Bruno Walter Conducts Mahler

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This is the first and, for many, the best of Bruno Walter's three recordings of Mahler's masterpiece, which the conductor premiered in 1911, months after the composer's death. It was made at a 1938 Vienna Philharmonic concert, and the electricity of a live performance adds to the excitement. Walter's faster, more explosive than in his later recordings, and his singers bring a welcome theatricality to the proceedings. Charles Kullman, a young American tenor on the verge of stardom, sings with strength, ample vocal color, and sensitivity to the text; Kerstin Thorborg is a Swedish contralto whose haunting voice makes her contributions here unforgettable. The fillers are ideal, too. The Adagietto is given a flowing, lyric reading that doesn't wallow; the Ruckert song is heartwarming. --Dan Davis

Tracks:

Allegro Maestoso
Andante Moderato
In Ruhig Fliessender Bewegung (With Quietly Flowing Movement)
Urlicht (Primeval Light)
In Tempo Des Scherzos (In the Tempo Of a Scherzo)

Product Description

Mahler Symphony No. 2, Recorded at Carnegie Hall--Feb, 17, 1957. Restoration Engineer: Kit Higginson Notes: Mark W. Kluge This is the first release of Walter's farewell concert as a regular guest conductor of the Philharmonic-Symphony. This is a live performance recording

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Among the greatest

Walter Conducts Das Lied von der Erde

Manufacturer: Dutton Labs UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Walter Conducts Mahler
Mahler: Symphony No. 4; Berlioz: Le Corsaire
Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Strauss Conducts Ein Heldenleben
Mahler: Symphony No.1 In D

ASIN: B00005UWOE
Release Date: 2002-05-14

Customer Reviews:

Among the greatest.......2004-01-12

Although this historic version from Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic does not surpass the "definitive" Klemperer/Wunderlich (a classic on EMI), it has a profusion of musical gifts to offer. True, if you're not acquainted with older mono recordings, the sound can leave you wanting for more. Nevertheless, for such a vintage live performance, after all, it sounds reasonably good. It was sort of an admirable technical deed for its time. As the other reviewer says in some interesting comments, Dutton's remasterings are truly amazing. That's a fact.

Bruno Walter was a "Mahlerist"--long before most other modern conductors, whether they were specializing or not in Mahler. He knew more than many the deep meanings of the works devised by such a fascinating composer. An almost inherent comprehension and some unique skills for the music and the chant of Mahler worked in Walter's advantage, as is reflected through this treasured recording and many others. I still marginally prefer this one to his Ferrier recording on Decca (however great it is). Of course, Ferrier's emotionally inflected singing is of a special breed--even the splendid voice of Maureen Forrester is no match to the former. In any case, singers Thorborg and Kullman are virtually peerless in their own rights, making Mahler's `Das Lied' vitalized all along. They put a breath of life to an admittedly somber work. The orchestra's dark and profound tone, almost autumnal, fits poignantly with the Mahlerian idiom of that unique masterpiece. This is a `Das Lied' you won't forget, i guarantee you. My first encounter with the work was an RCA Victrola LP by Reiner and the Chicago Symphony (also with Forrester), still a favorite of mine.

Thanks to some fine voices--combined with superb orchestral playing and broad emotional power--the very first account by Walter captures a great moment in Mahler's discography (and this despite minor caveats regarding the inevitable trade off in terms of sound, contrast and clarity). The tasteful `Ruckert Lieder' and the Adagietto of Symphony No.5 round off a most amazing journey in the earthly world of Gustav Mahler.

Bruno Walter conducts New York Philharmonic : Mahler Symphony No. 1 "Der Titan" [RARE]

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Bruno Walter conducts New York Philharmonic : Mahler Symphony No. 1 "Der Titan" [RARE]

Manufacturer: Sony Classical
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000R2SWN8

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Best Seating For This Performance
Historic gem by a great Mahlerian
Essential for Mahler lovers
Essential for Mahler lovers
This is a 'must-have' for all admirers of Mahler!

Walter Conducts Mahler

Manufacturer: Dutton Labs UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Walter Conducts Das Lied von der Erde
Mahler: Symphony No.5
Mahler: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 5; Lieder
Mahler: Symphonies No. 1 & No. 2; Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

ASIN: B00005B0HM
Release Date: 2001-07-10

Customer Reviews:

Best Seating For This Performance.......2006-02-13

There is no question about this performance -- it is one of the treasures of recorded music, and ought to be in the collection of anyone who is drawn to Mahler's music. Its historical significance and performance qualities have been commented on at length, on this site and in reference works. What is special about this release is the superb Dutton remastering. As he has done so many times with archival recordings, Michael Dutton has smoothed out the harshness of other releases while preserving all the detail the sources can deliver. This release is a notch or two better than the EMI, and at this price it is to be grabbed and enjoyed, even marveled at, considering that it was produced in concert in 1938.

Historic gem by a great Mahlerian.......2005-12-28

Bruno Walter was a fabulous conductor, who also happened to be a protege of Mahler and one of the best interpretors of his work. This recording is one of the greats, though one should be forewarned that there are some wobbly moments from the Vienna Philharmonic in this live performance, some questionable intonation and moments of less than perfect sound that are unavoidable in such an old recording.

Nevertheless, this is a disc that anyone with even a passing interest in Mahler, Walter or historical recordings ought to own.

Essential for Mahler lovers.......2003-06-30

Although there are a number of very fine performances of this symphony in good stereo sound, this historic interpretation, given in the shadow of the Nazi takeover of Austria that everyone present knew was just about to occur, has a headlong urgency and intensity that, in my opinion, no subsequent recording has fully matched. Walter phrases with a natural elasticity of rubato, especially in the opening andante commodo movement, that highlights the marked fluctuations of tension within the music and projects its expressive rhetoric into sharper relief. Moreover, the prewar Vienna Philharmonic highlights these qualities with its distinctive way of leaning into phrases that imparts to them added profile and force. There are, admittedly, imprecisions of ensemble here and there, but not to the degree that would compromise the power of the performance. My only significant reservation is that the last movement is taken a little bit too quickly to be a true adagio (for what it is worth, I have heard that Walter later complained that the recording team made him play it faster than he wanted to).
Finally, I would recommend getting this particular remastering because its sound is significantly more vivid than that of the earlier EMI edition.

Essential for Mahler lovers.......2003-06-30

Although there are a number of very fine performances of this symphony in good stereo sound, this historic interpretation, given in the shadow of the Nazi takeover of Austria that everyone present knew was just about to occur, has a headlong urgency and intensity that, in my opinion, no subsequent recording has fully matched. Walter phrases with a natural elasticity of rubato, especially in the opening andante commodo movement, that highlights the marked fluctuations of tension within the music and projects its expressive rhetoric into sharper relief. Moreover, the prewar Vienna Philharmonic further enhances these qualities with its distinctive way of leaning into phrases that, in my opinion, imparts to them added profile and force. There are, admittedly, imprecisions of ensemble here and there, but not to the degree that would compromise the power of the performance. My only significant reservation is that the last movement is taken a little bit too quickly to be a true adagio (for what it is worth, I have heard that Walter later complained that the recording team made him play it faster than he wanted to).
Finally, I would recommend getting this particular remastering because its sound is significantly more vivid than that of the earlier EMI edition.

This is a 'must-have' for all admirers of Mahler!.......2001-11-30

I hesitate to recommend this as the top choice for anyone looking for their first Mahler 9. If you have not heard the Ninth before, this recording by Mahler's personal friend might not be the one for you. Barbirolli's and Haitink's Ninth offer much better sound and some excellent playing. Karajan's Ninth with the BPO is a good place to start. Rattle's Ninth impresses me.

Those who already have a Mahler 9 and wish to supplement their valuable Mahler collection with historical recordings and alternative interpretations, have no hesitation whatsoever in purchasing this CD! One can get no more historical. This was Bruno Walter's last prewar performance with the VPO before he fled the Drittes Reich. Listen to the music and feel the tension of those last remaining days before the war.

One can argue about the quality of playing, no one can say the sound quality is high (though in view of the date - 1938, the engineers in charge of remastering have done themselves proud). But listen carefully and you'll realize beneath the noise the performance is white-hot in intensity. No other Mahler 9s I have heard, including those mentioned above, approaches that level of emotion.

Tracks:

Symphony No. 9: A Talking Portrait
Symphony No. 9: A Working Portrait
Symphony No. 9: I. Andante comodo

Tracks:

Symphony No. 9: II. Im Tempo eines gemachlichen Landlers.
Symphony No. 9: III. Rondo - Burleske. Allegro Assai. Sehr Trotzig
Symphony No. 9: IV. Adagio. Sehr Langsam Und Noch Zuruckhaltend

Amazon.com

It was to Bruno Walter that Mahler entrusted the score of his Ninth Symphony in the autumn of 1910, knowing that he himself would not live to conduct the premiere. Walter gave the premiere on June 26, 1912, in Vienna, and throughout his long career remained the work's greatest champion. He was 84 when he made this recording, and the reading he elicits from the Columbia Symphony is suffused with nostalgia, warmth, and deep sentiment. Here, a work of leave-taking is interpreted in the spirit of leave-taking, though the treatment is no less radiant and sincere for being somewhat detached. Disc 1 of this two-CD set contains two bonus tracks: an interview in which Walter discusses music with Arnold Michaelis and a rehearsal sequence narrated by producer John McClure. As McClure points out, Walter still carried inside of him the physical memories of 50 years earlier, when he had premiered the symphony--despite repeated pleas from the control room, he could not keep himself from stamping his foot on the upbeat to the string entrance 17 seconds into the second-movement Ländler, which comes through brilliantly on the recording. It was after all a dance, and Walter felt it that way, just as Mahler would have. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

Uniquely authentic, better than the 1938 legend.......2005-10-18

In 1961 when the 84-year-old Bruno Walter made this recording, he was still the caretaker of Mahler's reputation among the general public. Bernstein was just beginning the rediscovery of Mahler that would sweep an obscure, often denigrated composer to the very heights of populairty. But without Walter we wouldn't have those links of musical tradition that are so vital to style, mood, and emotional integrity.

Compared to his legendary 1938 recording made for EMI in Vienna with the Nazis hard on his heels, Walter added three minutes to each movement. Even so, his Adagio at 21 min. is among the fastest ever recorded, making the 18 min. in Vienna impossibly rushed. But that whole performance is hectic and scrappy. It's great as an event and a testament, not so great as sheer music.

The Columbia Sym., a pickup group of Los Angeles free-lancers for the most part, plays the score better than the Vienna Phil. of 23 years previous (only two decades but a historical world away). The recording venue had good acoustics, and the Columbia engineers caught a full, faithful reproduciton of Walter's reading. It isn't incredibly detailed or nuanced, there is no striving for exaquisite pianissimos or overwhelming eathquakes in the climaxes. What we hear is authenticity, an emotional rightness that may or may not be close to Mahler's own. But since Walter was born in 1876, just a century after American independence, we are assured of his genuine link to Mahler's musical world. A one-of-a-kind performance that everyone should own who loves this work.

Incidentally, amazon seems to feel that this set is out of print--it isn't.

An epic, intense Mahler 9, one of the best.......2004-05-17

This isn't always cited as one of the greatest Mahler 9ths out there, which surprises me. Walter has a reputation for smoothing Mahler over and minimizing the intensity, but this is one earth-shaking recording, with triple fortissimos and pianissimos, and a heart-rending reading that contains all of Mahler's sadness, nostalgia and joy. My only (mild) complaint is I'd prefer a bit more of a raucous third movement, but that's probably because Bernstein is ringing in my ears. Two of the biggest moments, the first movement opening tutti and the shattering fourth movement climax (where the trombones of the Berlin Philharmonic famously held out on Bernstein) are brought off here with more power and conviction than I've ever heard before, and special mention goes to the orchestra's timpanist, whomever he was. I'm not sure how much attention should be paid to the fact that Walter was Mahler's understudy. Willem Mengelberg also learned Mahler's works "at his knee" so to speak (though not in the official capacity of student), yet his interpretations of Mahler, judging by what he's left us, are so different from Walter's as to bear no relation. I don't think it's a matter of Walter's relationship to Mahler; I think it's simply that Walter was a great conductor period, at least in the Germanic tradition, whether the composer was Mozart, Mahler, or Beethoven. Certainly this 9th is a testament to a great musical mind.

The accompanying rehearsal commentary, while not up to the standard of Walter's rehearsals of Mozart and Beethoven Symphonies with the Columbia Symphony, is interesting nevertheless. Walter was a master at getting musicians to do what he wanted as they played, without having to stop after every twenty bars, and the players loved him for it. The radio interview is fascinating--Walter talking about his earliest experiences both in the recording studio and with his mentor Mahler. I have listened to this conversation countless times and still find it interesting.

Sound is very good for the period. The presentation is fine, the price is right, and this recording stands up to Haitink, Barbirolli, Bernstein and Karajan. What are you waiting for?

Excellent.......2003-09-14

I think, this is the best recording of Mahler's 9 available.

Bruno Walter is still well known with his Mahler interpretations, and this is his one of the most beatiful recordings. His favourite orchestra Columbia Symphony Orchestra (they are Hollywood's studio musicians) is amazing

Very highly recommended!

The true spirit of Mahler's Ninth.......2002-07-25

Having owned, at one time or another, about two dozen different recordings of Mahler's last completed symphony, I guess you'd say I've "heard it all," from Bernstein's tortured angst to Karajan's Olympian calm. But it's hard to imagine a greater contrast between two performances of the Ninth than Bruno Walter achieved. His 1938 world-premiere recording, cut live (on 78-rpm discs) in Vienna a few weeks before the Nazis took over, is as emotionally raw as his 1961 remake is serene and spiritual.

But is "serene and spiritual" a valid interpretation of a dark, frequently dissonant work which concludes with the composer seemingly anticipating his own death? It is if you accept Walter's statement that the Mahler Ninth is filled with "a sanctified feeling of departure." This doesn't mean that Walter soft-pedals the music's implications--it's just that he doesn't wallow in them. The resigned despair that other conductors (notably Bernstein, especially in his Amsterdam Concertgebouw recording) emphasize as the "bottom line" of this symphony just doesn't square with the hope expressed by Mahler's brief quotation, in the finale, of a phrase from one of his "Kindertotenlieder," as the bereaved parent envisions his dead children transfigured in heaven. Mahler was a deeply spiritual man, and a bereaved parent himself by the time he composed the Ninth, so that quotation's implication of belief in an afterlife justifies the ray of affirmation Walter shines into the finale. By the way, his finale at 21 minutes is among the fastest on records (maybe a shade too brusque), and is too imbued with stoic nobility to wring our tear ducts. (Although that's not necessarily a good thing.)

It's not the most doom-laden Mahler Ninth, or the most tearful, or the most dramatic, or even the most texturally transparent, and probably doesn't present the greatest contrast between the symphony's bitter and sweet aspects. It isn't the most immaculately played, either, although the hand-picked Columbia Symphony delivers what Walter was looking for. But it just may be the most faithful to the life-affirming spirit (yes, life-affirming--time to quit generalizing Mahler as an overwrought, death-obsessed Gloomy Gus) that animates the Ninth and Mahler's music as a whole. That said, it's a little perverse that the writer of the CD's liner notes disparages Walter's overall approach.

Mahler Symphony 9-Bruno Walter.......2002-07-04

To me, it is no mystery that Gustav Mahler dedicated his Ninth Symphony to the conductor Bruno Walter, and entrusted to him its' premiere performance. This great studio, stereo recording offers such justification. While many conductors have tried valiantly to convey the deep, inner message of Mahlers' Ninth, it is obvious in this recording that no one is more capable than Walter-he is truly at one with this work. A vast improvement in many ways upon his previous 1938 effort, the improved sound quality more successfully captures the atmosphere, and the vast forces, that Mahler utilises in this massive,musical testament.
It is such a sensitive interpretation, and properly conveys the immense complexity of the mind of its' creator. Mahler obviously was dealing with many truly important issues-a farewell to life, written by someone who had not long to live, and a look in the direction of what may lie beyond mortal life-it is all here. Subsequent recordings, like those by Klemperer, Bernstein, Karajan and Solti, just do not add up to this effort. Truly one of Bruno Walters' greatest recordings, of a work that is clearly Mahlers' greatest. Dr. Walters' studio recordings of both Bruckner and Mahler prove that he was their greatest interpreter-absolutely!

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Vintage Walter/Mahler from Vienna

Walter Conducts Mahler

Manufacturer: Grammofono 2000
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000007NK7
Release Date: 1998-05-19

Tracks:

Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': I. Allegro Moderato (Totenfeier)
Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': II. Andante Moderato
Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': III. In Ruhig Fliessender Bewegung
Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': IV. Urlicht

Tracks:

Sym No.2 in c 'Resurrection': V. Im Tempo Des Scherzos
Sym No.4 in G: I. Bedachtig. Nicht Eilen-Recht Gemachlich
Sym No.4 in G: II. In Gemachlicher Bewachlich
Sym No.4 in G: III. Ruhevoll. Poco Adagio
Sym No.4 in G: IV. Sehr Behaglich

Customer Reviews:

Vintage Walter/Mahler from Vienna.......2001-08-16

Walter's 1948 Mahler 2 Bruno Walter recorded two Gustav Mahler scores in the 1930s, Das Lied von der Erde and Symphony No. 9 (both in Vienna, in 1936 and 38 respectively). With Oskar Fried's pioneering 1924 acoustic recording of Symphony No. 2 and Eugene Ormandy's 1937 electrical recording of the same, Walter's efforts figure among the earliest commitments-to-groove of music by Mahler. Walter would make an in-studio interpretation of Symphony No. 2, for issue by Columbia, in 1958; yet he gets finer playing in a concert-performance preserved on Austrian Radio master-tapes from September 1948. The difference lies with the orchestra. The Columbia (now Sony) performance uses the New York Philharmonic of the Dmitri Mitropoulos years which -- Mitropoulos' vehement Mahler-advocacy notwithstanding -- simply did not project the right sound for the music. The Austrian Radio broadcast tapes, on the other hand, feature the postwar Vienna Philharmonic. At the time, despite the purges of ten years earlier, the VPO was still something of a 'Mahler orchestra,' familiar both with the composer and his interpreter, and responsive to both.* It boggles the mind to think that a little more than three years had passed since the time when Anschluss with anti-Semitic Germany made the playing of Mahler illegal and unthinkable. Yet the musicians -- many of whom must have worked with Walter up until 1938 -- remember. Despite a few execution difficulties, mainly among the horns in the 'Grosse Appel' at the beginning of the long Finale, they give overall a dramatic and effective account of the composer's apocalyptic vision of Judgment Day and Resurrection. Who can doubt that many of the musicians, having lived through the murder and destruction, felt Mahler's religious vision deeply and immediately and not as a mere metaphor? This performance makes an interesting contrast with Otto Klemperer's roughly contemporary (1951) VPO performance, recorded for commercial release by Vox. Klemperer, like Walter, had known Mahler, but unlike Walter Klemperer approached Mahler's work as a modernist. Klemperer minimizes sentiment and histrionics while emphasizing the compositional 'logic' of the score, and he plunges through the five movements using swift tempi. Walter's 'take' is more Romantic and indulgent, with slower tempi, especially in the Finale. Which of the two interpretations most truly flatters the conception? Both are legitimate, of course, because no work as complex as the 'Resurrection' Symphony can be exhausted by a single interpretation. What The Walter-Vienna 1948 version offers is Romantic drama infused by vivid imagination; much of the occasion can be heard in the music. The performance of Symphony No. 4 appears to be the same as on the old Columbia (now Sony) commercial release, with Desi Halban as the soloist in the "Heavenly Life" Finale. ...

Bruno Walter conducts music by Gustav Mahler

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Bruno Walter conducts music by Gustav Mahler

Manufacturer: Music & Arts Program
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Binding: Audio CD

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Bruno Walter Conducts Symphony 4
Mahler , Walter , Stader , Fno , and Vpo
Manufacturer: Classica D'oro
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Tracks:

Bedachtig-Nicht Eilen
In Gemachlicher Bewegung. Ohne Hast
Ruhevoll
Sehr Behaglich
Siegfried Idyll - Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

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Bruno Walter Conducts Mahler

Manufacturer: Pearl
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Symphony No. 5 In C# Minor: Adagietto
Ruckert Lieder: 'Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen'
Das Lied von der Erde: I. Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde
Das Lied von der Erde: II. Der Einsame im Herbst
Das Lied von der Erde: III. Von der Jungend
Das Lied von der Erde: IV. Von der Schonheit
Das Lied von der Erde: V. Der Trunkene im Fruhling
Das Lied von der Erde: VI. Der Abschied

Amazon.com

This is the first and, for many, the best of Bruno Walter's three recordings of Mahler's masterpiece, which the conductor premiered in 1911, months after the composer's death. It was made at a 1938 Vienna Philharmonic concert, and the electricity of a live performance adds to the excitement. Walter's faster, more explosive than in his later recordings, and his singers bring a welcome theatricality to the proceedings. Charles Kullman, a young American tenor on the verge of stardom, sings with strength, ample vocal color, and sensitivity to the text; Kerstin Thorborg is a Swedish contralto whose haunting voice makes her contributions here unforgettable. The fillers are ideal, too. The Adagietto is given a flowing, lyric reading that doesn't wallow; the Ruckert song is heartwarming. --Dan Davis

Bruno Walter conducts Mahler Symphony No 4, Lieder (Lys)

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Bruno Walter conducts Mahler Symphony No 4, Lieder (Lys)

Manufacturer: Lys
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000R6QQG4

Product Description

Symphony No 4 recorded 25 March 1947; Lieder recorded 16 December 1947.

Track Listings: