Listening and Seeing (and Mahler)
Three things led me to post this recording. One is that this piece (though not this performance) was one of the late Harry Kroto’s selections for Desert Island Discs. Another is that I had occasion to sort out my CD collection recently and I realised in doing so that I had more recordings of this Symphony than any other. And the third is that I heard a discussion on Radio 3 recently in which a record company executive noted that while sales of opera performances on DVD were very healthy, it was very difficult to sell DVDs of symphonic concerts. I am not particularly surprised by that but I have to say that I love the visual as well as the auditory experience of a classical concert. A large group of talented people coming together to make music is a great thing to watch, and it also helps understand the music a bit too. I’d much rather go to a live concert (even a mediocre one) than listen to a CD (even a very good one), but failing that I’d definitely go for a DVD.
All of this provides an excuse to show this film of the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Leonard Bernstein playing the gorgeous third moment (marked Ruhevoll) of Symphony No. 4 in G Major by Gustav Mahler. My favourite recording of this symphony is actually by Von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic on Deutsche Grammophon, but this is well worth watching to see the communication between Lenny and the band. And if you think Mahler is always gloomy and angst-ridden, hopefully this will make you change your mind.
Follow @telescoper
In the Dark 
May 14, 2016 at 3:15 pm
I realised in doing so that I had more recordings of this Symphony than any other.
Wow. I do my best to have only one recording of things, but I try to make an informed choice – which is much easier in the internet era.
I recall, several years ago, someone saying on radio that the internet had made it generally known that one of the outstanding recordings of a Mahler symphony was by a relatively unknown (then, at least) young conductor. It might have been this symphony. Does anybody know?
PS Can’t play DVDs in the car…
May 14, 2016 at 7:01 pm
I do have a tendency to buy boxed sets which means I sometimes acquire extra versions of things I already have.
With this one there’s an extra dimension because of the soloist. A fine performance by the orchestra in the first three movements can be undone in the fourth if the singer is no good!
May 14, 2016 at 9:12 pm
I’ve got something of a hit-and-miss response to Mahler’s music. I adore some pieces, but others strike me as being overly angst-ridden, morose, or dart too much from one theme to another.
One of my very favourite Mahler compositions is indeed the Fourth Symphony, which is an excellent piece. This Bernstein clip is very good, although I do find that Bernstein emphasised the angst, emotion and extremes a little too much in some other Mahler pieces. I don’t have a Karajan recording of the Fourth Symphony.
May 17, 2016 at 9:03 am
Tonight and every night until Sunday I shall be at a chamber concert in a fine 18th century church a few miles from here. This is the 4th year of this festival which does a composer each year, and this year it is (O happy day) Mozart. The remarkable thing is that whoever organises these concerts is able to get international-standard players to come, yet ticket prices still reflect a rural village. Truly a wonderful thing!
http://www.whittingtonmusicfestival.org.uk/2016-programme/
May 17, 2016 at 9:04 am
Why, before eBooks, did you not read a paper book in the same way?
May 17, 2016 at 11:42 am
A book is typically smaller (and more robust) than a legible eReader, but I take the point about light.