Customer Reviews

Mahler: Symphony No. 9 / Kindertotenlieder / Rückert-Lieder

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Of all of Karajan's recordings of Mahler's symphonies, the ones that have received the highest praise have been his two accounts of the Ninth, and some feel the latter live performance of these is the better. I have not heard that recording, but can recommend the first one offered here. In comparison to his 5th, this account of the 9th is perhaps a bit more controlled and emotionally restrained, and Karajan's reading does not allow Mahler to, so to speak, wear his heart on his sleeve. It is close in tempo and interpretation to Haitink's famous record with the Concertgebouw, and has a slightly brisker tempo than Klemperer with the Philharmonia. It is not as aggressive or forward in sound as the Solti 9th, although a case could be made that Solti's approach comes closer to the letter of the score. In comparison to Barbirolli's wonderful performance with the BPO, the Karajan has better sound but not better playing - maybe not even as good in the woodwind in fact. The strings in both performance are very beautiful, and the superior sound gives the Karajan an advantage here. The inner movements could be a bit more incisive in rythmic pointing, but they still work well. The outer movements are slow but not excessively so.

Christa Ludwig's performances of the Kindertotenlieder and 5 Ruckert Lieder, previously coupled with Karajan's reading of Mahler's 6th Symphony, remain outstanding, and she receives excellent support from the orchestra.

The documentation is excellent too and at medium price this can be recommended. I still like the Solti 9th best of all (although the interpretation has not received unaminous praise), because the CSO's playing is in a class of its own, and is superbly recorded.

This is the third version I have owned of this work - the others involved Solti in Chicago and Dohnanyi in Cleveland. Karajan is in his element with this music. Dohnanyi's version brought out the chamber qualities, which did not exist in Solti's extrovert account. Karajan knows how to shape the larger structures, without masking the detail. I became displeased with the other versions not long ago - they simply wore out. Even after a couple years, the Karajan is still an emotional experience for me. In the last movement, one can feel the pressure of the great Berlin orchestra trying to meet the vision of their conductor. And that sums up its success. I noticed that the amazon.com reviewer mentioned a missed entry in one of the movements. This will not stop you from finding pleasure in the reading and relishing the experience again and again.

Karajan does a fine job conducting in all of his Mahler recordings (Oddly, he only recorded 4,5,6, and the 9th twice). In this recording, the strings are terrific, especially in the Adagio. The brass players shine throughout, especially the horns. The only reason why I gave this recording four stars is because of some sloppy playing by the auxiliary woodwind players (especially the contrabasson and e-flat clarinet). The recording sound is excellent, even better, in my opinion, than Karajan's live recording done a few years later. As for that live recording, I really don't understand what the big deal is. Karajan is much more expressive and the playing is somewhat better in this earlier recording. For those who love this music, this is a must.

I recently heard the live recording of the Ninth and believe that the former is superlative. There is no background noise, of course, and there is much more control and precision. This Ninth seems to embrace more wholly the spiritual content of the piece, and additionally, the lieder is included for half the price of the live recording. There is no reason why one would not select this over the other.

This collection includes Mahler's "farewell symphony", 9th played amazing by Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Karajan. This is the sudio rec., he made a live recording later, but I think this studio rec. is more powerful and impressive. Especially the first movement is excellent. As you know, Alban Berg called to Mahler as "The God of Music" and Berg admire especially that 1st movement. He described that's the last moments of a hero and death suddenly comes! and he arrives to grave, to peace forever... It is a farewell as well as for his wife, Alma... And the third famous Rondo-Burleske is a pursuit of the devil! It is such a whirling, flamboyant music..

There are two gems: Kindertotenlieder and Rückert-Lieder, both beautifully sung by Christa Ludwig. Especially when you listen Kindertotenlieder, wou may be weep... That's may be the most drammatic songs in the history of music.

This is includes the complete texts of lieder, even so.

Highly recommended for any Mahler admirer or music lovers.

I got this from my local library yesterday to listen to, after hearing this piece before in two other recordings. I mostly picked this out for the interpretation, which was, in my opinion, very good. One of my favorite moments in the work can be heard starting at 11:39, the horn/triangle/string part that leads into the thundering percussion/trombone, also one of my favorite parts.
It is wonderfully played in the Bernstein - New York Phil. recording, though I prefer it much faster, and the Karajan interpretation is, therefore, a very welcome one. The only thing wrong with it is the playing. I have skimmed through the other reviews and so far no one else has picked up on it: Towards the end of the horn part, where the trombone comes in with the eighth notes (eighth note triplet?) to transition to the next phrase, it seems rushed - too rushed. I am honestly not sure whether the trombones are with the conductor and the horns are dragging, or the horns are with the conductor and the trombones are rushing, but either way - when the trombone phrase begins, and the horns have a held note for a few beats, before starting to ascend chromatically, there is a noticeable difference in timing between the horns and trombones, and it seems to me that, after several seconds, right before the trumpets enter in, the trombones attempt to slow down to meet the horns' (conductor's?) tempo. By the time the rest of the instruments come in, everything is going fine tempo-wise, once again. I immediately noticed this mess-up, and was naturally sad that it had to be made on one of what I believe to be the symphony's greatest moments. The rest of the symphony is played well, in general; in the third movement I am especially pleased by the excellent playing and good quality of the trumpets. I have not yet bought a study score for this work, and was delighted when my ears picked up on a couple new parts that I had never heard that clearly before. Overall this, is a good recording, though I will still choose Bernstein's any day over this, even if the horn/trombone section is not the speed that I like it at. Karajan does a good job conducting Mahler and this work in particular. It's only the playing that would hold me back from purchasing this.

In terms of value, the famous 1982 live performance of the Mahler Ninth is no bargain compared to the studio version Karajan made just two years previously. Not only is the studio version (under review here) part of a bargain two-fer, but it includes as filler some excellent mid-Seventies performances of Mahler songs with the wonderful Christa Ludwig.

Critics have gravitated to the live Ninth despite its high price as the better of the two performances, although the Gramophone awarded both the same prize when they came out. So the Amazon reviewer's comment that the studio version was "so-so" is ridiculous--the Gramophone itself declares that it is difficult to choose between them. Karajan didn't change his basic tempos (mostly quite broad) or his somewhat detached Apollonian view of the score--detached, that is, compared with the totally involving and emotionally untempered Bernstein, also with Berlin, from 1979. What other orchestra can claim to have made three great Mahler Ninths in the space of three years!

What Karajan abundantly supplies is astonishing clarity, virtuosic orchestral playing that stands above any other version on CD except for Abbado with the Vienna Phil., and a total command of line and balance. Those qualities count for a lot, and they are present in both sets. I do think, listening to them side by side, that Karajan got a degree more impact under live concert conditions--the performance feels more spontaneous, spacious, and alert on the musicians' part. In terms of recorded sound, the digital 1982, as remastered, is excellent in every way, while the earlier analog recording is a bit studio bound with less air and space around the individual instruments.

All in all, these readings are so outstanding in their musicality and virtuosity that it's worth buying them both.

While I agree that no one recording can be truly 'definitive' for a particular work, I tend to think this one is about as close as it gets. This is some of the most wondrous orchestral playing on record, to my knowledge. There are a few minor gaffes here and there, like the Eb clarinet's wobbly entrance in the last movement, but these are quite forgivable given the intensity, clarity, and brilliant textures throughout the recording.

One gets the impression that Karajan had an extremely clear and personal vision of how he wanted this piece to sound, and essentially willed the Berlin Philharmonic into reproducing the record in his mind. He structures the movements in broad strokes - other recordings, even the acclaimed versions by Bernstein, Abbado and others, tend to make the first and fourth movements sound episodic. Karajan has a more integrated plan, and within his overarching structures the individual lines and textures are executed with great precision. I'm not talking about a Szell-like obsession with rhythmic clarity; indeed, the Berliners play with a kind of intuitive phrasing that might seem slightly awkward in isolation, but you realize at some point it is essential and true. I have the impression that with each phrase Karajan and his orchestra hit their intended mark, and each of those phrases serves a purpose greater than itself.

All of this seems to go toward making the climaxes as effective as possible. The fourth movement climax, in particular, is just devastating. The cymbal-accented minor chord, after the trumpets enter with their searing, soaring statement of the theme, leaves me shuddering inside with emotions I can't quite explain. I don't think any other classical recording affects me this deeply. You almost feel manipulated - as if only through some clever, secret collusion between Karajan and Mahler himself could you be made to feel such a thing. It's easy to understand, when you listen to this and his 70's 'Also sprach Zarathustra', why Karajan was deified. He seems masterful beyond reason here.

Karajan's live recording of the 9th seems to have a touch more overt humanity to it. The finale, in particular, seems slightly more hopeful. I tend to prefer this more embattled, cinematic, sometimes bleak interpretation - which has no shortage of beauty - but some clearly prefer the former. I can only say that the live version doesn't hit me nearly as deeply as this one. In any case, this counts as one of the all-time great orchestral recordings. If you have any interest in this symphony, you need to hear this at some point in your life.

This performance failed to win Gramophone's award for the best disc the last 30 years, but it was nominated and one might easily suspect that it lost because of the absence of a British artist. For this is, quite simply, possibly the best performance of anything, ever, captured on disc (in my view even superior to the 1982 live version which is also widely praised). Karajan's interpretations during his later years were notoriously problematic, often yielding rather bland results with focus on beauty of sound to the detriment of structure and drama, but there were certainly exceptions - and this is definitely one of them.

Compared to the live version, this one is somewhat more sharply contoured, and a little less refined (perhaps), but the differences are rather minor. But compare either to the competitors, and they are in a class of their own. Tempi are relatively broad and the orchestral playing is simply breathtaking - I have rarely or never heard any orchestra produce coloristic effects or poignant lines quite like this; it is hard to understand how this can be the same ensemble Bernstein used in a performance which in comparison with this one seems almost rough and vulgar. But it isn't just the beauty of sound - there is a depth and a perspective to the performances and not the least a sense of the long lines giving the performance an unrivalled forward momentum. Part of the point is that Karajan assumes a slightly "detached", somewhat restrained view. Contrast that to Bernstein, for example, who sounds like he lets himself be engulfed in the turmoil, torn by passions and is generally thrown around by forces out of his control. By assuming a god's eye view of the work Karajan obtains so much more tremendous power and forward momentum - there is a sense of a visionary, almost transcendental, energy about this performance which is absent in the Bernstein.

The Rückert-Lieder and Kindertodenlieder with Christa Ludwig constitute a very fine bonus; maybe not as dramatic as Fassbaender, but she sings them very well with a clear diction and well-judged amount of drama and poignancy - and the orchestral support is superb; not quite on the level retained in the symphony, but impressive nonetheless. Sound quality is magnificent and the design and documentation of this particular reissue very appealing. Urgently recommended.

I suppose I can't agree with most of the critics regarding the differences between Karajan's first and second recordings of Mahler's extraordinary 9th symphony. I hear greater depth of detail and a darker sound stage here than in the later live recording. There is a mind meld between the composer and the conductor in this performance that is missing the second recording. The only unfortunate thing about this issue (the only incarnation that is currently available of this recording) is the fact that it duplicates the vocal program with Christa Ludwig found on Karajan's reading of the 6th symphony. I wouldn't be without Ludwig's wonderful performances, but I don't need two copies of them - DG could have been a little more imaginative with this reissue; nonetheless, an indispensible acquisition.