Your Dream Mahler Cycle

Started by MishaK, August 06, 2010, 06:06:17 PM

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MishaK

Most you of you may be aware of this already, but DG has a new site honoring Mahler's 150th anniversary. You can listen to nearly the entire Universal Classics Mahler symphony recordings streaming online and create your own dream Mahler cycle. Apparently the most voted selections will be issued in a "People's Choice" edition.

---> Mahler 150 <---

Of course, this limits you to Universal, so conductors like MTT, Barenboim, Rattle, or Lenny's first cycle on Sony are excluded, which for any serious Mahlerian would have to at least be considered. But, hey, it's fun. And you can listen to some recordings you may have been considering for a while.

Mirror Image

I personally couldn't live without the cycles of Bernstein, Bertini, Chailly, Abbado, or Tennstedt. I don't have one "dream" cycle, but all cycles have weak points except for Bertini's cycle, which I consider the most consistent of all them.

knight66

I bought the Universal box and have throughly enjoyed working my way through it. My choice of cycle would prpbably be fairly conventional.

1: The studio Kubelik....see what I mean
2: Mehta Vienna
3: Bertini
4: Horenstein
5: Bernstein
6: Mackerras BBC
7: Sinopoli
8: Wyn Morris
9: Karajan live
10: Gielen
DLVDE Kubelik: live
Ruckert Lieder: Barbirolli
Kindertotemlieder: Walter Ferrier
Knaben Wunderhorn: Wyn Morris
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: Furtwangler Dieskau
Das Klagende Lied: Rozhdestvensky
Songs of Youth: Parsons/Baker

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Mensch on August 06, 2010, 06:06:17 PM
Most you of you may be aware of this already, but DG has a new site honoring Mahler's 150th anniversary. You can listen to nearly the entire Universal Classics Mahler symphony recordings streaming online and create your own dream Mahler cycle.

We had a lengthy discussion about it in the Mahler Rebooted thread:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,683.msg427675.html#msg427675


Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Tsaraslondon

Building a satisfactory Mahler cycle has always been a problem for me. There are always so many factors to consider.

1. The best performance I ever heard was Chailly with the LSO at the Barbican, but his studio recording with the Concertgebouw hasn't been that well received so I'd probably end up with Kubelik (studio).
2. I bought the Rattle after it won the Gramophone award. However I got to know the symphony from Klemperer's studio Philharmonia version. I still prefer his more propulsive tempo for the first movement, so I'll stick with Klemperer.
3. Not sure - maybe one of Abbado's performances.
4. Cleveland, George Szell
5. Barbirolli maybe, though it no longer seems to have the revered status it once held. What's the best alternative?
6. Karajan
7. Not at all sure. Enlighten me someone. I don't know it as well as the other symphonies but I've just bought this month's BBC Magazine which has Gianandrea Noseda conducting it on the covermount CD, with the sole purpose of getting to know the work a little better.
8. Solti for the singing, but again not sure. I'm not a Solti fan normally.
9. Karajan (live)
10. Rattle
DVDLE Kubelik (live) or Haitink (studio), with a regreatful glance at Wunderlich's glorious singing on the Klemperer.
Ruckert Lieder/Kindertotenlieder/Lieder eines fahrenenden Gesellen. Baker/Barbirolli
Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Schwarzkopf/Fischer-Dieskau/Szell
Das klagende Lied - don't know it well enough to say.
Songs of Youth - Baker/Parsons.

See what I mean - still really undecided on quite a few.



\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

MishaK

#5
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on August 07, 2010, 03:15:59 AM
We had a lengthy discussion about it in the Mahler Rebooted thread:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,683.msg427675.html#msg427675


Sarge

Oh, Sarge, that monster thread is so unwieldy. That discussion is now well buried anyway, as I see.  ;)

The "People's Choice" set will probably be quite mainstream as most people expect. I think what's nice about this thing DG is doing is the opportunity to listen to a number of hard to find OOP recordings streaming online, e.g. Ozawa and Dohnyani.

Right now my choices would be:

1. Probably Kubelik. Yes, it's mainstream but extremely hard to beat.
2. Open - undecided as of now. Tending towards Haitink/RCO
3. Open - undecided. Love the Haitink/CSO, but sadly that's not on Universal.
4. Open - undecided. My absolute favorite is Kletzki/Philharmonia but that's on EMI.
5. This is a tie. Kubelik/BRSO, Chailly/RCO and Solti/CSO II (1991 live) are all excellent contenders.
6. Solti/CSO.
7. Probably one of the Abbados. Outside of the limited Universal universe Barenboim would have been my top choice by far.
8. My least favorite Mahler symphony. I do like what Chailly did with this. Will have to listen to a few more before I make up my mind.
9. Haitink/RCO or Ančerl
10. Not enough choices at Universal. Chailly by default,  but Rattle/BPO would have been a superb choice otherwise.

kishnevi

My preferences to date, not confined to the Universal universe (so to speak)
1--Haitink/CSO
2--Bernstein from the DG cycle
3--Gergiev
4--Zinman
5--Levine or Barbirolli
6--Eschenbach or Barbirolli
7--Abbado/BPO
8--Thomas/SFO or Bernstein from the Sony cycle
9--Barenboim or Bernstein from the DG cycle
10--Adagio stand-alone: Gergiev
10--complete: Rattle
DLvdE--Klemperer/Ludwig for the contralto, Bernstein/Fischer-Dieskau for the baritone (although Wunderlich is the best tenor of all the recordings I've heard)
Klagende Lied--Thomas
Knaben Wunderhorn: von Otter/Quasthoff/Abbado for the two singer version; Fischer-Dieskau/Barenboim for the one singer version
Fahrenden Gesellen--Fischer-Dieskau/Barenboim
Kindertotenlieder--Schmidt/Lopez-Cobos
RuckertLieder--either Baker/Barbirolli or Hampson/Bernstein
Piano versions of the song cycles--Gerharer
Songs of Youth--no preference

mjwal

Do they all have to be different conductors? My choice of available recordings (of the symphonic works), but in perfect multi-dimensional sound recreated by a transtemporal computer programme thought up by Professor Challenger in his spare time and only just come to light:
#1: Ancerl CPO (hardly needed restoring  ;D)
#2: Fried BSOO (this restoration is the CR's masterpiece)
#3: Scherchen VSO + Rössl-Majdan
#4: Walter VPO (1950) + Seefried (Walter wins over Mengelberg by a hairpin crescendo because of Seefried)
#5: Schwarz LSO
#6: Mitropoulos NYPO
#7: Horenstein NPO
#8: Stokowski NYPO (live)
#9: Rosbaud SWR
Das Lied von der Erde: Schuricht RCO (live) + Öhmann, Thorborg
You did say "dream" cycle?
The Violin's Obstinacy

It needs to return to this one note,
not a tune and not a key
but the sound of self it must depart from,
a journey lengthily to go
in a vein it knows will cripple it.
...
Peter Porter

DavidRoss

Seems we've done this before.  Most of these choices would probably change on any given day, depending on what I've been listening to lately, but all would certainly remain contenders:

1--Kubelik DGG
2--Bernstein DGG
3--Sinopoli Philharmonia
4--Fischer
5--Bernstein DGG
6--Boulez
7--MTT SFS
8--Nagano
9--MTT
10--Barshai
DLVDE--Boulez? Klemperer? MTT?  (this reminds me that it's been awhile since hearing Haitink with Janet Baker:  must...spin...NOW!)
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher