The Greatest Recordings EVER! Mahler: Symphony No. 10

[@petterw5318]

I was listening to this performance with headphones, and the dissonant chord was like someone piercing my brain. Other conductors make it softer, but Sanderling goes for the kill.

[@isaacsegal2844]

That might be my favorite dissonance of all time.

[@Kragsbjerg]

I cannot live without the flute solo in the ending 😊 I would argue that had Cooke's performing version been a completed work by a lesser composer, it would have been regarded as a masterpiece.

[@gavingriffiths2633]

It's worth bearing in mind that there is (probably?) more Mahler in the 10th symphony, than there is Mozart in the Requiem- and yet posh conductors, who shy snootily away from the 10th, have no difficulty with the Requiem. Makes no sense..

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Very true.

[@isaacsegal2844]

Just as 9/11 conspiracists are called "Truthers," I call the Cooke denialsts "Tenthers." Here's my standard rebuttal to them: If anyone needs a precedent for what Cooke and others did for the Tenth, they need look no further than Mahler himself. Early in his career, he not only orchestrated Weber’s unfinished opera (“Die Drei Pintos”), he fully composed whole parts of it. From Wikipedia: "Mahler unscrambled Weber's drafts and instrumentalized the existing fragments in accordance with Weber's wishes. A further 13 musical numbers were needed in addition to the existing 7, and Mahler went ahead and composed this music himself, based on Weber's themes. The interlude music between Acts I and II and the two-part finale of Act III were written by Mahler, although still based on Weber's leitmotifs and themes." The Tenth is far more complete: the entire thematic line and around ninety percent of the harmony and counterpoint. If anyone refuses to listen to the Tenth, why not eschew the Ninth and Das Lied? Mahler never heard them performed and was known to make significant changes in his music after hearing it played-for example, the order of movements in the Sixth. Besides, we have only Alma’s word for it that Mahler wanted the symphony locked away. He continuously revised compositions throughout his life and specifically sanctioned others to posthumously modify them if they could be made to sound better-much as Mahler himself did in his re-orchestrations of Beethoven and Schumann.

[@brianburtt7053]

YES! I love that Sanderling Mahler triptych. One of my can't-live-without (sets of) recordings. (Just a personal cheer from the sidelines for this recording.)

[@igorgregoryvedeltomaszewsk1148]

On the occasion here's an anecdote on the topic of Sanderlings improvements on Cookes performance version: German born conductor Berthold Goldschmidt who had worked intensely with Cooke to complete the first performance version was also a personal friend of Kurt Sanderling from the prewar years. As Sanderling during a meeting with Goldschmidt showed him the score with his own additions of percussion parts Goldschmidt felt a bit offended and remarked: "But with these parts added it will also make the listener think of Shostakovich!" To which Sanderling answered: "Exactly!! I want to show the moment where Shostakovich was born!" Anyway, Sanderling's recording is a must have. Shattering, gripping and "realistic Mahler". And not to forget Ormandy's. A performance one cannot shake off that easily. It haunts you...

[@martinhaub6828]

When you examine the Mahler sketches it's amazing that anyone could decipher them well enough to make any completion at all. But of all the versions, you're absolutely correct: Cooke rules. Carpenter should get the boot!

[@stackedactor1]

The versions other than Cooke all try to add material that isn't there, while the Cooke version keeps the extrapolation basically non-existent. Simply put, Cooke respected Mahler more than his own need for glory .... and somewhat paradoxically, Cooke gained a bit of glory by not seeking it. PS thanks for the previous Ormandy Mahler 10 recommendation. Boy was Eugene an amazing conductor!!!

[@jayck692]

I’ve always liked the Wigglesworth one with Melbourne. I like the sonics and the performance… and I love the glissando in the strings at the end. I have no idea whether that’s in the score or not, but whatever, it works for me. 😊

[@petertaplin4365]

Are there enough examples for you to do a talk on 'Completions'? People always moan about Alfano's completion of Turandot, but its become so familiar now that I can't imagine another one. But I remember hearing the opening of the Elgar/Payne 3rd Symphony for the first time with those 'oriental' open 5ths and thinking "Elgar would NEVER have written that!"

[@fulltongrace7899]

Bruckner 9th. To me feels complete as it is. Haven’t heard the completions.

[@doctorzingo]

And Barry Cooper's "Beethoven's Tenth".

[@vanhowell3011]

I'm always astounded when a relatively obscure recording I've discovered on my own through years of diligent searching (I'd never even heard of Sanderling when I came across this one) gets the nod from Dave. I'd already stopped listening to my dozens of Mahler recordings acquired from 1965 on, but still made a trip to hear every live performance I could afford, and was looking and looking for a recording of the one Mahler work that still did it for me. even in imperfect recordings. This Tenth was it. Right up there with Fricsay's Verdi Requiem and Kegel's Missa Solemnis. (I'm still waiting for Dave to figure out that Furtwangler's second complete Ring is incomparably coherent and perfectly balanced, leaving all other versions sounding cheap and trashy. I have no doubt his discernment will bring him home to this recoding too, eventually.)

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

No, it won't. I grant the great conducting, but the sonics are lousy and frankly you can't hear what isn't there--as so many Furtwangler fans claim to do.

[@davidmayhew8083]

To me the tenth is as unique to the ninth as his third is to the second. Does that make sense. He doesn't just do a ninth 11. He uses a different palette. More lean compared to the ninth's denser textures. He was only 50 ( almost 51 ) but he knew he was dying. I think someday someone will come up with a better solution.