Great Performance, But Alot of Audience Noise
tacks31 | San Francisco, CA | 07/02/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Any Mahler recording by Bruno Walter is worth checking out; however, his one I find disappointing. It's not because of the performance - which is magnificent - but from the intrusive level of ambient audience noise. With historical live performances, one can expect a certain amount of shuffling, coughs, sniffles, sneezes, cellophane candy wrappers being played with, nose blowing, throat clearing, grunting, wheezing, purses snapping shut, rustling of concert program pages, mumbling and God-knows-what being dropped to the floor. Normally I don't mind all this if it's recessed in the background. What we have here is every extraneous sound right at center stage. Perhaps this is due to the sonics of Carnegie Hall, or where the recording equipment was located. It's like a roving reporter with a microphone went into the crowd to catch an audio close-up every time someone was about to make some sort of noise. And it's all saved right here for posterity. So... if you want a stellar example of what audience behavior was like in the late 1950's, this one fits the bill perfectly."
Mostly for Bruno Walter fans
Robert A. Alps | Evanston, IL United States | 10/18/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the second of three recordings of Mahler Symphony 2 conducted by Bruno Walter that I have heard. It was recorded in mono in February 1957 one year before his more well-known stereo recording was made. The interpretation is very consistent with the stereo recording and the monaural sound is quite good. As a performance it is very much on a par with the stereo recording as well. As of now, Music and Arts has the only release of the 1957 recording. The first recording was made in March 1948 with the Vienna Philharmonic. All three recordings are wonderful performances, but both the 1948 and 1958 recordings are heard to best advantage in recordings issued in Japan which may be available for a limited time only. Both of these have been DSD (Direct Stream Digital) remastered which I think gives them added presence and clarity. The 1958 recording is available on a Blu-Spec CD (see Mahler:Symphony No. 2 in C Minor 'res (Blu-Spec)) which is compatible with regular CD players. The 1948 recording is not available through Amazon, but is Sony SICC 92-3 in Japan.
There are many truly wonderful recordings of Mahler symphony 2. Over the years, the EMI recording with Klemperer conducting the Philhamonia (see Mahler: Symphony No. 2 / Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra) has been highly revered."
Track Listings (5) - Disc #1