Live performance of Mahler's Symphony No.1

I lived in Philadelphia for a couple of decades and had seasons tickets to the Philadelphia Orchestra - initially in the ampitheater when I was a student and eventually in the second tier. I still remember a live performance of Mahler's 1st with Carlo Maria Guilini conducting; this symphony remains one of my favorites to this day (I have a half a dozer versions). Or the complete cycle of Beethoven's Symphonies and Piano Concerti with Ormandy conducting and Rudolph Serkin playing the piano. Or the first time I heard Pearlman play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Or Yo Yo Ma sitting in the cello section after the interval. Or the time I sat in Mr Ormandy's private box to hear Verdi's Requiem. Or . . . There is no substitute for a live performance - not only the sound, but also the experience.

We are cursed...all of us who attend live performances. There is nothing out there that I've heard that can come close to reproducing a live (especially orchestral) performance. Certainly there are systems that will suck you in with regards to the "life-like" sound quality and ability to involve one in the music, but to equal the sound...nothing!

I have had the great fortune to play professionally in many ensembles and orchestras. I have the luxury to sit in the middle of the orchestra as the sound is being created. There is no greater musical experience than to both create and enjoy at the same time. Then, I return home to my system and ask it to recreate the same feeling for me, and sadly it falls short as expected. I fondly remember many years ago when I was a poor music student in college and was listening to Mahler's 2nd on nothing but a small handheld cassette player and being totally caught up in the music. Then I would cross the street, wait in line and spend two dollars for an amphitheater ticket to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra perform it live...Oh, the sounds...the music...simply amazing! I vowed to eventually get a system that could "recreate" that sound, and now that I have something near to that, I almost wish again for those days when I had my ear pressed to that small cassette player imagining myself in the midst of the orchestra, playing my heart out. Not concerned about how the music sounded, but simply the music.

I quite recently was fortunate enough to be part of the orchestral recording of Verdi's Requiem. Some of the softest and loudest non-amplified music ever written. It was amazing...the orchestra, chorus and soloists all wrapped around me. Words simply cannot begin to desribe the event. I can't wait to hear the recording either. Will it take me back to that time and recreate the experience? Only time will tell.

I hope you all can continue to enjoy the beauty of live music. Let us hope that we will continue to be "cursed" forever, for there is no substitute.

Rcprince, Leipzig Gewandhaus conducted by Riccardo Chailly was very good playin Mahler's 5th couple of weeks ago, but Chailly, he slows things down a bit.
Enjoy the concert!

Dohnanyi's was probably the most dynamic interpretation of Mahler's 1st symphony.
Ludimagis, you definitely know what I'm talking about then.

I'll be waiting for the next time these guys show up. Anything they play, I'm there

I know what you are talking about, living in northern Ohio
I saw Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra several times at Severance. A magical team! Mahler is not my favorite but I do love the 1st. Best cd of the wonderful 1st that I've heard is an older Vox; Horenstein w/ the Vienna.

I'm there tomorrow night for the St. Louis SO playing Bartok and Sibelius. A couple of weeks ago I heard the Leipzig Gewandhaus play Strauss there, and I agree that there is no system on earth that can have that kind of power and authority. The live classical concert experience is a different experience than any reproduced music, and one that should be participated in by every classical music fan. It's not just the sheer power or volume of sound, it's the spontenaety, the chance that something truly magical can happen when the performers get it just right.