The BSO to perform the Mahler 2nd this coming October

ack

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Steve, start packing :) I'll be getting you and Cathy tickets for Saturday Oct 27th. Remember what I've said a couple of times here over the years, that when my wife first heard it at the BSO about 20 years or so ago under Ozawa, she broke out in tears at the end. Of course, anyone who can should attend this, and I am sure you will be in awe. Can't wait, and screw high end audio systems :)

https://www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/96107
 

ack

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Nelsons close to Ozawa?

Better so far; if this is going to be anything like the performances I’ve heard, we are in for a spectacle
 

awsmone

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Steve, start packing :) I'll be getting you and Cathy tickets for Saturday Oct 27th. Remember what I've said a couple of times here over the years, that when my wife first heard it at the BSO about 20 years or so ago under Ozawa, she broke out in tears at the end. Of course, anyone who can should attend this, and I am sure you will be in awe. Can't wait, and screw high end audio systems :)

https://www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/96107

I saw this several years ago with the Berlin Phil very moving, Simon Rattle was moved to tears at the end, the last three movements are crazy, melodramatic and wonderful, the way those tympani blasts at the start of the third movement sharply herald the movement into a new music world, and the mezzo voice floating out after the brass fanfares ....very transcendent :)
 

ack

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I saw this several years ago with the Berlin Phil very moving, Simon Rattle was moved to tears at the end, the last three movements are crazy, melodramatic and wonderful, the way those tympani blasts at the start of the third movement sharply herald the movement into a new music world, and the mezzo voice floating out after the brass fanfares ....very transcendent :)

Indeed! And right on wrt those timpani in the 3rd movement - one of my acid tests, and am really enjoying the sound after my latest changes; they have power, size, attack and presence. Beautiful stuff. This is really how I use live performances as a reference: am I hearing everything I should be hearing in the score.

The emotions exerted by the Mahler 2nd are unlike any other, in my book. And when it's played well, be it under Ozawa, Rattle and especially von Dohnanyi, it really moves my soul. What a masterpiece.
 

astrotoy

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We heard Nelsons conduct two concerts in Berkeley three or four years ago with the Vienna Philharmonic. This was after he had been named MD designate for the BSO but before he started. I was very impressed. Reminded me of a young Carlos Kleiber in conducting technique. 48 years ago I heard Ozawa guest conduct the SFS. That was when Joseph Krips was still the MD. He was hired shortly after that to be the SFS's MD. The BSO took him shortly after that, although he held both positions for several years.

The Mahler 2 is a spectacular piece. We heard MTT conduct it many years ago. Should be inspiring.

Has Nelsons done any concerts with his wife as soloist?

Larry
 

awsmone

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Hi Ack

Yes, it’s one of my test tracks the third and first movements

The recording I use, after the timpani thwacks, the reverb floats across the back of the sound stage, wonderful effect, after all this time, this explosive musical exclamation continues to make me jump......
 

ack

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Hi Ack

Yes, it’s one of my test tracks the third and first movements

The recording I use, after the timpani thwacks, the reverb floats across the back of the sound stage, wonderful effect, after all this time, this explosive musical exclamation continues to make me jump......

Which recording is that? In my Philips, it's obvious that the recording has been done in multiple takes.
 

SCAudiophile

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Nelsons is fast emerging as one of my favorite younger conductors up there with Vasily Petrenko and a couple of others.

The BSO seems to be responding very positively to him as did his ensembles in Europe. I very much like what I hear on the
recordings I've been able to pick up. Mahler 2 with current BSO line-up under his baton would be an event to see and hear!!!
 

ack

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Tickets went on sale today for long-term frequent patrons, ahead of general availability next Monday. Those who may have gotten the invitation letter to purchase tickets this week, there are plenty of great seats available, as of 10am this morning... and I got my favorites, 2nd balcony center. Really excited and looking forward to the event.
 

astrotoy

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We heard Nelsons this summer conducting Lohengrin at the Royal Opera Covent Garden. One of the top young conductors in the world. (We also heard Petrenko conduct his Bavarian State Orchestra at the Barbican, doing Mahler 7.) Unfortunately Nelsons' (now ex) wife Kristina Opolais withdrew from the performance. They split this past Spring.

I heard the BSO regularly in the '60's while in college. Leinsdorf was the MD (although I did hear Munch conducting the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony). They had very cheap rehearsal tickets for many of the concerts (some weekday afternoon). Leinsdorf treated it like a regular performance, playing the entire concert without stopping. One day Martinon was the guest conductor, and he treated it like a regular rehearsal - stopping and starting and playing certain sections over and over again. Quite a shock to the audience.

When I came out to grad school in the SF Bay Area, Joseph Krips was still MD of the SF Symphony. They had highly discounted student tickets to one of the weekday evening performances, so I got a series ticket. As they started looking for a replacement for Krips, Ozawa came to guest conduct sometime in the late '60's and he was a smash hit with the audience and the symphony members. He was in his early '30's (about the same age as Nelsons was when he became MD of the BSO), and SFS hired him as MD in 1970. He stayed for seven years, but fairly early on, the BSO also hired him as their MD, and he commuted bicoastally as MD for both. Little did we know that Ozawa would stay on, and on, and on at the BSO into his dotage.

Have a great time at Mahler 2. We heard MTT conduct it with the SFS many years ago. A glorious piece.

Larry
 

bonzo75

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Yeah I was there for the Petrenko Mahler 7 at the Barbican. Mahler 7 and 3 are my favorites that I watch every chance I get. Mahler 2 for the first movement.
 

ack

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Have a great time at Mahler 2. We heard MTT conduct it with the SFS many years ago. A glorious piece.

Larry

Thanks. At the BSO - other than Zanden's - this symphony has always been a jaw-dropping experience. Let's see how Nelsons plays it, but if it's like everything else, it should be another stunner.
 

ack

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So... once more, never judge a book by its book. Nelsons better than Ozawa??? Or so it was claimed upthread.

Allow me to share my impressions, as articulated to my local buddies earlier today:

So, I thought the concert was fine. The tempo was great, roughly 90 minutes total as it should be, but the symphony was not played as dynamically as by others, primarily von Dohnanyi and Ozawa and less so Haitink [and much less so by Zander], especially the wind section which I expected more of. On the other hand, the rhythm was exceptional, and the correct tempo enabled the musicians to play complete notes, as opposed to rushing things through. Like von Dohnanyi, and as the score calls for, they paused after the first movement, Allegro Maestoso. No one else adheres to that. The soprano singing was simple outstanding.

In terms of the softer playing, consider that the triangles were oftentimes not audible, and the bass drum was too small, and again, winds were not as loud, and the chorus did not sign as loud, nor did the organ stand out at the end.

Overall, really great, but no one to date has matched von Dohnanyi, even Ozawa despite his faster tempo, in there, for drama, dynamism and expression of contrast. The funny thing is that my son liked the sound in my system with Ozawa better in many ways than what he heard live last night. He was probably referring to the drama in here. I tend to think that Nelsons played it more solemnly, this symphony starting with a funeral march and ending with a prayer for resurrection. The others played it more like a symphony than a music poem, if you will.

Nonetheless, the uproar in the end was there, and well deserved. It's that I have heard the audience react even more enthusiastically with Ozawa and von Dohnanyi. No tears this time around
 
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