Some Mahler Qs

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After reading the many posts (current and archived) on Mahler's symphonies which, BTW, has taken more than several weeks (and what is it about Mahler that inspires such verbose threads)I decided to finally have a listen. (I am already familiar so far with his lieder and the "Das Lied von der Erde.")
So, last week I took a trip to Carnegie Hall to listen to the First with Masur/NYP (hoping for a historic synergy, since Mahler conducted the First with the NYP in this same hall) as an intro to symphonic Mahler.
Firstly, three of the trumpet players were MIA in the begining, which I didn't realize until they walked in late by a side door, with the late-arriving soloist performing almost immediately as soon as he sat down?! Now, I have gone to only a small handful of live performances in my lifetime, but isn't this a bit unprofessional: I mean would Bernstein, Walter, Toscanini, etc. have tolerated this? Or why wouldn't Masur have waited for these guys to arrive? As far as the performance went, I did enjoy the piece and audience did give unrelenting applause after it was done, but I could see where the criticisms of Masur germinated: soft and beautiful playing when it should have been menacing and ugly, like that "Freres Jacques" (sp?) solo cello part (or maybe I'm wrong in expecting romantic music to be "ugly" or excessive). I guess he does try not to offend.
Aside from the "dull" and "boring" comments, what is it about Masur that people really dislike? Why is he still the conductor of the NYP if he is so bad? Is he so loved by the NY concert hall public?
For comparison I ordered the Bruno Walter First and Second on Sony which I'm really looking forward to.
Switching over to the Ninth: in reviewing the archives I didn't catch a recommendation for Zander's Ninth which has received some good print reviews in the audio rags. Does anyone here have some experience with this recording?
thanks,
Jose

Edits: 80/70/01

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Parts Connexion

Topic - Some Mahler Qs - Jose R 13:06:09 05/01/00 (9)

Re: Some Mahler Qs - The Real Dave 04:26:36 05/02/00 (2)

Re: Some Mahler Qs - Jorge F 12:25:38 05/02/00 (0)

LOL...thanks for the response Dave (nt) - Jose R 08:37:58 05/02/00 (0)

Search the archives!:-) - Rob 22:35:31 05/01/00 (3)

Very nice post! (nt) - BobH 10:48:07 05/02/00 (1)

Thanks Bob <nt> - Rob 11:11:14 05/02/00 (0)

Re: Search the archives!:-) - Jose R 08:33:53 05/02/00 (0)

Oh, boy, oh, boy! - BobH 16:12:29 05/01/00 (1)

? - Rob 20:31:09 05/01/00 (0)

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