# Russian Mahler



## Subutai (Feb 28, 2021)

No one said it was going to be pleasant. I'm interested in any Russian (conductor/orchestra) recordings of Mahler's symphonies. The only ones i know of are Svetlanov 'bad?'' and Kondrashin 'good?'.
I have a bunch of Mahler symphonies (sets as well as individual). But as I am also in love with anything Russian, I'd be grateful if anyone can recommend me a cycle (complete or otherwise) with a Russian conductor (Russian orchestra optional). I would just love to know what Mahler would sound like if he were Russian. Many thanks.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Subutai said:


> No one said it was going to be pleasant. I'm interested in any Russian (conductor/orchestra) recordings of Mahler's symphonies. The only ones i know of are Svetlanov 'bad?'' and Kondrashin 'good?'.
> I have a bunch of Mahler symphonies (sets as well as individual). But as I am also in love with anything Russian, I'd be grateful if anyone can recommend me a cycle (complete or otherwise) with a Russian conductor (Russian orchestra optional). I would just love to know what Mahler would sound like if he were Russian. Many thanks.


The only one I really know is the Svetlanov/USSR?? in Mahler #9....awful, horrible, tempos all over the place, esp mvt III, which starts way too fast, the accelerandi at the end are a complete train wreck...almost comical...terrible recording balance....
I don't know why this turkey was even released....


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Though I'm not totally updated, I think Svetlanov and Kondrashin are the two main bets for cycles/near-cycles. I tend to like Kondrashin's passionate and dramatic, yet somehow slightly classicist approach. The orchestra can be imprecise at times, though, in some details. Svetlanov's Mahler gets very mixed reviews, but I haven't really heard it.

Gergiev is more recent, but not with a Russian orchestra. Same apparently goes for the orchestras, when Petrenko, Horenstein, Bychkov and Barshai recorded some Mahler. 

Among the elder generation, David Oistrakh also recorded the 4th, Rozhdestvensky the 5th, Temirkanov at least the 2nd and 5th.

Fedoseyev has recorded a bunch, surely nos.1,2,4,5,6,8,9. He generally gets very uneven, at times bad, reviews for his later recordings.

Mark Gorenstein did the 9th, Sladkovsky did some recently in Tatarstan, Pletnev seems to have a couple of symphonies at least for streaming. 

But there are likely more recordings by further, Russian conductors, that others here know of ??

Obviously, MusicWeb is among the sources that can have interesting reviews of the various recordings.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Years ago when Tower Records was still alive, I was in the Sunset Blvd store browsing the cutout bins when lo and behold I picked up the entire Svetlanov cycle for pennies on the dollar. I could never decide why they were so bad: was it Svetlanov the composer inflicting his will on Mahler? Were Russian musicians so unfamiliar with Mahler they didn't know the style? I don't know, but it's one bizarre set. Svetlanov had a fine orchestra at his disposal, but to no avail. The blame must go to the conductor. 

The Kondrashin set is generally excellent but then I tend to like him as a conductor in anything. It's unfortunate that both 2 and 8 are missing. The sound is better than average for Melodiya but Decca and EMI were doing much better work in the mid-70s. And the performances are really tidy and refined like say Chailly. They're much more impulsive, rough and ready - that's what made Kondrashin so special, that sense of spontaneity. His remake of the 7th with the Concertgebouw is even more exciting.

The only full set conducted by a Russian that I am aware of is the LSO cycle with Gergiev. It gets mixed reviews. I rather enjoyed some of them, not all. The biggest letdown is the recorded SACD sound. 

I will be surprised if Berlin doesn't start a cycle with Petrenko sometime. He's been working in Germany for so long that he's surely learned the style and his recent performances of the 6th are stunning.


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

Svetlanov’s set is rather idiosyncratic in places.

Kondrashin’s incomplete set is, I agree, more classicist, although he could also be idiosyncratic, but most of the time he obviously got it. Should also supplement his incomplete set with the NDR #1, Baden-Baden #6 and Concertgebouw #7.

I think any “Russian-ness”, or my stereotype of it, that I could detect came from those Russian orchestras playing in these two sets, rather than from Svetlanov or Kondrashin.

I certainly don’t detect any “Russian-ness” among modern Russian maestros in Mahler -

Ashkenazy’s set (I’ve only heard #5 onwards) is rather harmless.

Gergiev is so-so, ah no, professional. I don’t hate it as much as others do.

I like K. Petrenko’s immersive Berlin #6 very much. However, I feel a bit confused after listening to his Bavaria #7. I don’t get it. I can’t sync my mind with it.

I remember hearing a concert relay of V. Petrenko doing #6 on radio years ago, but honestly I have no recollection of what it sounded like; and I don’t think he has committed any Mahler to disc yet, but I would love a cycle from him.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I only know two Russian Mahler recordings, namely Kondrashin's 6 and 7 (both Melodiya) but I think they are very special, quite different from most "Western" Mahler, fast but intense. If you like these two pieces, I highly recommend trying Kondrashin. (I think his 1 and 5 are also highly regarded, but I have not heard them.)


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

One of the best played in my opinion is Oistrakh's 4th with the Moscow Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra on Melodiya. Unfortunately for me his soprano (none other than Galina Vishnevskaya) does not get it right.


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## Subutai (Feb 28, 2021)

Thanks for all the input. I was of course aware of Gergiev's cycle, but for whatever reason couldn't place it within a Russian idiom. As I wrote my original post at wine o'clock, I think I should have called out Russian orchestras instead of conductors. As far as I can tell, and with your help, Svetlanov did a complete cycle, with Kondrashin and Fedoseyev doing incomplete cycles, although Fedoseyev has only ever been released on LP, with the classic Soviet orchestras of yesteryear. And as mentioned many others recorded the occasional symphony, but a cycle it does not make.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Here's one in my collection:

















It's a 2-CD set on label Great Musicians Of Palmira Du Nord - 2003-003, 2003-004, released in 2003. I bought the discs for the Shostakovich Symphony No. 7 "Leningrad" with the Symphony Orchestra Of The Leningrad State Philharmonic. I have an interest in Russian music by Russian performers, especially the Shosty symphonies.

The conductor, Karl Eliasberg [Карл Эліасберг], also takes on the Mahler Fourth with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra and soprano Natalia Rozhdestvenskaya. The recording dates from October 1954. (The Shostakovich was recorded January 1964.)

I'll suggest only that both readings are intriguing. Though I bought this for the Shostakovich, the Mahler is a real plus when one notes the date of performance, which seems well before the great "Mahler craze" hit. The fact that the Fourth Symphony is featured is interesting, as one does not equate such music with Soviet era Russia. Do any two symphonies contrast more than the two featured on this disc?

Typing this comment makes me want to dig out the disc and rehear these two works. I think I'll start with the Mahler.


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## Spy Car (Nov 15, 2017)

The Mahler Symphony No. 3 by Semyon Bychkov is quite lovely. 

Bychkov left the USSR as a young man (21?) and his M3 recording is with the German WDR Sinfonie-Orchester Koln, so not sure if this fits your parameters (or not), but it is a very fine recording IMO.

Bill


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Shostakovitch wrote 15 Russian Mahler symphonies, Schnittke a few more


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