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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor 'Tragic'
Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 recorded under the direction of Chief conductor Fabio Luisi, Symphony No. 6. “Luisi recognises that this work’s downbeat emotional trajectory is made more effective with plenty of light and shade...this is an affectionate, lyrical reading of a slow movement which needn’t descend into maudlin gloop.” The Arts Desk, 11th May 2013 | 
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| |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor 'Tragic'
This is a special release from the archives of the SWR was only made a short time before Kondrashin’s death in 1981. It was Kondrashin who led the way with performances of works by Mahler in the former Soviet Union. His interpretations are characterised by great urgency, which perfectly compliments Mahler’s complex musical canvas. | | | (also available to download from $10.75) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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“Karajan's classic Sixth confirmed his belated arrival as a major Mahler interpreter. Only Bernstein, in his more emotive, less consciously beautifying way, left recorded performances of comparable strength and conviction. Karajan's understanding of Mahler's sound world – its links forward to Berg, Schoenberg and Webern as opposed to retrospective links with Wagner – is very acute. Combining this with a notable long-term control of rhythm, Karajan is sustains not only the composer's lucidly stated tragic case but also Mahler's exploration of materials drawn from different sound worlds and even, in the Scherzo, from different areas of the inherited musical tradition. This Scherzo is a masterly achievement by composer, conductor, and orchestra alike. Also, the engineers have tidied up the very end of the symphony, where the bass tuba's entry over drum and ff pizzicato basses no longer betrays quite so obviously its origin as part of a separate take.
The Rückert Lieder are memorably sung by Christa Ludwig who is eloquently supported by the Berlin wind players who are recorded with gratifying immediacy.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor 'Tragic'
Mahler’s 6th Symphony was premiered in Vienna in 1906 by the composer himself (who only conducted it twice again), and the nickname ‘The Tragic Symphony’ was only ever used at this time - it never made it into any version of the score. Simone Young has proved herself a worthy exponent of his music and the second volume with the Hamburg Philharmonic will surely attract critical acclaim for her and her forces. “The performance gripped - and held - my attention from the outset...Ms. Young hands the enormous span of this movement very well indeed. Her tempi are well judged and she inspires the orchestra to play with huge commitment - and precision...this Simone Young recording can stand comparison with most. It’s a distinguished issue.” MusicWeb International, February 2013 | | | (also available to download from $21.75) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor 'Tragic'
Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Petr Vronsky | |
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| |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor 'Tragic'
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| |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor 'Tragic'Recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall, London, 22 August 1983.
Mahler once remarked to Sibelius “a symphony must be like the world, it must embrace everything.” His Sixth Symphony is a salient and personal statement, containing musical depictions of his wife and children. It reaches a tragic conclusion in the Finale representing “the hero, on whom fall three blows of fate, the last of which fells him as a tree is felled.” Klaus Tennstedt’s interpretations of Mahler during his celebrated partnership with the London Philharmonic Orchestra bear testimony to the way Mahler composed his life. This is both an extrovert and expansive reading of Mahler 6, resulting in an engrossing recording. Extrovert from the perspective that it is a performance of extremes. In the first movement the slow tempi are particularly slow, but despite the exaggerated ritardandos the Orchestra sustains Tennstedt's wants beautifully, never allowing the tension to stall. Press acclaim from Tennstedt conducting Mahler 6: ‘[The] BBC proms audience stood motionless through the ninety minutes of Tennstedt's 6th, petrified by its intensity.’ Norman Lebrecht in Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness on this 1983 performance. ‘The attraction in both cases was Mahler’s 6th Symphony, the most challenging and most problematic of the set, its champions the London Philharmonic Orchestra, its interpreter, Klaus Tennstedt…. Here was a performance to revere and to remember, historic even, and if it has not already been recorded, it ought to be.’ Evening Standard, November 1991 (RFH performance) “…Tennstedt goes for the jugular, accentuating the theatricality of Mahler's musical language.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2009 *** “Tennstedt exposes every nerve-ending of the piece from start to finish. Big sounds, big rubatos, big everything. …it's a corker, this performance.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009 “Tennstedt exposes every nerve-ending of the piece from start to finish. Trenchancy is there with a vengeance from the word go – bigboned and punchy with snappy trombone accents. Alma's theme burgeons, the Albert Hall acoustic accentuating the bigness with strident clarinets and the ripest horns. Big sounds, big rubatos, big everything. In the rapt cow-bell-festooned middle section Tennstedt feels personal, 'connected', to the ache in the recollection of Alma's theme and as the movement propels to its major-key (and short-lived) resolution.
But it is the parodistic grotesqueries of the offkilter Scherzo that really show up the real Mahlerian.
Here's why Mahler's first (and one believes last) instinct was to place the Scherzo second.
With Tennstedt the shock of that hellish descent back into A minor – with the march rhythm now dislocated to suggest an army of undead amputees – is seriously unsettling. And lest anyone suggest (as they so often do in criticism of Bernstein) that Tennstedt is guilty of over-egging the trios of this movement, let them consider the objective: the very essence of caricature (be it a Viennese ländler or some other awkward country dance) is exaggeration.
So it's a corker, this performance. It sounds pretty good for 1983, though the BBC fashion then for a more 'open' sound slightly compromises the unflinching immediacy of the reading.
And what a shame, after all the fantastical trials and tribulations of the finale, writ so thrillingly large here, that some idiot cannot resist yelling 'Bravo' to effectively destroy the fade to black at the close.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | (also available to download from $21.75) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor 'Tragic'
Recorded live in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago on October 18,
19, 20, and 23, 2007 “If the performance didn't quite move me in the way that Gergiev did, or before him Jansons (LSO Live), Abbado (DG) and Tilson Thomas (San Francisco Symphony), it may be the fault of the recording, which is perhaps better at capturing detail (the harps and celesta sound particularly well focused) than impressing with its sonic impact.” The Telegraph, 31st May 2008 “Mahler's massive Symphony No. 6 is played by Haitink and the CSO with a transparency, even a delicacy, that seems to stop time.” Chicago Sun-Times Concert Review “A powerful sense of drama pervades Haitink's draining account of Mahler's Tragic Symphony, the Sixth, a stunning testament to the Dutchman's reign as principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
His Chicago musicians take on new character with each increasingly vivid episode, from the hungry chomp-chomp of the opening to the golden serenity of the Andante. The Scherzo grunts, cackles and laughs through the blasé horn, although the cod-baroque strings could have more comic lightness. The massive finale is dominated by the mental image of the solemn, executioner-like percussionist with his huge mallet moving slowly towards the wooden box of fate.” The Times, 10th May 2008 **** “After Gergiev, this might seem staid - but is builds into a remarkable reading… Haitink's finale belies the slowness of its pacing, its accumulation of inner tensions the fruit of a lifetime's experience with this score. There are more splenetic, precise accounts available, few which convey its burden of care in quite such magisterial fashion.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2008 “This is a very beautiful Mahler Sixth - with all the strengths and weaknesses that implies. Rarely have the refinement and richness of Mahler's orchestral palette been so lovingly demonstrated.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2008 *** | | | (also available to download from $21.75) | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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"I hope that fresh programming concepts, realistic multichannel engineering, intelligent musicianship and world-class execution continue to define the formidable Ondine/Eschenbach /Philadelphia partnership." Gramophone “The Philadelphia Orchestra's first recording of Mahler's Sixth Symphony may well be the Sixth of first choice, sonically and interpretatively. In the first movement and Scherzo, Eschenbach favours clear lines and chamber-like orchestral balances from his responsive musicians... Normally I'd prefer a fast Andante moderato with more characterfully contrasted themes. Yet the beautifully modulated string section plus a steadily flowing basic tempo helps Eschenbach justify his 17'23" timing (in the Karajan and Tennstedt ballpark). Inspiration climbs several notches for Eschenbach's assiduously integrated yet flexible Finale, and just about matches Bernstein's terrifying dynamism measure for measure.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006 | | | (also available to download from $21.75) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Jascha Horenstein
“The reputation of Jascha Horenstein has never been higher…The generous coupling in this set is Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony, a work Horenstein had the highest regard for…a life-affirming lyrical middle section…the end brings real release and optimism and a shout of joy..it has as much tingle as you would wish to have in this modern masterpiece… This is a major release from BBC Legends…You will be involved, you will be moved, you will be unnerved, you will not be disappointed” MusicWeb International | |
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