Search
Special Offers
Awards
Online Payment
Visit us
Presto News - 22nd October 2007New Mahler 8 from Pierre Boulez |
 Mahler is one of my great passions, but I've always been hesitant to feature him in one of my editorials, as I'm very aware that he is the sort of composer you either love or hate, without much in between. But I want to mention him this week as a new Pierre Boulez recording of the Eighth Symphony raises some important issues. It is one of those recordings which is likely to split critics down the middle and it will get a mixture of very good and very bad reviews. Here is why...  Pierre Boulez Pierre Boulez sees himself primarily as a composer, not an interpreter. He only conducts music that interests him as a composer and as such his recorded output is very limited (dominated by Bartok, Stravinsky and Mahler). He clearly approaches conducting with a strong conviction to be faithful to the composers’ intentions, and views precision and clarity of structures as the primary ways of achieving this. Such a clinical approach is perfect in the music of Bartok and Stravinsky but, because Mahler’s music is so outwardly expressive, Boulez’s interpretations are often considered cold and somewhat lacking in personal engagement. But then you have to offset that against the new things you hear in the orchestral textures precisely because everything is so clear. This combined with the quality of the DG recording engineers results in some really magical passages. I should say now that I don't believe in the notion of ‘benchmark’ recordings - that there should be one recording of a work considered superior to others. I think many recordings have something new and valid to say and the new Boulez certainly has that. Although I suppose I'd be hesitant to recommend it as the first recording of Mahler 8 you should buy, if you like your Mahler and want to be both challenged and enlightened then this is well worth hearing - and if you're still not sure you can listen to extracts first here (although I should warn you that DG have compressed them a bit too much so they don't sound anywhere near as good as they do on the CD).
|
Share
|
 Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E flat major 'Symphony of the Thousand'Staatskapelle Berlin, Pierre Boulez |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases22nd October 2007 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Nigel Kennedy - Polish SpiritIt all started when an old state recording, handed to Kennedy by a member of the audience at a concert in Warsaw, set him on a journey of discovery that culminated in the present programme. The forgotten recording contained a performance of Mlynarski’s second violin concerto and, when Kennedy listened to it, he was smitten. For the recording, he chose to couple it with the beautiful but rarely performed violin concerto by Mieczyslaw Karlowicz. |
 Best of British from the 2007 BBC PromsThis special priced two-CD set features selected highlights from the 2007 BBC Proms season, compiled to a survey of the best of British music of the last 100 years. Including the world premiere performance of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's Four Poems of Thomas Campion. |
 Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano)Jean-Yves Thibaudet tackles two great works of the French Concerto repertoire, which he has not previously recorded - Saint Saens Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5. "brilliant, heartless, Parisian, and Thibaudet rode it like a powerful horse, getting into a sure-footed rhythm, leaping every fence..." - The Independent on Thibaudet's playing of the Saint Saens Piano Concerto No.2 |
 Alfred Brendal - 1968-2001Previously Unpublished Live and Radio PerformancesThese performances date from BBC studio recordings and concerts given between 1968 and 2001 and all broadcast by the BBC. While Beethoven is a major element in this 2 CD set with a performance of the "Diabelli" Variations, and Piano Sonata No. 28, there are also selections from Mendelssohn and two of the rarely heard Elegies by Busoni, and even more of a rarity (and a composer not usually associated with Brendel) Chopin's Andante spianato & Grande Polonaise in E flat. 'A perfectionist at the piano... master pianist Alfred Brendel' - The Sunday Times |
 The Sky Shall Be Our RoofRare songs from the operas of Ralph Vaughan Williams |
 Jacqueline du Pré - The Complete EMI RecordingsI've been trying to stick to new releases recently as so many interesting new recordings have been coming out, but this is such fantastic value that I just have to mention it. - 17 CDs containing all the much-loved English cellists' studio recordings (including of course the legendary Elgar recording) for only £25! |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 20th October 2007 |
Building a Library - Gluck: Iphigénie en Tauride |
 First ChoiceMireille Delensch, Simon Keenlyside, Yann Beuron, Laurent Naouri, Alexia Cousin, Choeur des Musiciens du Louvre, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski |
CD of the Week |
Mahler: Symphony No. 8Staatskapelle Berlin, Pierre BoulezThis release crowns a more-than-decade-long project involving all the symphonies and major orchestral works of Gustav Mahler - a project that is both of highest personal value to Maestro Boulez and an important document of Mahler interpretation. Boulez’s Mahler is revelatory in its leanness . . . a life-changing experience for anyone who thought they knew their Mahler' - Financial Times |
Your details will be used only in accordance with our Privacy Policy. |
Copyright © 2002-13 Presto Classical Limited, all rights reserved.