Vaclav Neumann - Mahler: Symphonies No. 5, 6, 7 & 9 (1965-68) [2021 4xSACD]

A box of all four Mahler symphonies recorded by Vaclav Neumann when he was the music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Both are Neumann's first recordings, and the complete collection of SUPRAPHON with the Czech Philharmonic after this (reprinted as an SACD hybrid board on the Tower Planning Board TW1070 in 2020), and the selection with Canyon Classics in the last years (1-6, 9 No. Reprinted in 2020 as an SACD hybrid disc on the Exton label with the same OVEP00010), Neumann's flowing and beautiful image of Mahler has already appeared in the performance, but the massive sound of the orchestra is rather the ETERNA disc. is above, and you can feel the beauty of Mahler's molding, including the good tempo. In addition, the performance at that time was highly complete, and the horn was attended by Peter Damm before he moved to Staatskapelle Dresden. In terms of recording, ETERNA at that time had few Mahler recordings, but the stringed instruments, including the low power of the large orchestra, were beautifully captured, and the sound image was captured as a whole rather than focusing on details. It is a recording where you can feel the sense of each engineer. These ETERNA recordings tend to be underestimated because they are inevitably compared to later Neumann recordings, but they are valuable performances including recordings. Neumann left LGO in 1968 due to the Soviet invasion of Prague and became chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, so the recording ended with No. 7, but Mahler's recording would not have progressed without it. Maybe. In particular, No. 7 recorded in May 1968 is the last recording of both and is valuable. These remaining performances by Neumann, who worked on Mahler from early on, are very wonderful and should be appreciated more. Although it is unavoidable that the evaluation did not improve due to the sound quality aspect after the CD, it is certain that it is a sound source that is more interesting considering the background. In the latest reprint, you can check the performance in more detail, and you can also feel the enthusiasm of the production team at the time, including Neumann, included in the recording. I hope that the evaluation of Neumann and LGO at that time will be further enhanced by this reprint.

~*As it is a machine translation, the result may not provide an accurate description.
Please use it only as a reference.


Tracks:

Disc 1
1. Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor

Disc 2
2. Symphony No. 6 in A Minor, "Tragic"

Disc 3
3. Symphony No. 7 in E Minor

Disc 4
4. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor

Personnel:

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Conducted by Václav Neumann

Recorded:
June 8-11, 1965, Leipzig (1)
June 6-10, 1966, Leipzig (2)
May 20-24, 1968, Leipzig (3)
November 13-17, 1967, Leipzig (4)