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Label:
  RCA
Serial:
  88697768952, SICC-10108
Title:
  Mahler: Symphony No. 10 - Zinman
Description:
  Mahler: Symphony No. 10 (ed. Carpenter)

Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich
David Zinman (conductor)
Track listing:
 
Genre:
  Classical - Orchestral
Content:
  Stereo/Multichannel
Media:
  Hybrid
Recording type:
 
Recording info:
 

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Related titles: 11 show all


 
Reviews: 3

Review by JohnProffitt February 10, 2014 (10 of 11 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:  
First of all, it's irritating to read the previous review of the Zinman Mahler 10th with such an incredible, and glaring, error in the name of the English musicologist who is responsible for the most widely performed and recorded completion of the symphony. It is Deryck Cooke, not "Cooper" whoever that is supposed to be. Having a central fact like this correct will improve the likelihood the rest of the review will be taken seriously.

Second, I have the Zinman Mahler 10th and find it to be a very good recording and performance, certainly the clear choice if one wants to hear the rather different Clinton Carpenter realization of Mahler's music. His version is much more interventionist than Cooke's "bare bones" approach, although some of Carpenter's thoughts on where Mahler might have gone with his work sound a bit far-fetched to these ears. But it's a interesting and enjoyable listen, especially considering Zinman's apparent sympathy for the score.

The 5.0 surround sound gives a rich and immersive sense of the Tonhalle concert hall in Zürich. Recommended.

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Review by BobNYC March 1, 2014 (9 of 10 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:    
Just to add a bit to the discussion -- the Zinman Mahler series is quite excellent and spectacularly recorded by RCA in one of their last ventures before SONY shuttered the operation. The big disappointment was Zinman's choice of the Carpenter realization of this 10th Symphony.

To correct the misinformation in an earlier review - and this is not uncommon - let's be clear about the status of Mahler's final symphony: Mahler completed ALL his symphonies in 4-stave sketch books. When he expanded the writing to the full score, he occasionally made some usually minor changes, but in the overall scheme, those changes are not of great significance. Here is the issue with the 10th that most people miss: The symphony was complete in the sketch books, just like all his other symphonies, with the small exception of a few bars which were not harmonized, they contained only a melody. But in those brief measures, the harmonization is obvious and the orchestration is clear from what comes just before and after. There is no way Mahler could have done anything unusual, unique or spectacular in those few measures. More importantly, lets be clear that Mahler completed the full score of the first 2 movements and the first 16 bars of the brief Scherzo. It was only the 4th and 5th movements that were not fleshed out onto the full page from the completed "sketches". And just to hammer it home - a "sketch book" is not a collection of ideas or thoughts for later composition - Mahler's sketch books were the actual completed symphonies including indications of instrumentation, dynamics, tempi etc. They are the full completed symphonies in short-hand, not unlike a "Gregg" version of a letter dictated to a stenographer.

The most satisfying of the current recordings of the 10th is likely the Rattle, but alas, it isn't in SACD. I find the Carpenter excursion here quite bothersome and reject it. There are many recordings of the 10th with the later Cooke (III) version that are highly satisfying and convincing - and those are the places to look. Forget the horrid original Cooke version so tepidly done by Ormandy. I wish EMI would release the Rattle in SACD or CFP would release his more recent 2012 performance in SACD.

As for the other movements by Zinman, they are wonderfully done. I find myself returning to this series by Zinman because it is so rewarding. My first choice remains the SACD re-issues of the original Bernstein and the Michael Tilson Thomas set with San Francisco. My third choice is often this Zinman set.

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Review by Luukas February 8, 2014 (1 of 15 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:    
Gustav Mahler's Tenth Symphony is mysterious work: it is unfinished, Mahler finished only the first movement. There are fragments and sketches of symphony's other movements. Cooper's completion is most famous. In this recording, David Zinman uses Carpente's completion, and I say that it isn't so good than Cooper's reconstruction. Cooper's version sounds fully and dramatically, but this is boring.
Zinman conducts very well, and recording quality is good, but still I recommend Sir Simon Rattle's recording (Emi Classics) of this work, it is classics. In this performance, last movement's frightening bass drum strikes are quiet. Tonhalle Zürich Orchestra plays warmly, but there aren't energy and power. I don't like David Zinman's Mahler cycle and this isn't different. There are many better recordings of Mahler's symphonies, for example Jonathan Nott (Tudor), Michael Tilson Thomas (Avie), Benjamin Zander (Telarc), Leonard Bernstein (DG) and Lorin Maazel (Sony). This was great disappointing.

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Works: 1  

Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 10 in F sharp minor