Search - Zdenek Kosler :: Mahler: Symphony No. 1, 'Titan'

An exceptional bargain title

oscarolavarria | Santiago, Chile | 06/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've heard all the most important versions of this work: Kubelik-Bavarian Orch., Walter-Columbia, von Donanyhi-Cleveland, Horenstein-Viena Symphony Orch., etc., but more recent has been Zdênek Kôsler's version conducting the Slovak Philharmonic in "Amadis", a bargain collection from Naxos label, and I'm very surprised with it, the sound is superlative for a bargain recording, and the conduction dinamic and sometimes "demoniac": the 1rst movt' conclusion is really a cataclism and also the finale in 4th movt., I've never heard before the timbals with the potence like in this version. Also because of this version finally I've could to know that Mahler includes an "harp" into the instruments in the orchestra in this work!. Conductor Zdênek Kôsler was born in 1928 in Czech, won the Besancon's Conduction concourse and also the 1rst. place in Dimitri Mitropoulos' competition in NY., with also Zubin Mehta and Claudio Abbado, being during a year Leonard Bernstein's Assistant Conductor in NY. Philharmonic Orch. He was an specialist in czech repertoire (Dvorak, Smetana, Suk), and also vienese classics like Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, and made over 200 recordings in Supraphon, Panton, Praga, Stradivari, Pilz, Opus, and other labels. He died in 1995.

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