Mahler Mania, Rebooted

[vers la flamme]

I'm curious to explore a few Mahler conductors that I'm not altogether familiar with... if anyone out there has enough time on their hands and wants to help me with this, what are a few essential Mahler recordings of, and general thoughts on, the following conductors?

Klaus Tennstedt
Simon Rattle
Riccardo Chailly
Rafael Kubelík

Finally, are there any great Mahlerian conductors that I should check out that I didn't name here? Some of those I already like are Bernstein, Klemperer, Walter & Haitink, and to a lesser extent Abbado, Barbirolli & Boulez. Part of me wants to get another cycle of the symphonies, but I wonder if any of them are consistent enough to justify getting the whole set.

Thanks much in advance to anyone willing to indulge me here. 

[Mahlerian]

I'm curious to explore a few Mahler conductors that I'm not altogether familiar with... if anyone out there has enough time on their hands and wants to help me with this, what are a few essential Mahler recordings of, and general thoughts on, the following conductors?

Klaus Tennstedt

Check out his live 6th and 2nd on BBC classics. Sound quality isn't wonderful, but the performances are as intense as any you'll find.

[some guy]

Kubelik's fifth was the first Mahler I heard and liked. It's what got me hooked.

For what it's worth.

I recently (in the past decade or so) found Gielen's recordings of Mahler's ninth and fourth to be very impressive. These are two Mahler symphonies I've never really liked all that much. In Gielen's performances, they not only make total sense but come across as quite obviously likeable. I found his sixth and seventh, however (the only two others of his that I've heard), to be quite unpalatable. But since Bernstein has done impeccable recordings of both, it mattereth not one whit.

I have yet to hear a recording or a performance of Rattle that I enjoy. And I generally like everything that Abbado did. Well, except for that disagreement with Hélène Grimaud. But that's as may be. He was a fine conductor.

For me, it's Abbado for the first, Haitink for the 2nd and 3rd, Gielen for the 4th, Kubelik for the 5th, Bernstein for the 6th and 7th, and Gielen for the ninth.

[Cato]

Is this Bernstein/LSO No. 8 the same one in the DG box set since they never recorded that symphony, they used a pre-existing or live performance for the box set but which performance?

The cover above is the one on the Columbia LP with the London Symphony.

The track listing (Amazon) for the Bernstein DG Mahler 8 in the box set has the orchestra as the Vienna Philharmonic plus three Viennese choirs. One of the reviews states that the performance is the 'almost identical' to the one in the Vienna DVD cycle

[JBS]

I'm curious to explore a few Mahler conductors that I'm not altogether familiar with... if anyone out there has enough time on their hands and wants to help me with this, what are a few essential Mahler recordings of, and general thoughts on, the following conductors?

Klaus Tennstedt
Simon Rattle
Riccardo Chailly
Rafael Kubelík

Finally, are there any great Mahlerian conductors that I should check out that I didn't name here? Some of those I already like are Bernstein, Klemperer, Walter & Haitink, and to a lesser extent Abbado, Barbirolli & Boulez. Part of me wants to get another cycle of the symphonies, but I wonder if any of them are consistent enough to justify getting the whole set.

Thanks much in advance to anyone willing to indulge me here. 

Abbado; the 7th with Berlin, I think one of the best Mahler recordings ever done. Some prefer the 7th he did at Chicago. The Second he did at Chicago is very good., but the one he did at Vienna is horrible (I think) and the one from Lucerne is meh. The Chicago can be found coupled with a good Fourth.

Tennstedt: there's a set with the full cycle and three live performances as extras (including the two Mahlerian posted). I think the whole set is good.

Chailly: pick any, they are all good.

Kubelik: same

Rattle: what Some Guy said, but qualified by an above average 10th.

Four Ninths by conductors you didn't mention: Zinman, Barenboim, Levine with the Munich Philharmonic,  Maderna with the BBC Symphony

Two sets I think are good throughout by conductors not always mentioned are Inbal and Nott.

[Alek Hidell]

I kind of OD'd on Mahler a while back and haven't revisited much lately, but Rattle's CBSO recording of the Second is my favorite recording of that work (it's Alex Ross' desert-island choice too, or at least it was a few years back).

I recall liking Chailly's Fifth, and I believe it's generally well-regarded.

I have the Kubelik set but I don't think I've heard any of it after the Third (his First is excellent).

One great Mahlerian (and speaking of which: welcome back, Mahlerian! ) I haven't seen mentioned here lately is Horenstein. He didn't record an entire cycle (lacking the Second and Fifth, IIRC) but what he did record is very good. His Third is a classic, of course, and his First is also quite fine. I remember less of the others I've heard but I recall also liking his Fourth.

vers la flamme, you might also check out the Bertini cycle. He's kind of an obscure conductor but his set is very solid - just nice and consistent. And then there's also Michael Tilson Thomas, whose SFSO cycle is consistently solid and in very fine sound (though also quite pricey if you buy the box set). His Third in that set is my favorite, and outside that cycle he also did a very good Seventh with the LSO.

[Cato]

I'm curious to explore a few Mahler conductors that I'm not altogether familiar with... if anyone out there has enough time on their hands and wants to help me with this, what are a few essential Mahler recordings of, and general thoughts on, the following conductors?

Klaus Tennstedt
Simon Rattle
Riccardo Chailly
Rafael Kubelík

Finally, are there any great Mahlerian conductors that I should check out that I didn't name here? Some of those I already like are Bernstein, Klemperer, Walter & Haitink, and to a lesser extent Abbado, Barbirolli & Boulez. Part of me wants to get another cycle of the symphonies, but I wonder if any of them are consistent enough to justify getting the whole set.

Thanks much in advance to anyone willing to indulge me here. 

I know that I have mentioned Leopold Ludwig in previous years: the sound may not be the highest quality, but the power and attention to detail come through.

Unfortunately, only a CD with the Ninth Symphony seems to be available.

[asin]B00EB1QXE6[/asin]

[Herman]

Maybe it's good, when listing conductors, to divide them into two camps.

There are conductors who are into making beautiful music out of Mahler, and there are conductors who are into unleashing the drama inherent in the music. It goes back to the ur-opposition between Klemperer and Walter. You can figure out which approach you prefer and focus on those conductors.

From what I know, Tennstedt focuses on the drama first. Abbado is more about creating a beautiful orchestral picture.

The downside, of course, is that in the recording studio all conductors tend to move towards the beautiful end. So Haitink live belongs to the drama camp, but in the studio he was pushed towards the beautiful camp.

[Biffo]

Kubelik would be my top choice for a complete cycle; his Nos 1 & 6 are my top choices for those works. He did a fine live Das Lied von der Erde with Janet Baker and Waldemar Kmentt.

Chailly's cycle with the Concertgebouw is uniformly good but none of them would be a first choice except perhaps No 8 but that is my own idiosyncratic taste. The sound quality is excellent and there are also some interesting couplings (there was with the individual issues.

Not enamoured at all with Tennstedt.

Rattle is variable, Nos 3 & 7 are the pick of the cycle. I thought his No 2 over-hyped. I heard him conduct No 6 twice and was impressed, less so with his CBSO recording.

[André]

I know that I have mentioned Leopold Ludwig in previous years: the sound may not be the highest quality, but the power and attention to detail come through.

Unfortunately, only a CD with the Ninth Symphony seems to be available.

[asin]B00EB1QXE6[/asin]

Ludwig's M9 is one of my top three versions, along with Maderna BBC and Walter Columbia Symphony. Very lucid, unsentimental, direct, unvarnished. Possibly the most classically symphonic reading I've heard.

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm curious to explore a few Mahler conductors that I'm not altogether familiar with...

Chailly's cycle with the Concertgebouw is uniformly good but none of them would be a first choice except perhaps No 8 but that is my own idiosyncratic taste.

I agree with Biffo about Chailly. None save the 8th is an absolute first choice for me but his cycle as a whole is, along with Bernstein/Sony/DG and Maazel/Vienna, my favorite because his interpretations are nearly always very individual.

I have around 20 to 30 recordings of each symphony, Keeping the list down to three per, these are my picks:

1

Honeck/Pittsburgh
Maazel/Vienna
Bernstein/Concertgebouw (DG)

2

Kaplan/Vienna (brings out details like the col legno effect in the first movement like no other conductor)
Maazel/Vienna
Bernstein/New York (DG)

3

Horenstein/LSO
Haitink/Concertgebouw
Bernstein/New York (Sony)

4

Maazel/Vienna with Battle
Szell/Cleveland with Raskin
Boulez/Cleveland with Banse

5

Dohnányi/Cleveland
Chailly/Concertgebouw
Neumann/Gewandhaus

6

Solti/Chicago
Szell/Cleveland
Bernstein/Vienna (DG)

7

Klemperer/Philarmonia
Maazel/Vienna
Bernstein/New York (Sony)

8

Chailly/Concertgebouw
Ozawa/Boston
Sinopoli/Philarmonia

9

Karajan/Berlin
Haitink/Concertgebouw
Levine/Munich

10

Levine/Philadelphia
Ormandy/Philadelphia
Barshai/Junge Deutsche Phil

[vers la flamme]

Wow, there are some serious Mahler heads here, to put my comparatively minuscule collection to shame 

I should have known better than to ask such an open ended question. Now, I have more suggestions to work through than I can wrap my head around. That being said, a few of these jump out at me as something that I should hear ASAP...: Tennstedt/LPO live 2 (and possibly 6), Horenstein 3, Chailly 8, Kubelik/Audite Das Lied (been recommended to me so many times I've lost count).

I also ordered the Haitink/Berlin Mahler 3 because I found a copy for cheap. Any fans of this? I liked what I heard. It seems Mahler 3 was something of a signature work for Haitink. He's recorded it at least four times, if not more. I really wanted the Concertgebouw 3, the old one, but couldn't find it anywhere.

[MusicTurner]

You seem less interested in historical recordings, but for some very different Mahler performances compared to the previous suggestions (and probably in line with the degree of performance creativity of Mahler's own conducting age), try Scherchen - often frantic, exaggerated, sweeping, ebb-and-flow Mahler like you haven't heard it before:

- Symphony 6 / Leipzig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE34RHaIN1o
- Symphony 5 / Philadelphia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbUDZN5zHo8
- Symphony 7 / Toronto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIQMuf8Z3MI
- Symphony 1 / Vienna, mono https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epbz1tyA3Z0
- Symphony 2 / Vienna, stereo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf00l3cG3mw


Also: Maderna recordings, likewise sometimes creative sadly often has poor sound,
but this 5 has OK sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIEfGLVe23w

Mitropoulos for example has some of the same feverish traits, but the sound tends to be poor. Here's a 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHBE14AHex8

and of course early Walter and Mengelberg's recordings whereas Fried's have really bad sound and Adler is less eccentric.

Kondrashin has an intense 9, which I like for its condensed style, almost classicist, less brooding and dragged out, making the work a less depressing experience than it can be at times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRKuheTfHy0

Rögner has a very fine 3, where he does peculiar things in the 4th movement 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRS2qq2FKkw&list=OLAK5uy_kmR_nv0qt3uuyhmw7nu7v4ckuqTkYR5zE&index=16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOY8xa6Q6Po&list=OLAK5uy_kmR_nv0qt3uuyhmw7nu7v4ckuqTkYR5zE&index=17

[Biffo]

You seem less interested in historical recordings, but for some very different Mahler performances compared to the previous suggestions (and probably in line with the degree of performance creativity of Mahler's own conducting age), try Scherchen - often frantic, exaggerated, sweeping, ebb-and-flow Mahler like you haven't heard it before:

- Symphony 6 / Leipzig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE34RHaIN1o
- Symphony 5 / Philadelphia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbUDZN5zHo8
- Symphony 7 / Toronto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIQMuf8Z3MI
- Symphony 1 / Vienna, mono https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epbz1tyA3Z0
- Symphony 2 / Vienna, stereo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf00l3cG3mw


Also: Maderna recordings, likewise sometimes creative sadly often has poor sound,
but this 5 has OK sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIEfGLVe23w

Mitropoulos for example has some of the same feverish traits, but the sound tends to be poor. Here's a 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHBE14AHex8

Kondrashin has an intense 9, which I like for its condensed style, almost classicist, less brooding and dragged out, making the work a less depressing experience than it can be at times https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRKuheTfHy0

Rögner has a very fine 3, where he does peculiar things in the 4th movement 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRS2qq2FKkw&list=OLAK5uy_kmR_nv0qt3uuyhmw7nu7v4ckuqTkYR5zE&index=16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOY8xa6Q6Po&list=OLAK5uy_kmR_nv0qt3uuyhmw7nu7v4ckuqTkYR5zE&index=17

I second Mitropoulos but for No 6 with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne - the most heart-rending performance I know. It has been available in the Great Conductors of the 20th Century series, not sure if it is still around.

[aukhawk]

I really wanted the Concertgebouw 3, the old one, but couldn't find it anywhere.

At that vintage Bernstein's NYPO Mahler 3 outshines all others.  Still my favourite nearly 60 years on.

[André]

+ 1 for the Horenstein and Rögner 3rd - my favourites, followed by Haitink COA.

In the 4th symphony I cherish 4 old recordings, all in quite good sound:

Karel Sejna (Czech Philharmonic - extraordinary winds - with Maria Tauberova). From 1950, Supraphon studio recording.
Karl Rankl (Wiener Symphoniker, Sena Jurinac). Live, 1954. Excellent mono broadcast sound. Available on Guild.
Willem van Otterloo (Hague Philharmonic, recorded in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, with Teresa Stich-Randall - fabulous). 1956, Decca-Philips-Epic.
Hans Swarowsky (Czech Philharmonic, Gerlinde Lorenz), 1972 Supraphon.

The Rankl and van Otterloo versions are my favourites, bar none. I recall with fondness the Solti Concertgebouw version (Sylvia Stahlman, 1961 Decca) but have not listened to it in decades, so maybe I'd change my mind about it, as I am not a fan of Solti in Mahler.

[vers la flamme]

Thoughts on Nagano's Mahler 3, anyone?



@MusicTurner, I do appreciate the suggestions, but I think I am less interested in historical recordings at this juncture, or at least pre-'50s. Mahler just doesn't sound good to my ears in mono, unfortunately. I suspect that will change, eventually. I have however been looking at a recording by Mitropoulos with the NYPO of the 6th, from the mid '50s:

[MusicTurner]

@MusicTurner, I do appreciate the suggestions, but I think I am less interested in historical recordings at this juncture, or at least pre-'50s. Mahler just doesn't sound good to my ears in mono, unfortunately. I suspect that will change, eventually. I have however been looking at a recording by Mitropoulos with the NYPO of the 6th, from the mid '50s:

(...)

Yes. Note however that Rögner, Kondrashin and Scherchen 2 are stereos, Rögner has excellent sound.

[vers la flamme]

Yes. Note however that Rögner, Kondrashin and Scherchen 2 are stereos, Rögner has excellent sound.

OK, thanks. My interest in them has now effectively doubled. 

Honestly, though, I'd never heard of Rögner. And I didn't know Kondrashin did Mahler. I like his Shostakovich a lot, what I've heard of it.

[JBS]

Thoughts on Nagano's Mahler 3, anyone?



@MusicTurner, I do appreciate the suggestions, but I think I am less interested in historical recordings at this juncture, or at least pre-'50s. Mahler just doesn't sound good to my ears in mono, unfortunately. I suspect that will change, eventually. I have however been looking at a recording by Mitropoulos with the NYPO of the 6th, from the mid '50s:

I have Nagano's 8th and some of his Bruckner, and based on that, probably this is a good one. But I haven't heard this recording.

Mitropoulos is good but the sound can be, let's say, not great.   What I have is again not that precise recording, but this set. The 6th is from Cologne.



Only purchase I ever made from a post in the Ugly CD Covers thread.   My set is now listed by Amazon as completely unavailable.
This listing may be the same group of recordings, but Amazon has too little information to be sure.
[asin]B00008LLCD[/asin]