Mahler: Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"; Rattle, Auger, Baker (19 customer reviews) More about this product -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Symphony-Resurrection-Rattle-Baker/dp/B000002RPF/sr=1-1/qid=1158217588/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-8697314-8659201?ie=UTF8&s=music -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Product Details Composer: Gustav Mahler Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle Performer: Arleen Auger, Dame Janet Baker Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Label: EMI Classics Audio CD (October 25, 1990) SPARS Code: DDD Number of Discs: 2 ASIN: B000002RPF average customer review: based on 19 reviews. (Write a review.) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #62,458 in Music (See Top Sellers in Music) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc: 1 01. Symphony No. 2 In C Minor ('Resurrection'): Allegro maestoso Disc: 2 01. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): Andante Moderato 02. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): In ruhig fliessender bewegung 03. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): Urlicht. Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht 04. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): Im Tempo des Scherzos. Wild herausfahrend 05. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): Wieder sehr breit 06. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): Ritardando...Maestoso 07. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): Wieder zuruckhaltend 08. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): Langsam. Misterioso 09. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): Etwas bewegter 10. Symphony No. 2 ('Resurrection'): Mit Aufschwung aber nicht eilen -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On this CD: Symphony No. 2 in C minor ("Resurrection") Composed by Gustav Mahler Performed by Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Arleen Auger, Dame Janet Baker Conducted by Simon Halsey, Simon Rattle -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editorial Reviews Amazon.com essential recording With its unrestrained, highly personal emotionality, Mahler's music reflects all the extremes of his volatile, complex nature and has always evoked extreme reactions in performers and listeners. Indeed, it seems to encourage conductors to express their own rather than the composer's personality, though Mahler, himself a great conductor, filled his scores with copious, detailed performing instructions. No wonder the enormous Mahler discography presents a fascinating variety of interpretations, starting with the many choices of textural emphasis offered by the very richness of the orchestration. Rattle's approach seems oriented toward external effect and innovation. He highlights Mahler's excessive tendencies with extreme contrasts: dynamics go from whispers to crashes; changes of mood and character are highlighted by long pauses; his textural priorities are highly unusual. The first movement (which has a disc to itself) is emphatic, often explosive, the great dissonant climax drawn out to the utmost; the march in the finale is truly infernal, ferocious, theatrical. However, the singers bring warmth and inwardness into the performance: Janet Baker, though her voice has lost some of the bloom of her incomparable 1965 recording under Klemperer, sings with moving simplicity and devout passion; Arleen Auger's voice floats with angelic purity. The choral ending has a broad, sweeping, all-out grandeur. --Edith Eisler -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help others find this item Make a search suggestion | Manage your search suggestions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tag this product (What's this?) Search Products Tagged with See most popular tags Your tags: Add your first tag -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spotlight Reviews Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers. Search Customer Reviews (What's this?) 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful: A great recording that needs good equipment to take off, October 18, 2003 Reviewer: L. Johan Modee - See all my reviews This performance is, as many critics long have noted, a great Mahlerite testimony from Simon Rattle. It is so good and convincing that he probably never will be able to repeat it. The orchestra plays as good as any other, and Rattle's interpretation is personal, interesting, and deeply moving. It has both drama and impetus. It is nice having such a good studio performance caught on record, which is very much like the live experience of this work. I suppose that the technical objections raised by other reviewers against this masterly performance are due to bad equipment: if you have a weak amplifier, it will simply clip at the climaxes. Together with Otto Klemperer's best recordings - the one with Philharmonia and the live take from Bavaria - and Bruno Walter's with NYPO, I think this is one of the very best recordings of Mahler's 2nd symphony. Perhaps one could include Zubin Metha's Vienna account in that list, and even Rafael Kubelik's underrated studio version. But Klemperer-Walter-Rattle will satisfy most needs, including the HiFi one. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) 13 of 35 people found the following review helpful: Overrated and underachieving, December 3, 2002 Reviewer: Paul Bubny "Paul Bubny" (Maplewood, NJ United States) - See all my reviews I'm at a loss to explain the accolades this set has gotten both here and across the pond. Could it be American listeners' deference to the mighty shapers of critical consensus in the Mother Country (whose motto may well be, "If It's By An English Musician, It's Definitive")? Rattle's grasp of structure here is nearly non-existent as he focuses on incidental detail. (I would say the same about his more recent live recording of the Mahler Ninth.) Sometimes his ear for balance is almost amateurish, and whatever sense of spectacle this performance conveys is probably due to the activist stance taken by the recording engineers; the performance itself is rather small in scale, hardly earth-shaking. The orchestra's playing is ragged and reined-in. And in the opening movement, that unmarked slowing down before speeding up the double basses--which other conductors have unfortunately imitated--is Rattle's worst bad idea. Klemperer (either of his EMI recordings), Mehta on Decca Legends, Gilbert Kaplan, the idiosyncratic Herman Scherchen, the 90-ish Leopold Stokowski on RCA, Rattle's now-deceased label-mate Klaus Tennstedt--any of these serve the "Resurrection" Symphony far better. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Customer Reviews average customer review: Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Exceptionally good!, July 25, 2006 Reviewer: Varese (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews I don't know what Maplewood, NJ is talking about. I will make the claim here that this is the best Mahler 2 recording I have ever heard (and I've heard all the ones mentioned in the other two reviews). And no, it's not because Rattle is British...which is a silly suggestion. The sound quality is superb, and the playing is second-to-none (apart from an out-of-tune high trumpet note in the last movement). The soloists and choir do an amazing job, too. I don't think it's the same section that the other reviewer was bothered by (the unmarked slowing down), but I DO disagree with Rattle's ploddingly slow tempo during the last few bars of the first movement. Rattle's sense of structure and form is fantastic, I think. His pacing of transition sections is also wonderful. And let's not forget the earth-shaking organ near the end! Fabulous recording and performance. Put that Bernstein garbage away -- this is the Mahler 2 you should buy. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) 1 of 8 people found the following review helpful: Disgusting and narcissistic, April 12, 2006 Reviewer: Michael A. Abelson "mabelson" (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews Geez! I thought Christian Thielemann was the most obnoxious "podium legend" before the public these days, but Rattle has him beat. Nonsenical tempo changes, arbitrary and ineffective agogic accents, poor orchestra playing, engineering that filters out every high frequency over 10000 hz. - - this one has it all. A great party record for those of us steeped in the orthodox Mahler tradition. The only operative concept here is "I am Sir Simon, and this is _my_ Resurrection Symphony. Find another line of work, you arrogant dork! Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful: A "must hear" Performance , December 31, 2005 Reviewer: Jeffrey Danowitz (Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv Israel) - See all my reviews Up till now I heard (and own) the unforgetable Solti performance of this symphony as well as the Klemperer (Philharmonia) and the Abbado (Wiener coupled with the 4th Symphony) performances. The Solti performance is one of my favourite discs in my collection. I was urged to hear this performance by a friend of mine. This is a very different performance then the Solti performance -- the interpretation is really different. However, this performance is absolutely incredable. It's different than the Solti performance, but no less incredable. The understanding that Rattle has of this symphony is heard throughout. I am not going to go through the symphony movement by movement. Let's suffice by saying that even though Rattle takes the first movement slower than Solti, Klemperer, and Abbado-- this fresh view really works. There is no "creeping slow" feeling like there is in some other performances. The other movements are also astonishing in their freshness and excitement. It is very clear to me why this disc is so popular. It is great to hear a new "modern" performance/interpretation of this work that is so refreshing, interesting, and understandable. The balance that Rattle creates in the orchestra is perfect and he manages to bring out the absolute best from the orchestra. The whole sound experience is great. I am going to cut this review by just saing that this is a performance that is "required listening". Even if you have other performances, you must hear this one. This is one set that you will not be able to stop in the middle. Once you will begin to start listening to this set you will go all the way to the end. Rattle is in complete control here and takes this work to places worthy of hearing. This is a perfect performance. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) 3 of 5 people found the following review helpful: Hyped by the British, but not competitive, September 17, 2005 Reviewer: Chopra fan "Huntley Dent" (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews Britain has needed a great conductor for a long time, and in simon Rattle they got one. This caused the critics to wildly extol everything he recorded in Birmingham, and you will sitll see this Mahelr Second listed as a first choice. But except for Janet Baker's singing, this isn't first-rate Mahler, lacking a lot in comparison to great recordings by Bernstein, Stokowski, and even Mehta with the Vienna Phil on Decca. The CBSO simply doesn't come close. Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)