Re: Mahler 5 / Vienna Philharmonic / Bernstein / 1988 (live)

Those Haitink Mahler recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic are
generally regarded as lacking in energy. But who cares about 'generally
regarded'?
I happen to have a copy of Haitink's Mahler 7th with the Berlin
Philharmonic. It's also not totally stellar, compared to  Haithink M7
that remains etched in my memory. This was a performance in the
Concertgebouw with the London Philharmonic. It was in the early
nineties, not so many years after Haitink had stopped conducting the
RCO.
Straight from the first roll on the big drum, early on, it was clear
that this was going to be an utterly dark, black take on Mahler 7. The
Scherzo in the middle was a unrelieved nightmare. It was stunning, the
entire symphony.
Another amazing live Mahler with Haitink was in the second half of the
nineties, on a BBC Promenade concert with the Berlin Philharmonic. The
Sixth. I listened to this one on a car radio parked in a vacation house
in the French Provence. It was yet another amazing relentless Haitink
performance, the way the coda of the 1st movement just poured out,
unforgettable...