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I found this box more enjoyable than any of the other Mahler blu-ray boxes: the Abbado, The Concertgebouw and the Paavo Jarvi (still awaiting the Chailly, which might be even better). It’s very rare for me to go through a whole box of different performances in one week. The reason is the superior video and superlative sound engineering (CD’s are from the same performances and mixes as the blu-rays). The video editing has the camera at the right place at the right moment. The miking and mix are very sophisticated, giving you all the details, great bass and an almost perfect illusion of a full dynamic range that is yet comfortable to listen to at home (an illusion because it ain’t really a full dynamic range). As to the performances, the playing is top notch and I liked a bigger proportion of the conducting than in the other boxes. There are reviews online going as far as specific movements - I find these useless. I loved the conductors in 7 of the 9 complete symphonies, loathed one and liked another only in one movement, but it doesn’t matter who in what, it’s a matter of preference and to each his own. Here is an excerpt of a report I wrote of Boulez conducting Mahler’s 3rd in Carnegie Hall on 10/6/07: “...transparent textures and a concept that really worked, light and clear. This continued in the third movement – it was clear by then that this orchestra, though not a first rank one, performed top-notch. The brass (including the post horn) were without a single blooper and the precision and dynamic control he got from the strings were amazing. Fourth movement didn’t work. Mahler goes for a specific “mysterious” effect here, and I don’t know when it sounds like that with the way he wrote for the contralto. Miss Larsson did not sound good and was stretched to her limit by tempi that sounded lethargic – the audience got listless here. Someone who heard her do this with the NYPO told me she sounded much better with them and they did this movement much better. Boulez did get some unexpected sounds and transitions from the woodwinds here, though…” -very interesting, but what does it convey, even to me, after 14 years? That I paid attention and had reactions, that’s all. These reviews of orchestral performances are useless.
Very impressive box and a book I’ll never read.
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Denis Urval
Neuf symphonies, huit chefs, un orchestre et un Adagio
Reviewed in France on May 15, 2021