Search - Gustav Mahler, Hector Berlioz, Claude Debussy :: Great Conductors of the 20th Century: Dimitri Mitropoulos

Memorable performances

R. J. Claster | Van Nuys, CA United States | 02/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mahler lovers should definitely listen to this highly distinctive performance of the 6th symphony, taken from a 1959 radio broadcast. Like Bernstein's Sony account, it is extremely intense, not as frantic and frenzied, but with more flexible adjustments of pace within a basic tempo and a richer, more expressive use of rubato in its shaping of phrases, in distinction to the more emotionally restrained, classically tight recordings of Karajan, Szell and Thomas Sanderling. The orchestra is that of the Cologne Radio, not quite as flawless in its playing as those in the aforementioned recordings, but giving their all, and the sound is in clear, full-bodied and spacious mono.
The other performances on this set are also quite distinctive (they are excerpts from Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet, La Mer and Dance of the Seven Veils, all from 1950s mono recordings with the NY Phil)."

Dramatic Music-Making by Dimitri

D. J. Zabriskie | Park Ridge, NJ USA | 09/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The great thing that Mitropoulos brought to the table as a conductor was his innate sense of the drama of music. As noted by other reviewers, Mitropoulos' approached every score afresh without reference to how anybody else did it, achieving remarkable results which were never stale. Nowhere is this more evident than in the remarkable recording of the Mahler Sixth included here. This performance is also available on a more expensive imported collection, but to have it available in this price range makes this a recording no Mahler fan should be without! I reviewed this performance in that collection, but to recap: The clarity of line and detail in this performance, even though it is in mono, is unsurpassed by any recording of this music I have heard. That's not always a virtue, as the first horn of the Cologne Radio Symphony is noticeably off-key in the opening, but Mitropoulos gets right by that and roars through a first movement that's truly astounding. His tempi are flexible, heightening the musical drama. Instead of the prophecy of Nazi jackboots we hear all too frequently in the opening march, Mitropoulos gives of the groans of 19th Century Europe being dragged kicking and screaming into the full horrors of the industrial age. It's a brilliant conceptualization, and probably a lot closer to what Mahler intended. There is more humor to the scherzo here, as well, that what we're used to hearing, but it is all dark, cynical gallows humor. Mitropoulos uses the offstage horns in the adagio not to evoke the calls of pastoral herdsmen, but rather the haunting of the spirits of a way of life already lost forever. Mitropoulos correctly conveys this music's sense of Europe at the crossroads, but it is the crossroads of an older man returning to his home after a long absence, only to find no one he recognizes and nothing to take solace in. In the Sixth, Mahler mourns a world which accomplishes so much materially and technologically at the expense of spiritualty, and that is exactly what Mitropoulos finds in the score and converys better than any other conducter I have heard.

Likewise, the Berlioz and Debussy performances contained here are full of dramatic tension, which Mitropoulos holds onto as long as he can, waiting until the very end to release it. Unfortunately, this dramatic approach to music-making is not so successful with the Strauss selection, taking it to extremes of melodrama which verge on camp.

Nevertheless, get this for the Mahler Sixth! It may not be definitive, but it is nothing short of AMAZING!"

"an event in the history of music...."

Ken Wood | France | 01/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"... is how Michael Tanner describes this performance of Mahler's 6th in the sleeve notes. I bought this disc for the Mahler and also recently bought the Barbirolli version, which is equally greatly admired; I prefer the Mitropoulos version and listening to it can understand why Tanner is so strong in his appreciation: my five stars are for the Mahler.

Others have commented rightly on occasional imperfections of the playing, but it is the overall intensity and commitment of this performance that impress me. I feel that Mitropoulos, uncommonly perhaps, understood this music from the inside and what we get here is more an experience than a performance: for me this is, in a manner of speaking, 'unmahlerisch' Mahler, and all the better for it. The Finale is astounding, as shattering here as Mahler surely intended for it to be.

This is, incidently, a 'live' performance, though the audience is inaudible; Mitropoulos omits the exposition repeat in the first movement and plays the Scherzo as the second movement. The recording quality is very good, especially considering that it was originally Mono; there is to my ears a bit of 'glare', but that is quickly forgotten: this is one of those rare discs one feels grateful and privileged to listen to and to possess. I leave others to comment on the Berlioz, etc. which for me are a bonus to a Mahler disc which deserves more than 5 stars."