Search - et al Gustav Mahler (Composer) :: Mahler: Symphony No. 10 (Carpenter Completion)

A Mixed Review, Interesting but also Disappointing

George John | Houston, TX United States | 10/13/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"re: Delos/Litton/Dallas Mahler 10th Carpenter completion.I bought this yesterday and listened to it twice, once last night, and today. Normally, I can post after a single listen, but this "completion" is so radically different from the Cooke, and I was so shocked at times by what I heard I thought it best that I listen to it again before giving my initial impressions.First a bit of background. I didn't recognize the greatness of the Mahler 10th until the Wyn Morris/Cooke 2, but my admiration was almost exclusively for the outer two movements. The Rattle/BPO/Cooke 3+ opened my eyes to the possibility that the inner three movements were well worth listening to also.My first reaction to this Carpenter completion was very negative. After listening it to it for second time, I give it a mixed review, but overall still consider it significantly inferior to the Cooke. In general, I think the goal of any attempt to "complete" the Mahler 10th should be to give the clearest impression of what Mahler actually left behind. Interpolations and extrapolations should be kept to a minimum. Any addition of notes that aren't actually there should be added only with the greatest of care, only when absolutely necessary, and with a conservative mindset to keep Mahler's intentions as intact and authentic as possible. In light of these criteria and IMHO, the Cooke succeeds and the Carpenter completion badly fails at times.Too often the Carpenter adds material that isn't in the Cooke (I assume Cooke didn't leave anything out), either quoting or paraphrasing from past Mahler works or adding new material that sounds not even remotely similar to anything I have ever heard Mahler do. While it is true that Mahler never stood still, every Mahler work that I have heard is almost immediately recognizable as his. Even though the notes are largely Mahler's, there are moments in this completion that I would not recognize the work as either being the 10th or Mahler's. For me the critical opening section of the final movement is MUCH less effective than the Cooke 3+. For example, although Mahler marks the bass drum forte, Carpenter decides to make it piano (Litton compromises somewhere in between) because that's what he thinks Mahler would have heard from an 11th floor hotel room when the funeral procession that inspired this section passed by. That strikes me as a poor reason to go against Mahler's expressed wishes. That's only one of several complaints I have with this section, arguably one of the more crucial of the work.Is there anything good about this release? Absolutely! The Delos sound is just wonderful. Excellent balance, dynamic range, warm, live, 3-dimensional sound is all there. The Dallas Symphony for the most part plays their hearts out and to my mind and ear give a technically better performance than the Rattle/BPO. I like very much some of Litton's approach to the first movement versus Rattle's. Both performances of the 1st movement (where Carpenter's tinkering seems to have been kept mostly to a minimum) are excellent although different and each has its strengths and weaknesses. Elsewhere, there are sections where I actually prefer what Carpenter has done versus Cooke. Carpenter's more dense scoring, when it works for me, does add emotional weight to the work. But the bottom line question remains, did the performance move me? The answer is it did, very much so, in fact to tears, but in different spots than in the Cooke.Mahler purists probably don't listen to the 10th except possibly the first movement. Cooke purists should probably avoid this performance like the plague or listen to the 1st movement only. Those who can tolerate Carpenter's lapses where he adds far too many of his own ideas or attempts to graft, unsuccessfully IMHO, bits and pieces of prior Mahler material, and a much weaker approach to the initial section of 5th movement, but are looking for different attempts to score and interpret this unfinished masterpiece may enjoy giving this performance a try, but definitely bring to the experience a VERY open mind.Finally, this release drives home what I already know. It was a tragedy that this work was never completed by Mahler, and there is plenty of opportunity for future completions for those who are so inclined and have the ability and talent to really get under their skin what the Mahler sound is all about.George"

Just judging the performance and sound quality.

B. Guerrero | 11/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Let's set aside the whole issue of Carpenter's "completion". This Delos recording deserves five and a half stars just for the outrageous execution of such an incredibly difficult score by the Dallas Symphony, along with the beautiful DSD sonics that Delos coughs up here. Come now, give them a round of applause for that much. How you'll react to Carpenter's efforts is a purely personal thing.



Yes, it's true that Carpenter overshoots his mark; often times conjuring up the more expressionistic sound world of Alban Berg (Wozzeck; Three Pieces For Orchestra). But this is also much more of a completion than Cooke's somewhat threadbare "performing version" remains. I would never suggest that one own the Carpenter in lieu of the Cooke - own it as a supplement. As overheated as this may be from time to time, I think that the narrative is pretty well connected and integrated. Nobody would be fool enough to believe that this how Mahler would have finished the piece. But in many respects, it's simply more fun and fulfilling to listen to than the bare-minimum Cooke version is. Proceed only if you can do so with an open mind. Come on, some of you can do that.



"

A wrong-headed completion, as most are

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/29/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Deryck Cooke was the most intelligent of completionists in the Tenth Sym. because he didn't pretend to be Mahler. He added as little of his own ideas as possible, even if his reticence sometimes left very bare orchestral bones in terms of harmony and secondary lines. As for those who followed, Wheeler, Carpenter, and Mazzetti to varying degrees stepped over the line, trying to pose as Mahler impersonators with unacceptable intrusions of their own.



The worst is surely Carpenter, which makes this CD a dismal experience--the man has no idea, apparently, how sub-Mahlerian his retouchings actually are. The clogging of counterpoint and filling out of orchestration are cumbersome. This performance is quite forgettable and regrettable, but so are all the sets I've heard that present any other Mahler Tenth except for the Cooke."