Tuesday, May 5, 2020

The Album Thing: George Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Symphony No. 5

Ooh, the ALBUM thing continues! If you haven’t been following along, here’s the deal: One of your friends tags you on Facebook, and then you’re supposed to post pictures of albums you especially love, or that were personally significant, or whatever. I’m sharing these on my blog, too, because why not?

In today’s selection, we have one of the best orchestral brass sections (Chicago Symphony) playing one of the most famous symphonies in terms of the brass parts (Mahler 5).

So although I’ve featured a lot of popular music so far, today, we’re turning the corner into some instrumental albums. It fascinates me how so many Americans always listen to vocal music and not instrumental. As an editor, I can’t work to music that has lyrics I can understand. —Oh, and don’t judge me because I bought this at a “ditch-the-vinyl” sale at KWWC. I found a lot of good music there . . . and I’ve given it an excellent and loving home.

Here’s the first movement. If you’re a trumpeter, it’s an automatic thumbs-up for Adolph (Bud) Herseth, who forever owns the solo that introduces this symphony.

Bonus: this is a completely different performance, but it’s got video.

No comments: