This cycle of Mahler's symphonies plus his Das Lied von der Erde is the last will and recorded testament of Gary Bertini. Although the Moldavian-born, Israeli citizen Bertini lived another decade after most of these performances were recorded in the early '90s, he made very few other recordings and thus his posthumous reputation will be determined in large part by his way with Mahler. For Bertini, Mahler is lyrical but cool, dramatic but restrained, colorful but not garish, powerful but not bombastic, and, above all, ...
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This cycle of Mahler's symphonies plus his Das Lied von der Erde is the last will and recorded testament of Gary Bertini. Although the Moldavian-born, Israeli citizen Bertini lived another decade after most of these performances were recorded in the early '90s, he made very few other recordings and thus his posthumous reputation will be determined in large part by his way with Mahler. For Bertini, Mahler is lyrical but cool, dramatic but restrained, colorful but not garish, powerful but not bombastic, and, above all, intensely expressive but never ever excessively emotional. For Bertini, Mahler is a tightrope walk above raging chaos and ecstatic bliss and, no matter what, he never once loses his footing. Whether this seems appropriate or not will depend on the listener. Bertini's performances with the Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester were recorded live on tour in Japan and are nevertheless superbly polished and supremely virtuosic with a tremendous sense of occasion, particularly in Das Lied with...
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