or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Available to Download Now
 
Buy the MP3 album for £14.98
 
 
 
 
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 

Mahler - Symphony No 2 [Hybrid SACD]

Birgit Remmert , Gustav Mahler , Iván Fischer , Budapest Festival Orchestra , Lisa Milne , et al. Audio CD
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Price: £15.00 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Only 2 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Want delivery by Tuesday, 21 May? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
Buy the MP3 album for £14.98 at the Amazon MP3 Downloads store.


Frequently Bought Together

Mahler - Symphony No 2 + Mahler - Symphony No.6 + Mahler - Symphony No.4
Price For All Three: £43.32

Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product details

  • Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra
  • Conductor: Iván Fischer
  • Composer: Gustav Mahler
  • Audio CD (28 Aug 2006)
  • Number of Discs: 2
  • Format: Hybrid SACD
  • Label: Channel Classics
  • ASIN: B000GPIBOG
  • Other Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 118,289 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         


Disc 1:

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Symphony No. 2 in C-Minor - "Resurrection": I. Allegro maestoso21:47Album Only
Listen  2. Symphony No. 2 in C-Minor - "Resurrection": II. Andante moderato10:03Album Only


Disc 2:

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Symphony No. 2 in C-Minor - "Resurrection": I. In ruhig fließender Bewegung11:18Album Only
Listen  2. Symphony No. 2 in C-Minor - "Resurrection": II. Urlicht - Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht 4:53£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  3. Symphony No. 2 in C-Minor - "Resurrection": III. Im Tempo des Scherzo34:20Album Only


Customer Reviews

4 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
5.0 out of 5 stars
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A final climax worth waiting for 11 Nov 2006
By Colin Fortune VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
I have only heard this using ordinary CD equipment but I imagine that the SACD is very fine indeed. First, the sound. The huge problem with Mahler 2 is that the end is so magnificent and so loud that most recordings have to be compressed or turned down by the engineers in the final two minutes or so. Not surprising when you consider that this is a work that has to be heard in a good hall to make its impact - organ, huge brass section, clanging bells, bass drum thwacks, tam-tam rolls and so on. This recording copes magnificently, but therein lies the problem for ordinary home reproduction. The dynamic range of the recording is from quietest whisper of sound to wonderfully contained roar! The best results, therefore, come from turning up the volume louder than you might normally, marvelling at the delicacy of much of the soft playing (and there is a large amount of very quiet music in this symphony too) and then holding on during the climaxes. This does not work too well if you have near neighbours and I suppose that if you are a solitary listener then headphones might be the answer, which is a shame because the feeling of being towards the back of a fine hall is lost (remember, I have only heard CD playback but am told that SACD immerses you even more deeply in the music). One thing about listening on headphones is that one gets a sharper than usual sense of three-dimensional sound.

The orchestra play magnificently and the slides and portamenti in the strings are delightfully managed. Percussion sounds amazingly natural, woodwind is well characterised and the brass is very fine indeed. The offstage effects in the last movement are at the most extreme distance and have you listening with almost painful concentration. Both soloists are fine (no wobbles) and the choir is top rank with clear diction and rich expressivity.

What about the conductor's concept of the symphony? The first movement has some fast tempi, but also some surprisingly slow and sensitive sections, emphasising the funeral march element of the music. The peculiar rhythmic pattern in the double-basses (first emphatically underlined in the Rattle/CBSO recording but present in Kubelik/DGG also) at the opening is very insistent. The first movement hangs together well and is full of drama and a gathering sense of fantasy.

The second movement is very beautifully done, and the set out of the string section, with antiphonal placing of first and second violins left and right, makes for very satisfying listening. Througout the whole symphony the string section plays with the utmost sensitivity but nowhere more so than in this second movement.

I felt that the "Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt" Scherzo (third movement) was a little over-gentle and lacking in fantasy and, essentially, irony. Nobody beats Klemperer here. But things get much better with the magically distanced entry of the soloist in "Urlicht" (fourth movement).

The finale starts with an almost painful burst of sound (quite rightly) and then builds up to a heart-stopping final section, via one of the most arresting "Grosser Appel" sections I have ever heard and a rather jaunty march. The off-stage orchestra is very quiet indeed, as is the choir in its first entry. But, as I said above, the very effort that you make to hear it increases the tension to an extent that rivals a live performance.

Ivan Fischer's overall concept is distinctive and, ultimately, very moving indeed. The third movement, however, sags a bit.

To sum up, if you can turn up the volume sufficiently you will hear one of the most beautifully recorded and natural sounding Mahler recordings that has ever been produced in a cumulatively climactic interpretation. This CD cries out for volume and then more volume. Buy it, but buy a detached house to go along with it!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars DOES EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN 8 Sep 2010
By Klingsor Tristan TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
It's amazing the results that can be obtained simply by doing exactly what is asked for in the score. No-one was more precise in the detailed instructions he gave conductor and players than Mahler. And Ivan Fischer with his Budapest forces is more meticulous than anyone else in my experience at following this great score in all its details. The results are breathtaking.

Let me illustrate from the very beginning of the symphony. The third phrase in cellos and basses is marked accelerando: like Rattle, Fischer does this just judiciously enough to make the point. A few bars later, the bassoons reinforce the first notes of each bar of triplets: they are marked ff to the strings single f and Fischer allows them just enough prominence to stand clear. At the first appearance of the Second Subject, the horns' counterpoint is marked ppp to the violins pp; at the second appearance they are marked pp to the violins ppp. Fischer observes that, too. The numerous glissandi scattered throughout the score, especially in the second movement, are all there - proper glisses, not just touched in portamenti. I could go on!

Then there is the care in instrumental balance that Fischer always takes. More often than not bass drum, tam-tams and glockenspiel are touched in just enough to provide the colour needed, not to stand out: one is hardly aware of their presence until they actually stop playing - although the tams-tams provide some awe-inspiring crashes when appropriate. In louder passages the piccolo(s) often give a touch of strident glitter to the violins (a very characteristic Mahler trait). And I love the way in which the contrabassoon just adds a little buzz to some of the brass chorales in the final movement.

Fischer is ably aided and abetted by his engineers, too. There is a properly long pause after the first movement - if not the full 5 minutes Mahler asked for. The last three movements are, as indicated, attaca. The sound quality is simply wonderful throughout. The recording of the strings is as good as I've heard - just listen to the cellos in the Second Movement. And the special effects are all brought off magnificently. Mahler suggests that the brass chorale at the beginning of `Urlicht' should be distanced in the background. I've never heard this observed before: the effect is magical. The off-stage bands in the final movement have precisely the right perspectives (and, of course, Fischer observes Mahler's markings of `lang' and `verklingend' for the horn and trumpet calls to the letter). The entry of the choir is a perfect pianissimo and I had despaired of ever hearing a recording where the soprano soloist emerges, as she should, imperceptibly from the choral sound as her voice rises that extra third for the sublime tail of each of their first two entries - until now.

If this all sounds a little superficial and locked into the detail, it is only because this is a performance that merits the closest analysis. The orchestral playing is superb. But, more than that, so is Fischer's reading of the piece. Never wayward, never striving for effect, he lets the music speak for itself, totally naturally and with ideal tempi. Rubato is almost always where it is indicated in the score, but always judged to perfection. The relationship of one tempo to another (always tricky in Mahler, as for example with the frequent changes of time signature as well as tempi in `Urlicht') always feels absolutely right.

I have loved this work since the days when Bruno Walter's Columbia recording was the only one available. Since then, Klemperer, Barbirolli, Bernstein, Stokowski, Rattle and the like have all laid claims to my affection. And still do. But this Budapest performance from Fischer and Channel Classics has, I think, just gone to the top of my pile.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.4 out of 5 stars  21 reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Mahler's Universe Realized 8 Dec 2006
By Lawrence A. Schenbeck - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
I am not a blind-eyed, totally rabid fan of Ivan Fischer's work. Loved his Bartok series, hated his recent Tchaikovsky Fourth. That said, I concur with the other positive reviews here. This Mahler Second is enormously effective, heartfelt because it's never over-the-top. You catch the subtle things, the ironies, the humor, the innocence of the folk poetry, and much more. And the final movement really does become APOCALYPTIC. It's the most terrifying depiction of the Last Trump, etc., etc., ever composed, and (with this recording) ever put on disc. This is partly the nature of the Super Audio CD recording process, with its unbelievably wide dynamic range and these engineers' ability to capture, as someone said, the big and little tam-tams, the church bells, all the phenomenal detail Mahler builds into it.

Which is not to emphasize technical matters over musical ones. Fischer and his forces are unfailingly musical and expressive -- the briefest instrumental solos are handled with aplomb and real character, the tuttis are stunning. It's all shaped by a man who knows how to make Mahler's universe palpable for 21st-century audiences.

Get this, and go get yourself an SACD player so you can hear every last bit of it. (Although I suspect that even the Redbook CD version captures what's essential.)
52 of 65 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Where's the Fire? 22 Jan 2007
By Eric J. Matluck - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a dissenting opinion, a review of a performance that was not to my taste. I'm not going to bash it because I don't think it's a bad or actively offensive performance of Mahler's work, but I do find it lacking in too many of the elements that to me are essential to a satisfying interpretation of this music.

When I first discovered Mahler's symphonies, at the time I was in college, they were through the performances by Bernard Haitink, which had been held in very high esteem in certain quarters but taken to task for being too "sane" in others. These interpretations were seen as the antithesis of Leonard Bernstein's overtly (or overly) emotive ones. I've never developed a stomach for Bernstein's Mahler, though it has many, many adherents. Given that, I expected that a more objective interpretation, which I'd read Ivan Fischer provides, would be to my liking. But I think his reading is far too low-keyed and underpowered to generate even the excitement that Haitink's could, not to mention Bernstein's. When I found myself longing for some of the throat-grabbing emotionalism that Lenny could bring, I knew something was amiss.

To me the difficulties began at the first bar. Rather than a stirring held chord, what I heard sounded weak. There was no fire, no sense of suspense, and the orchestra, as it would throughout the performance, sounded noticeably small. The second theme was quite beautifully played, lovely and radiant, but that loveliness and radiance seemed to inform most of the movement, and this, in my opinion, is not music that should sound pretty. The second movement, on the other hand, which presents one of Mahler's simplest and most beautiful melodies, seemed overinterpreted. The music never flowed but sounded micromanaged bar by bar. As I told a friend of mine, I had to rely on my memory of this music to follow what was being played. The scherzo struck me as dull, with none of the sinister or even ironic quality that seems so much a part of it. That's where my first listen ended. Then, out of curiosity and fairness, I gave it another spin. No better. The "Urlicht" was sung beautifully enough, but it didn't tug at my heart the way it has in other performances, and the finale seemed no more apocalyptic than a barbershop glee until the final pages that, for me, were ruined by overprominent percussion, turning the piece into a spectacle through which it lost any sense of spiritual transcendence.

Criticism is a tricky thing. Everybody has his or own life experiences that shape his or her taste, so what satisfies one will not necessarily satisfy another. This recording has garnered praise from many quarters, and I wish I could add to that praise, but I can't. Delicate, refined, and polite when it's not sounding vulgar and manipulative, this is not a performance I can endorse.
22 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Hat's Off - A Winner for the 21st Century 30 Oct 2006
By Hannibal - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an absolutely fabulous performance of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony.....For those of you lucky enough to have heard this same conductor and orchestra in Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, you will find an equal poise and sensitivity here, beautiful and moving in extraordinary sound - such as one finds particularly in SACD recordings, and if the final movement doesn't lift you to the proverbial heavens, you'd better get your ears checked!

Let me add that Fischer brings great drama to this magnificent work, and if hardly challenging early Bernstein for sturm und drang along the way, there are thrills a plenty, easily besting the overly-praised Rattle version for example. To be fair, Fischer's orchestra does not fully equal the Berlin Philharmonic in heft and ensemble, but the solo parts are even more exquisite here, and many details far more ravishing than you have ever heard before.

Even if you are still not the proud owner of an SACD player, listening to this in just plain stereo will give you such pleasure, you'll play it again and again, grateful for what you do hear now in anticipation of what you will hear later when SACD will reveal the full glory of this stupendous performance.
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges