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What's your Mahler Cycle?

Rattle with CBSO have good 'blare' in the brass. I also enjoy the Tennstedt LPO I bought 30 plus years ago.
For sound quality, my top choice is Jonathan Nott on the Tudor label.

As an aside, and it isn't a cycle in the box-set sense, I've collected a few live Mahler recordings by Donald Runnicles and the SNO. They're free with BBC music mag so will likely turn up in charity shops for a few pennies. Listening to the 4th now and it's very good.
 
I have Haitink, Ozawa and and Antoni Wit. Overall I prefer the Ozawa but I don't mind the Haitink and surprisingly I think Wit on Naxos is quite good.

My biggest issue with the 3rd is the symphony itself. I've never been able to warm up to it. It sounds to me like Mahler was trying to be Mahler before he was ready to be Mahler. If that makes any sense.
 
windhoek said:
The Abbado/Lucerne is available on DVD and Blu ray, the format I own, and it makes for a great night in if your Blu ray player and TV is connected to your hifi :)
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I've actually had this bluray set for some time, but have yet to watch it all. I must find some time (when the wife is out) to do so

I'd rate Chailly's 3rd with the Concertgebouw as one of the best classical recordings of all time.
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Really? It seems to have mixed reviews. The sound quality is very good but, like Haitink's recordings, it doesn't sound really "Mahlerian" to me. It is Mahler for those who like Bruckner. Tennstedt, Barbirolli, Giulini (on his few rcordings), really understand the Mahlerian idiom; Bernstein gets it, but of course pushes it to extremes.

I have Haitink, Ozawa and and Antoni Wit. Overall I prefer the Ozawa but I don't mind the Haitink and surprisingly I think Wit on Naxos is quite good.

My biggest issue with the 3rd is the symphony itself. I've never been able to warm up to it. It sounds to me like Mahler was trying to be Mahler before he was ready to be Mahler. If that makes any sense.
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I must try Ozawa next. I do agree with you that the symphony itself just doesn't quite work. It's as if Mahler wanted to create this enormous museum but didn't have enough things to put in it, so he stretched the few things he had to breaking point. But it's still not as bad as the seventh, which is by far his most tedious work.
 
FrankF said:
My biggest issue with the 3rd is the symphony itself. I've never been able to warm up to it. It sounds to me like Mahler was trying to be Mahler before he was ready to be Mahler. If that makes any sense.
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That makes me wonder why do we fall head over heels for some symphonies and fall asleep - or wish we would fall asleep - for others. Mahler's second and third symphonies are superb imo, while some of his others are *almost* average to the point I wish I was asleep whenever I play them; I enjoy some but endure others if you know what I mean.
 
windhoek said:
That makes me wonder why do we fall head over heels for some symphonies and fall asleep - or wish we would fall asleep - for others. Mahler's second and third symphonies are superb imo, while some of his others are *almost* average to the point I wish I was asleep whenever I play them; I enjoy some but endure others if you know what I mean.
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I know what you mean and I can never answer that question. I love Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6 a lot, each in their own way, and the others are just OK for me. Why? Who knows. Many things shape our individual tastes of course.

Maybe I need to give no. 3 another chance with a more open mind. Many folks love the ones I haven't listed and I respect that, but I need too much espresso to get through most of them.

Sometimes I too wish I was asleep for some symphonies, or wonder if the conductor and/or orchestra are asleep LOL.
 
Years ago on the South Bank I sat through Rozhdestvensky conducting a Beethoven symphony in his sleep. Or maybe I was still stressed out from work.....:(
 
I have Leonard Bernstein and the Concertgebouworkest for No. 1 which I really enjoy and was my introduction to Mahler. On the recommendation of a dear friend who sang professionally in classical choirs I then bought Otto Klemperer's No.2. with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Lorin Maazel and Kathleen Battle for No. 4. Sir Charles Mackerras for No. 5.

Having read through all the recommendations posted on here I might have to reevaluate my recordings and fill in the gaps and obtain better versions of Mahler's music.
 
I just discovered Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt forms the basis of the scherzo of Mahler's second symphony. I've been playing Mahler's Orchestral Songs by Chailly/Fassbaender a helluva lot over the last weeks or so since it arrived and I knew I knew the song. Take the words away and I would have recognised it instantly of course just as I recognised Urlicht straight away. Suddenly it all makes sense.
 
I'm a little surprised the MTT & San Francisco SO series aren't getting mentioned more on the thread. I only have No.6 ( they're all on SACD) but heard them in concert doing No.1 and No.7 which were sensational.
 
Was that MTT/SFO no 7 at the Edinburgh Festival about 7 or 8 years ago? I was there too, it was great. But didn't fix the fact that for for me, the last two movements of the 7th are just dull. First three movements are all genius.
 
I think I've got symphonies 1-4 by MTT/ SFO on a hard drive somewhere; must dig it out for a play now that M3 is a real favourite of mine.

Incidentally, I reckon Orchestral Songs by Chailly/ Fassbaender (or similar, I suppose) would be an ideal introduction to anyone willing to give Mahler a go as it's cram-packed full of bite-sized nibbles of what Mahler does best - whether the simply divine emotive stuff or those big, big moments that grab you by the scruff of the neck and throw you headfirst into an immense storm of symphonic-battering sound!
 
davidjt said:
Slightly off topic, but I keep waiting for the penny to drop with Bruckner. So far: absolutely nothing.

Given all the music I do enjoy, it's rather disconcerting.
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Let it be , for a while. Though I was always an avid Mahler & Wagner collecting fan, I was in the same boat as you , regards Bruckner.
I could accept his 4th & 7 th Symphonies and that was 'just about my tolerance level'. I was struck with his "chug-chug" locomotive sounding build-ups.
Then suddenly in the last 2 years or so, Bruckner completely 'hit me'. Now I cannot get hold of enough Bruckner complete cycles .On the shelf, now proudly sits the Von Karajan, Barenboim, Wand, Jochum and Chailly sets ; as well as single CD performances from other conductors such as Boulez and Abbado..
 
I can vividly remember when I first heard Mahler's music. Back in the 60's I read a glowing review of Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic's performances. So I ran out and brought his version of the 7 th symphony. To get 'to know it quickly' I played it 3 times in the space of 24 hours. I smile and laugh, looking back at comments often once seen reported "how the Mahler 7th Symphony is his most enigmatic / difficult symphony" for anyone to start appreciating this composer. Enraptured though - I then quickly brought the LSO and Solti doing the Mahler (2) "Resurrection" symphony and also played the life out of those vinyl discs.
Needless to say . today I have CD copies of both the above mentioned performances.
 
I know what you mean about playing something for seemingly infinity: I've had Orchestral Songs for less than 3 weeks but have easily played it 50 times already! It's just so easy to enjoy as an aural snack - several times a day, of course - compared a Mahler Main Course just once a day... and I'm about to have another snack :cool:
 
alanbeeb said:
Was that MTT/SFO no 7 at the Edinburgh Festival about 7 or 8 years ago? I was there too, it was great. But didn't fix the fact that for for me, the last two movements of the 7th are just dull. First three movements are all genius.
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The big mistake with Mahler Symphony No 7 ( the 1st Mahler Symphony I ever heard and immediately fell in love with- on the spot -50 years ago!) I am puzzled how such an integral structured lay-out of 5 movements can be chopped up , by detaching the first 3 movements.. ' from the rest' .
IF ever it could be purported that a composer quietly wrote a connecting themed 'cycle' set of symphonies closely connected /relating to each other..... reminding of earlier numbered efforts and hinting at what followed in his subsequent symphonies IT WAS Mahler.
The big mistake is believing a silly long held historical opinion of the 7th Symphony 'that its 5th movement is banal' .
At the time of the 7th's composition Mahler was fighting claims from critics that he was representing things in his writings, "Anti-classical" .
It is plainly obvious, he answered his nonplussed critics by constructing , a super 'shove it up their nose' version , classical styled form -with that last movement.( in the 7th)
I maintain this is as close as we ever got to seeing any personality form of compositional "laughing behind their back- wit" from Mahler.
Richard Strauss as we all know , very openly went about, achieving the same : explicitly ...with works like his Domestic Symphony and A Hero's Life.
 
I absolutely love this Mahler Songs CD as recommended by alanbeeb and so have decided to buy a copy of Das Lied featuring Bridgitte Fassbaender on vocals as I simply adore her vocal talents (she's one half of my dream duet team, but I'll save that for another thread).

A glance at Amazon and the appropriate reviews suggest this is the one to get as it apparently improves upon an earlier performance by the same team; Fassbaender and Araiza accompanied by the VPO and conducted by Giulini. What's the verdict among you guys?

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I generally dislike Brigitte Fassbaender, who I find tends to be in the Fischer-Dieskau school of fruity, mannered voices. However, her recording of Das Lied with Araiza and Giulini on DG is one of my favourites, mostly because of Giulini, who had the extraordinary ability to add both profundity and drama to everything he performed. I wasn't aware of the live recording on Orfeo, so will have to check it out, although the sound quality of those live Orfeo recordings tends to be a little thin and monochrome in my experience. But as a Giulini completist, I will have to get a copy, so thanks for the link.
 
Fischer-Dieskau was often overwrought and mannered in Opera. In song, he is unmatched IMO. Schubert is his speciality but he was also outstanding in Mahler and Wolf. As for Fassbaender, she is one of the Greats. Her Mahler is often heart rending.
 
I've ordered a copy of the CD and will find out for myself what it's like soon enough. I can't wait though as Fassbaender's vocals touch me in a way no one else's does.
 
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