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Posted by Marc Bridle on June 28, 2024, 9:38 am, in reply to "Litton's Mahler 10 in the Carpenter completion"
I think when Tony says that that the Carpenter distorts Mahler's voice he is probably right. Carpenter - like Samale/Mazzuca - over orchestrates, but he also uses music from the early symphonies which other arrangers have not. The Carpenter not only distorts Mahler's voice; it distorts the 10th.
Litton's recording of Carpenter is at least better than that of Harold Farberman who is completely the opposite of "saccharine and sickly". The Farberman recording is pure hell, as many Farberman Mahler recordings are. A middle ground between these two is the Zinman recording. It's just important to bear in mind that if you're listening to the Carpenter version you are a long way from hearing something close to a viable version of the Tenth. For that you might wish to try the Joseph Wheeler one (Robert Olson on Naxos).
Clinton Carpenter's M10 
Previous Message
I was surprised to read in the recent Déjà Review (https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/06/mahler-symphony-no-10-delos-2/) of this how much the late, respected Mahler guru Tony Duggan disliked this recording, in that while I concede that the scoring is very lush and perhaps a degree over-elaborated, I thoroughly enjoy it and am happy to hear it as a supplement or alternative to the more widely played, recorded and celebrated Deryck Cooke version. I certainly do not share his view that "Litton’s conducting of Carpenter's scoring comes over as saccharine and sickly" or that the arrangement "distorts Mahler’s voice". To be fair TD finishes by declaring "But these are the opinions of just one person, one Mahlerite with some experience. I hope that another review of this recording can appear here on Music Web to give another opinion." I would be interested to know if others share his aversion or enjoy it as I do.
Message Thread 
Litton's Mahler 10 in the Carpenter completion - Ralph Moore June 4, 2024, 10:01 pm
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