This morning I have been listening to the opening of Mahler 9; one recording after another. I never intended to do this but for some reason, which I cannot now recall, I let this happen; the blessing/curse of Spotify! At any rate, the style of the very first recording I heard, Berlin, surprised me in how it contrasted the memory I have of it. You see, like all good, well schooled musicians, there was a time when I spent hours in the listening library with score in hand. I have to admit, I had let this all too important daily listening slide by unchecked. My distant memories are not reliable.
Of the 20 or so recordings, recordings going back to the 1930's, I am so surprised at the variety of styles of the stopped notes in particular, from very marcato to sustained and full. Also, dynamically some are very forward (even loud) to subdued. I followed a trend for a while thinking that the marcato version might be a thing of the past but the Walter recording with Vienna, the oldest I could find, was one of the most legato, in contrast to several contemporary recordings exhibiting emphatically pronounced syncopation.
Here are are my two favorites. I love the disregarded cracked note and intonation problems in the Vienna/Walter recording, style, was what mattered back then! Why is a tuba playing in the first four bars? The San Francisco MTT recording is perhaps my favorite, kudos to that second horn player, San Francisco, incredible as always!
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 9 in D Major: I Andante commodohttp://open.spotify.com/track/5v7PN82c1AroBxLeXinKSQ
San Francisco Symphony & Michael Tilson Thomas – Symphony No. 9 in D Major: I. Andante comodohttp://open.spotify.com/track/1s2ALRpDB2GgecdOzIeDxU
