What's your preferred collection of Mahler symphonies?
January 4, 2010 3:52 AM   Subscribe

Could anyone recommend a good Mahler cycle? Even better, could anyone post their favourite recordings of each symphony...so far I've been relying on biased friends and dubious Amazon 'Listmania!' collections. Thank you :)
posted by deticxe to Media & Arts (10 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Symphony No. 9, Berlin Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, Deutsche Grammophon 435 378-2, 1979.
posted by mlis at 3:58 AM on January 4, 2010


Multiple surveys available on the web:

The Mahler Symphonies: A synoptic survey

General Survey of Gustav Mahler on Disc

WETA 90.9 FM also had a Mahler month and the blog surveys recordings of each symphony.
posted by Gyan at 4:09 AM on January 4, 2010 [1 favorite]


The Amsterdam Concertgebouworkest is a typical Mahler orchestra, because the composer is immensely popular in the Netherlands. [O country of dung and mist and Mahler, one poet wrote]. You cannot really go wrong with a Haitink Concertgebouw cycle.

Having said that, I mostly prefer older Bruno Walter recordings for most symphonies.
posted by ijsbrand at 4:14 AM on January 4, 2010


For Symphony No. 9, Bruno Walter's 1938 Vienna Philharmonic recording is amazing. This wonderful review explains the recording's unique history, and anyone looking to build a Mahler collection should own it.

For something very different, make sure you check out Willem Mengelberg's old recordings of Mahler's 4th symphony with the Concertgebouw. They're absolutely wacky in a wonderful way. Mengelberg knew Mahler and claimed that he conducted his performances just like Mahler did, although Mengelberg's interpretations are totally unlike anything conducted by anyone else (including other conductors who knew Mahler). Sadly, Mengelberg recordings only exist for Mahler's 4th symphony and the Adagietto movement from the 5th symphony.
posted by fremen at 6:08 AM on January 4, 2010


When the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra celebrated its 120th anniversary (back in '08), they made ten symphonies freely available for download (with registration.) One of them is a live recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 conducted by Leonard Bernstein in 1987. I can't really speak to its quality compared to other recordings, but it's (a) pretty outstanding in its own right and (b) free, so I highly recommend it.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:47 AM on January 4, 2010


Best answer: I've found Third Ear's Classical Music a reliable reference. Its editors have certainly been exposed to more of the available recordings than any of us. Among cycles, they seem to feel that Bernstein's first (not to be confused with his second) has the highest batting average.

You'll do better with individual conductors.The Gramophone 100 cites Barbirolli's 5th and Karajan's 6th and 9th. (I can personally endorse the last.) Download links for all can be found here.

Solti's 8th seems to be a consensus choice.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:22 AM on January 4, 2010


I have Solti's boxed set of Symphonies 1-9 (originally released by Decca, now easily findable in a London release) and I love it. Imagine your favorite work of literature read by someone with perfect elocution. Tony Duggan in Gyan's first link calls this the "glare of a clinical spotlight" but I hear enormous respect for the music and an opportunity to discover even more than you thought it contained. You may want to consider that Christophe Huss (Gyan's second link) names four of Solti's recordings among the best for their particular symphony.
posted by drdanger at 7:29 AM on January 4, 2010


Response by poster: Thank you for all of your answers, I'll look into everything mentioned. I'm particularly looking forward to "Willem Mengelberg's old recordings of Mahler's 4th symphony with the Concertgebouw", that being my all-time favourite symphony (I have the Solti).
posted by deticxe at 10:20 AM on January 4, 2010


The Benjamin Zander/Philharmonia Orchestra recordings include a bonus lecture disk that I find illuminating. The music's awfully good, too.
posted by Jasper Fnorde at 2:43 PM on January 4, 2010


The San Francisco Symphony's been working on a Mahler cycle. I really like our local classical reviewer, Joshua Kosman, and he says the SF Symphony's recording of the 8th is "an astounding achievement - capacious in scope, meticulous in its attention to detail and bristling with vocal, instrumental and dramatic delights".
posted by kristi at 11:45 AM on January 6, 2010


« Older Activate Laser!!!   |   RSI specialists in Brisbane Australia? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.