Mengelberg

No orchestra has a greater Mahler pedigree than the Concertgebouw, beginning in the early 20th century under Willem Mengelberg, and continuing under successive music directors – Van Beinum, Haitink, Chailly – right up to the present day.

Mahler: Symphony No 3 – review 2011

Some truly weird, wonderful music has emerged from Amsterdam selections include Amsterdam String Trio, Han Bennink Trio, and Misha Mengelberg.

Eliot Van Buskirk: EMusic's 'Scenes' App for iPad Can Turn You Into a Hipster (or at Least a Scenester) Eliot Van Buskirk 2011

Look at Mengelberg, look at Furtwängler, and look at the rest of the Mitteleuropa-trained composers in the past one hundred years.

Mengelberg's Mahler Patrick J. Smith 2008

I would only point out that by this time twenty-eight years had passed since Mahler's death and Mengelberg, a conductor known for a very expressive style, must have developed his interpretation in those years however much it may have been influenced by Mahler to start with.

Archive 2008-06-01 Patrick J. Smith 2008

It would be a prodigious feat of memory indeed if, 28 years after the death of the composer and 35 years after Mahler's performance of the 4th in Amsterdam, when the younger conductor did his work with the composer on the symphony, Mengelberg could remember Mahler's interpretation well enough to affect a reasonable facsimile of Mahler's performance.

Archive 2008-06-01 Patrick J. Smith 2008

Mengelberg sat in the audience in Amsterdam in 1904 to hear Mahler conduct the symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra twice in the same concert.

Mengelberg's Mahler Patrick J. Smith 2008

Mahler performing at the piano solo is going to do things differently than Mengelberg leading an orchestra, but there are approaches to the same material that are going to remain roughly constant, regardless of media.

Mengelberg's Mahler Patrick J. Smith 2008

Look at Mengelberg, look at Furtwängler, and look at the rest of the Mitteleuropa-trained composers in the past one hundred years.

Archive 2008-06-01 Patrick J. Smith 2008

Mengelberg had been a close friend and associate of Mahler's; he had been present at the premiere of this symphony; the two conductors for conducting was for what Mahler was chiefly known during his lifetime worked on the score together, adding timing marks, annotations and fine detailed notes throughout.

Archive 2008-06-01 Patrick J. Smith 2008

Now, don't get me wrong, the Bustabo / Mengelberg thing is nice, but when you consider the popularity of some other records like that Kondrashin Mahler 7th from Amsterdam, it's hard to square the issued stuff with the popular stuff.

Archive 2008-06-01 Patrick J. Smith 2008