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Chailly's Mahler 6 review
Posted by Tony Haywood on June 21, 2021, 2:12 pm
Regarding Ralph Moore's review of the Chailly Mahler 6, a couple of things struck me. Firstly, regarding the order of the inner movements, has Chailly changed his mind for this issue? I ask because my cd of the original Decca release certainly has Scherzo-Andante, and even though it's easy to programme the cd player, I wonder if Chailly has had a re-think. Also, I'm confused by the comment 'the first timpani strikes of the Andante'. Which are these, or is it the scherzo you are referring to ? I agree with everything regarding tempi and other textural points, but just wanted to clear these up in my own mind.
Thanks for catching that, Tony – somehow I got my movement order and paragraphs muddled. Decca didn’t change the sequence, especially as, in any case, this is simply a Presto re-issue of the original. That has now been put right in the review and I am glad that in general we agree, despite my mistake – inevitably, that occasionally happens when you write a fair number of reviews, as I do, and I am always gratified when readers are paying so much attention that they notice any errors.
Thanks for catching that, Tony – somehow I got my movement order and paragraphs muddled. Decca didn’t change the sequence, especially as, in any case, this is simply a Presto re-issue of the original. That has now been put right in the review and I am glad that in general we agree, despite my mistake – inevitably, that occasionally happens when you write a fair number of reviews, as I do, and I am always gratified when readers are paying so much attention that they notice any errors.
Thanks for the response Ralph - I well remember from my own MW reviewing days what it's like to hammer out review after review and then get pulled up by the ever-vigilant readers ! Re. the Chailly, I wonder if he'd been listening to Barbirolli, who takes a similarly broad view of the first movement but somehow manages to still generate the required tension ? You also mention recorded sound; it's interesting that those Chailly Deccas were held up as SOTA, but the old Barbirolli EMI is far less recessed and to my ears has a more truthful balance.