Gustav Mahler Leopold Stokowski London Symphony Orchestra - Mahler Symphony No 2 Resurrection (7 tracks) +Album Reviews

Overwhelming Mahler Experience

William Dodd | Castle Rock, WA USA | 03/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's mono, the audience is instrusive, the recorded balance of the instruments leaves something to be desired. That said, this Proms Concert BBD Legends recording of Mahler's Symphony #2 left me speachless. I have Klemperer. I have Bruno Walter. I have the new Testament CD with Barbirolli. I've heard many others. I'm not even a Stokowski fan. But no performance of this music has moved me more than this. It's simply amazing."

Another great reissue of Stokowski's great performance.

Wei Hsien Li | United States | 04/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a fan of both Mahler and Stokowski, I would never say Stokowski is a Mahlerian conductor. But surprisingly, every Mahler made by Stokowski is wonderful. As for Symphony no.2, the RCA one has high -standard recording and vivid interpretation. You won't bother to pick out some minor techical pitfall of orchestra since the performance itself is so touching and the recording is awesome. The live reocrding here I listen the old M&A issue for the first time. I would never forget how much I was touched. This live not only overwhelmed Stokowski's own RCA one, but also those Mahlerian conductors like Walter, Klemperer, and Scherchen.. It is so convincing that makes you believe Mahler no.2 should be like this.(How interesting the feeling comes out from the recording from the "strange" Stokowski). The only pitfall here is the recording, but relatively speaking, it is a good mono recording. Even if you are those audiophile who only wants to listen Hi-fi Mahler, I still urge that you must listen to this performance as long as you love Mahler."

Excellence in constricted sound

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 11/15/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was very pleased to find Stokowski on his best behavior in this CD, allowing Mahler's message of death and resurrection to come through pretty much as the score recommends. Janet Baker's singing is one of the miracles of English society, as well. While recorded in a cavernous venue, you can actually hear every word she sings. Her German is better than most Americans' English, too!

While the purely orchestral portion of this recording is very good, it is the choral portions that set this apart from most performances of this music. The soloists and chorus are exemplary throughout, especially in the final closing pages where Stokowski creates the most wonderful affect I have heard in this music. Indeed, this is the trademark of this performance -- it gets better the longer it goes on and peaks in the incredible final moments.

This is not to say there are some drawbacks, for there are. The opening lower string figures appear to have been too closely recorded for the sound is too large and blurred. Stoki's tempo in the beginning of the final section is especially metronomic. The mono sound, while clear and somewhat wide-ranging -- is poor by 2004 standards. This is especially true when listening to the music through headphones, where the aura of performance is deadened by the single sound source.

But on balance this is one of the better versions of this music I have heard. It can rank with other notable single CD versions including those by Mehta/Vienna, Klemperer/EMI and Abravanel. Any of these disks will give lasting pleasure in this important music."

This live peformance got better and better

Klingsor Tristan | Suffolk | 08/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I remember this Prom concert well. It was only the second performance of a Mahler symphony I had ever heard (they were pretty few and far between in those days). And it blew my socks off. I've been a convert to the music ever since.

With Stoki there is always the uneasy balance between the showman or the vulgarian and the supreme moulder of orchestral sounds and the profound musical thinker. Both were on display that evening. Having brought the performance to a towering and overwhelming conclusion, he then encored the final pages. I know we all reacted as you would expect and shouted for more. I know he was eager to proselytise on behalf of a composer he loved and championed at a time when his reputation was only just beginning to pick up. But, two last judgements in an evening - really!

Nevertheless, listening to this performance now with the experience of many other conductors in this symphony since, it is still a stunning interpretation. The performance is a little slow to get off the ground. The first movement is good but not electrifying. But as the symphony progresses, the performance just gets better and better. The second movement manages to retain a lightness and rhythmic lift despite the cavernous Albert Hall acoustic. The Scherzo is Wunderhorn magical - listen to the way the trumpets soar in the first trio. A young Janet Baker brings a wonderful freshness to Urlicht and for the last movement, with its brass summonses, its marches of the dead, its lonely bird trilling its replies to a distant last trump and its monumental Resurrection peroration, Stoki is - as you would expect - in his element. This is not the most 'symphonic' reading of the last movement: one is aware of different sections butting up against each other rather than being integrated into a greater whole (cf. Rattle on EMI). But Stokowski gives each section its due weight, he balances tempi with rare judgement and produces predictably glorious sounds from his BBC forces.

It has to be said that we were a rather asthmatic audience for a high summer Prom. And this was the unrestructured Albert Hall, before the flying saucers appeared. However the BBC engineers managed it well and while it remains a big resonant space, they spare us the second echo performance one usually got in the Hall in those days.

Whoever chooses the tapes for this BBC legends series does so, for the most part, with great judgement. This was in the flesh and is on disc a memorable performance. Stokowski had championed Mahler's work long before it became fashionable. This performance was a major stepping-stone in the rehabilitation of the composer's work in the UK. It certainly set me on the road to exploring all his works when that wasn't very easy - either in the concert hall or on record. And it's a performance that rewards hearing again after all these years.

"

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