Favorite Mahler Symphony?

[kishnevi]

Jimmy conducted the Ninth here at Symphony, and it was a wonderful evening of music.

His recording of the Ninth with the Munich Philharmonic (on Oehms) is one of my favorite recordings of that symphony.  I'm fairly sure it was Sarge who alerted me to the excellence of that performance.

[classicalgeek]

The Second, as it's always been, though I love them all.  Although I had already heard the First and Fifth on recordings, it was hearing Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony do the Second in 1989 at Symphony Hall that made me fall completely in love with Mahler's music.  Which I still am nearly 24 years later...

[Lisztianwagner]

Symphony No.6 for me, what an absolutely pasisonate, thrilling and hauntingly beautiful work!

[RebLem]

Its #2, the Resurrection for me.  I used to be fascinated by the Klemperer and Bernstein recordings, both of  them very good, and interpretive opposites.  Klemperer seemed to minimize the differences in dynamics and tempos to make it one, long, unified, granitic work.  Bernstein seemed to  think the main problem was maintaining interest through such a long work, and he chose to do so by exaggerating tempo and dynamic changes.  I have loved them both, though Bernstein's British one with the LSO, Janet Baker and Sheila Armstrong is the best of his three recordings of the work.

Since those early acquaintances when I first started collecting in earnest in the early 1970's, I have learned to love others as well.  Among the best are Kubelik and Segerstam.  If you're only going to have once cycle of the Mahler symphonies, the Kubelik, in my opinion, is the one to get, though I own well over 20 cycles.

[NorthNYMark]

I've been listening to Mahler--really for the first time--throughout the summer, and have been enjoying his work immensely.  At this point, though, I would really have a hard time choosing a favorite symphony, in part because I haven't fully familiarized myself with all of them, and in part because they each seem like such stylistic  collages (except, perhaps, for the more unified 4th) that I'd probably have to choose favorite individual movements rather than entire works.  If forced to choose, though, I'd probably lean in the direction of the 5th, 7th, or 9th, perhaps because I gravitate toward the darker, more tragic moods I perceive in those symphonies (though they are rarely maintained throughout the entire work).  Number one is a bit too folksy, number 6 a bit too jauntily martial, number 8 too operatic, and nos. 2 and 3 a bit too sprawling for me to name any of them as a standout favorite, although there are qualities I admire in each of them, and my judgment may well change as I get to know them better.  Number 4 is an odd one for me, in that really enjoy it almost more than I think I should, as I don't normally respond to such cheery, Haydnesque work, but something about it just draws me in, at least until the somewhat anticlimactic (IMO) vocal song at the end.  It's almost like my favorite work among those whose style I wouldn't expect to favor.

Frankly, one of the things I like about Mahler's work is precisely the qualities that make it so hard to choose a favorite symphony--like the Klimt paintings and Art Nouveau designs that so often grace the covers of Mahler recordings, his music seems to twist and turn in upon itself, constantly transmogrifying its forms and colors, keeping listeners off balance and reframing their expectations.

[madaboutmahler]

Easy pick for me: Symphony No. 7. Here's why I picked it (as I wrote on another forum):

There's something different about his 7th. Many complain about the finale being too 'joyous' but I think this is musical irony at it's best (think of the type of feeling in the last movement of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5). There is something incredible distraught and downright eerie about this particular symphony. The Scherzo reminds of a person on horseback with a latern riding through a haunted graveyard with some caskets that have been dug up and the skeletons are just lying around. Such a morbid movement and the rest of the symphony has a similar type of feeling throughout. You get the feeling that Mahler's mind was slipping a bit during writing this symphony.

Agree with everything you say here, John! Not so long ago, I would have said 6 within a second, but 7 has after repeated listens recently has become one I hold dearest. I love them all of course, and would be happy to say either 6 or 9, but 7 it is for now!

Let's ask Daniel (MadaboutMahler) this question and see what he says and how many times he changes his mind.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Erde!!!

[Jay F]

Today it is 6. It is nearly always 6. It is so...perfect. But 7 can be sneaky, and so can 2 (I found a copy of the more recent Ozawa in a stack of CDs I didn't know I had, and liked it; and then the Boulez!). They're pretty much in a tie for first place, followed by 3.

Today it is 6. I loved it the first time I heard it, and had to have more. It is simply one of the perfect things in the universe.

[Cato]

No love for the Tenth?

Even as a hybrid, or as a one-movement fragment, the work is very strong.  I followed Cooke's versions throughout the years, and have a copy of the score for the original performing version from the early 1960's.   

Did anybody have it as a second or third choice?

[Jay F]

No love for the Tenth?

Even as a hybrid, or as a one-movement fragment, the work is very strong.  I followed Cooke's versions throughout the years, and have a copy of the score for the original performing version from the early 1960's.   

Did anybody have it as a second or third choice?

I like it, but not as a second or third choice. And because of the way I imprinted on it (Bernstein's Sony 3-CD set with 7 and 9), when it pops up (first movement only), I think I'm listening to the end of 9 (the other last movement).

I'm surprised so many people have voted for the Sixth, incidentally. I didn't think it was anyone else's favorite besides Sarge's.

[Maestro267]

No. 2. The most epic symphonic journey you can go on in music.

[shell]

6th for me, although there are several others I listen to more often--6th is a little intense for regular listening. I might've picked Das Lied over all the numbered ones if it had been an option.

[jochanaan]

The one I listened to last.  Or the one that's currently playing inside my head; there's often one of them there.

But I voted for #8.  Yes, I said it and will say it again; #8 has a "pride of place" in my heart since it was the first I heard, but for other reasons as well.

But then there is #6.  Aside from its catastrophic, cathartic nature, it is also Mahler's most "classical" symphony, even more so than #4.

And of course, #3...

[jochanaan]

Related question: How many Mahler symphonies have we heard live? Mahler is one of those composers whose music is best experienced live, since recordings, however well made, mostly do not give listeners the sense of the work's scale.

I have heard #1 through #7 live at various times.  I've played #1 and #4.

[Jay F]

Related question: How many Mahler symphonies have we heard live?

I have heard #1 through #7 live at various times.  I've played #1 and #4.

All but 1, 4, and (my favorite) 6. I've heard 2 twice and 3 three times, so I should have heard 6 six times.

[Sergeant Rock]

Related question: How many Mahler symphonies have we heard live?

I've heard them all live, plus Klagende Lied:

1 Lane/Cleveland; Maazel/Vienna
2 ?/Rheinland Pfalz; Ormandy/Cleveland; Järvi/Frankfurt
3 Chailly/Leipzig
4 Maazel/Cleveland
5 Bamert/Cleveland; Welser-Möst/Cleveland; Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin
6 Szell/Cleveland; Abbado/Cleveland; Maazel/Cleveland; Sergerstam/Rheinland-Pfalz
7 Tennstedt/Cleveland; Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin
8 Boulez/Staatskapelle Berlin
9 Haitink/Cleveland; Pesek/Royal Liverpool
10 Harding/Vienna
Klagende Lied Boulez/Cleveland

I can't recall who the conductor was when I heard the Second performed in the Rosengarten in Mannheim in 1975. That concert was my first date with the future Mrs. Rock. My memory of her that evening is razor sharp; the music, not so much 

Sarge

[vandermolen]

My favourites are 1,5,6 and 9 plus the great Adagio of No. 10.

[amw]

Having now completed a circuit of 1 through 10 (one movement version), my thoughts:

- Adagio of No. 3
- Adagio of No. 4
- Scherzo and Finale of No. 5
- No. 8
- Adagio of No. 9
- Adagio of No. 10

... hmm.

Also have to say No. 6 has stuck in my memory best out of all of them, though I don't have much patience to listen through the whole thing; random marchy bits of the outer movements will pop into my head in time with background noises. (It feels like the piece should go a lot faster than most people conduct it, like... <20' + 12' + 12' + 25'ish or so... but True Mahlerians™ seem to disagree.) I do think it's the best non-adagio finale of any Mahler symphony. However the Andante moderato is... um... boring. Hate to say it

5 is probably the one I'm going to be most inclined to listen to in the future, but it's too obvious an answer. I'll go with 8 since no one loves it and it's lonely :c

[jochanaan]

...I'll go with 8 since no one loves it and it's lonely :c

More love for A Thousand!

[Luke]

The ones in the 3x table. I split the difference and went with 6, but 3 and 9 would do it fine too.