Skip the MP3 version and get the CD | Gustav Mahler: Symphonie No. 9

Among the Top Recordings | Gustav Mahler: Symphonie No. 9 | Gustav Mahler, Herbert von Karajan, ...

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	• Gustav Mahler: Symphonie No. 9 Gustav Mahler, Herbert von Karajan, ... Deutsche Grammophon, 1994 average customer review:based on 45 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A stunning sonic event

You wouldn't know it to read some of these "reviews", but this is about sublime art, not a talent contest.

I am no Mahlerite. My half-century of avid listening has tended to avoid the late Romantics in favour of the Baroque, the Classical, the early Romantic, Impressionism and beyond, including non-European music. I can think of one important exception. In my youth I owned a copy of the Mengelberg/Concertgebouw Mahler's fourth to which I often turned for consolation when the world was closing in. As it does.

But let me get to the point. This Karajan/Berlin Mahler's ninth is as powerful and astonishing as any recording I've ever owned.

I have seen a review of this 1982 program (albeit from a different evening) from the contemporaneous issue of New York magazine. The reviewer, incredibly, opined that, as impressive as the live performance was from every imaginable technical aspect, it somehow failed to "touch the heart."

God knows where the reviewer's heart was that evening, that it remained untouchable. To be fair, perhaps the orchestra had a sub-par evening. Such things happen to traveling orchestras.

But speaking for myself, I have been playing this CD every morning and evening for three days now, and it keeps unfolding and drawing from me new feelings of pity, joy, tragedy, ecstasy, resignation and transcendance.

Please ignore if possible all the irrelevant gossip about Karajan's arrogance, or the silly games about "the best" this, that or the other, and open your heart and intellect to this astonishing music, that speaks to us (in Karajan's words) "from another world".

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Skip the MP3 version and get the CD

For those that enjoy the ease and price point of the Amazon MP3 downloads, please be wary of the current MP3 download for Karajan/BPO Mahler 9 with the split files within each movement. I downloaded the Amazon MP3 version and was disappointed with the clear gaps within each movement in particular the 3rd Movement (tracks 1-7 on disc 2). Even with recombining/reimporting the MP3 files the gap is still annoying and noticeable. What is strange is that other Deutsche Grammophon MP3 albums are perfectly fine when burned or reimported gapless, but not this one.

This is by far my favorite Mahler 9th recording, and now that I have the CD version imported gapless, I couldn't be happier. 5 Stars for the CD. 2 Stars for this MP3 version.

Bottom line - buy the CD for this version and skip the MP3.

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Among the Top Recordings

Like many reviewers here, the reputation of this recording of Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony has preceded my actual hearing of the music. My first encounter with the Ninth was the recording (on LP) by Bruno Walter made with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. More recently, I have become familiar with Walter's 1938 recording with the Vienna Philharmonic. It is interesting to observe how Bruno Walter's tempi became expansive over the years. The first movement of the 1938 recording came in at 25 minutes while in the Columbia it clocks in at over 29 minutes.

This recording by Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic is reminiscent of the latter Walter. The Karajan recording is, of course, far better recorded and succeeds in bringing out Mahler's orchestration with sharp clarity. The only problem I had was the Landler movement seemed a bit plodding. The Rondo-Burleske has all the intensity one could desire. The opening Andante and the Adagio are beautifully paced to give full expression to the contrasting lyrical and melancholy melodies. The shaping of both movements is masterful and the Berlin Philharmonic plays with real authority. I would number Karajan's recording among the best recordings of Mahler's Ninth Symphony. In a field that is becoming very crowded with fine recordings, Karajan's is one of the stars.

I do take issue with the notion described in the notes that Mahler might have "died any moment" as providing the emotional touchstone for the Adagio. Today, there is a better understanding that Mahler's heat condition was not a fatal one but a defective heart value caused by rheumatic fever. His fatal illness was a bacterial infection. He even conducted a concert in February 1911 with a 104-degree fever at the onset of the infection. Mahler did not intend his Ninth Symphony as his valedictory; he was at work on his Tenth Symphony up to his final illness.

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Check Gramophone Awards version

Any too poor (or cheap) to shell out quite this much for one cd, who nonetheless feel the force of all the critical praise, should look out for the Gramophone Awards Collection edition (same (live) recording), which may be available on Amazon.UK.

The Crown's Jewel

Having listened many great and impressive recordings of this symphony, i
still think of Karajan's as the real and absolute reference, taking both
artistic and sound quality. Never before had the Berliner Philharmoniker
played Mahler this way, with so high standards of clarity, beauty, drama
and precision. This is the perfect Mahler 9th, and since any mahlerian
would not stay with just one recording, however this Karajan`s Mahler 9th
will be the authentic reference for ages.

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No Description Available.
Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 11-OCT-1994