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Posted by Paul Breslin on January 31, 2026, 5:52 pm, in reply to "Re: Martinon Chicago SO Mahler 10"
That Mahler 3rd is also available in a CSO box of live performances. I haven't shelled out for the box, which includes some things I would love to have but a good many to which I'm indifferent.
It was also praised by David Hurwitz, who can be opinionated and churlish (e.g., his almost pathological contempt for Jascha Horenstein), but is right some of the time. 
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There's also a wonderful live 1970 Martinon first with the Japan Philharmonic on Urania and a terrific live 1967 third with the Chicago Symphony. The audience broke out into applause at the end of the first movement. A recent remaster of that one can be found on Spotify. Previous Message
Thanks, Paul; I was unaware of that recording but am privileged to have a reviewer's account with HDTT so will indeed listen to and review it, bearing your comments in mind. Previous Message
I would be interested in Ralph Moore's opinion of Jean Martinon's recording of the Cooke performing version, live from February 12, 1966. It is available from High Definition Tape Transfers, in excellent sound with virtually no extraneous noise.
It is something of an outlier, dispatching the symphony in under 67 minutes, whereas the others I've heard (Rattle/Berlin, Gielen, Harding) run well over 70 minutes. It's lean and exceptionally transparent (a little like Barshai, though that conductor performs his own realisation). The difference comes mainly in the first and last movements, where Martinon takes under 21 minutes while the others are around 25.
I wouldn't want this to be my only recording of the 10th, but I wouldn't want to be without it either. It seems to me valid on its own terms. The pervasive foreboding that runs through this symphony is less subtle-it's right out in the open. However, the classical virtues of clarity and proportion prevent it from turning into a shriek-fest
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Martinon Chicago SO Mahler 10 - Paul Breslin January 30, 2026, 6:10 pm
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