Mahler 2

I love finding conductor blogs…

And I love finding other conductors whose take on a piece I thought I absolutely was convinced should be done like this, suddenly makes me realize they found the Grail of that single moment in time…(and let’s face it, the finale of the Mahler 2 is the Holy Grail of all symphonic choral-orchestral literature, bar nothing.)

Kenneth Woods’ blog has his take on the work and on conductor Walter Weller. And he posts a YouTube of Weller conducting the finale of the work. Seriously, give it a listen…he needed about double the choristers he had, and the Spanish subtitles are horrific–just ignore them. I hate it when translators do dynamic equivalency, or their impression of it, for musical libretti. The imagery gets destroyed. (Even Woods’ blog does this, he translates “hor auf zu beben” as “Fear no more.” Nope, it means “cease your trembling.”  There’s a difference.) (I’m digressing again.)

But in general it’s a wonderful performance, and a really brilliant interpretation…