One Mahler box--what should it be?

Started by XB-70 Valkyrie, October 26, 2014, 07:15:43 PM

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XB-70 Valkyrie

I have not listened to much Mahler in the last several years, and some symphonies I have never heard. I want to just get a box and be done with it for now (will have extra time for listening in December). I have some of Bruno Walter's, Solti's, and Abbado's performances, but would like something new. I have my eye on the Tennstedt set on Warner Classics. Any thoughts?

Thanks

SORRY, posted this in the wrong forum!  :-[


If you really dislike Bach you keep quiet about it! - Andras Schiff

kishnevi

#1
Go for broke

Yes, I saw the price but every performance in it is first rate, which can not be said of the EMI/Warner version.  That has a couple of duds, both with the name Rattle attached to them, and relies on historical recordings to a much higher degree. This way you will not be subjected to the vagaries of a single conductor.

If you want a single guy at the helm, Tennstedt is good, and the newer box contains three extra live recordings.  But Sinopoli, Boulez,  Bertini, Haitink....And of course Lenny.  Michael Tilson Thomas is available as a box, but expensive (SACDs).  Were it not for the price, I would put him ahead of the others.

Cosi bel do

#2
I don't think boxes mixing performances are a good idea, because there's always a big probability you're going to buy a few complete sets anyway and end up with the same version twice for several symphonies (but if you still want a complete edition and don't care much for interpretations, then the EMI box is excellent and affordable).

I prefer to recommend one of the best cycles, between Tennstedt (the box with live recordings included) and Bernstein (DG cycle first, if possible the older edition with the lieder included). Klemperer's incomplete EMI box is in my opinion essential, and cheap (on the contrary of other essential partial cycles, as Walter's or Kondrashin's).

So either :


or :


(And preferably both...)

Plus :


Or this, exact same thing :

ritter

Well, approaches to Mahler's music can vary widely from one conductor to another... Some of the conductors you mention in your original post, XB-70 Valkyrie ( e.g.Bernstein), are of the overtly emotional Mahler school, full of angst and sorrow. I tend to favour a much more "objective" approach (as I think those components, being undoubtedly part of the music, do not need further stressing in performance). The two leaders in this field are, in my opinion, the following:

Top choice:
[asin]B004NO5HLG[/asin]
One great composer-conductor approaching the work of another great composer-conductor...and you have everything (the symphonies, Das Lied von der Erde, Das klagende Lied, the song cycles) at a very affordable price and in all-around excellent recordings. Only missing is the performing edition by Cooke of the Tenth (which Boulez does not conduct--you do get the adagio, though). A first choice IMHO (but I'm very pro-Boulez, so cannot be impartial  ;)).

Alternative:
[asin]B000269QUM[/asin]
The Fourth (one of my favourite symphonies) is unfortunately a weak point in this set (as one reviewer in amazon rightly points out). It's a sort of reductio ad absurdum of an "objective" interpretation...



Also,  good set that is almost universally highly regarded is this (even if Bertini is not a household name):

[asin]B000BQ7BX2[/asin]

Regards,


Big David

I'm just bumping this.  I'm thinking of purchasing the Tennstedt box of all the Mahler symphonies and I've just realised there is a box of live performances as well as one recorded in the studio.  Which one would you prefer?

ritter

I only know the studio set by Tennstedt, but from what I've read there's almost unanimity that the live recordings are superior...

Big David

Quote from: ritter on August 04, 2022, 09:31:52 AM
I only know the studio set by Tennstedt, but from what I've read there's almost unanimity that the live recordings are superior...

Thank you.