Search - Leonard Bernstein :: Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor "Resurrection" [Hybrid SACD] [Japan]

One of the best Resurrections ever

Scott D. Harris | Chattanooga, TN | 02/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an excellently remastered edition of Bernstein's 1963 Mahler 2 on multi-channel SACD. The performance itself is legendary, some would call it the finest ever made. My vote would go for Benrstein's Ely Cathedral recording made in 1974, but this performance has a spontaneity, fullness to it that is simply lacking in many more recent versions of this work. It's almost as if, because it was recorded so long before there were many recorded versions of this symphony available to the public, the NY Phil is playing and discovering the greatness of this work for the first time. Nowadays all orchestras regularly perform Mahler symphonies; many have performed this one. That was not so in 1963 - virtually no US orchestra performed it regularly and many had probably not done so more than once in the previous 20 years. This disc is expensive, but it is the best sounding edition of this great performance I have heard. The Manhatten Center, with its dry. but resonant accoustic, has been fully captured. Surrounds are used sparingly (though not for the off-stage brass, which was disappointing). Full recommendation."