK's polish.

II Laendler: Advantage Karajan: Here, his viennese waltzing rythm leaves us with a much more rustic impression than Bernstein's caprices...

III Rondo-Burleske: Advantage Bernstein, if only subtly, but again, his improvisionalistic style addresses teh peaks and valleys of this movement better.

IV Adagio: Hands down, no one can match HvK here, not Berstein, not Barbirolli, Zander, Abbado or any body else: The Berliner's strings in all their fire and their glory; the piece is white-hot, played with an optimism and a resigning heartbreak at the same time that are unparalled: Here the vote goes clearly to Karajan.

All in all a tie; still, if I had to chose: vK's 82 live reading would come onto a lonely island with me, togehter with my wife, my family; and a Cohiba in the mouth and a Corona in the hand...