What can I say....I was listening to CDs for over 25 years exclusively, then married a man who is a vinyl junkie....and when that dollar sale happened in my local vinyl store....I couldn't say no. Got my modest TT just for that ( and an amp+ speakers). I am so, so glad I have my LPs again ....plus some. There are so many good things about them - cover art is certainly an important one. It's never too late to start your own!
Now playing, CD 28: Gustav Mahler – Symphony No.1 in D Major “Titan” Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by J. Haydn Op.56a — New York Philharmonic – Bruno Walter (Masterworks Heritage—Columbia / Sony Classical) I thought I only had Walter's 1961 performance of Mahler's First Symphony, but prompted by the recent discussion of Walter's 1954 performance, I realized that I had a copy of the 1954 performance in Sony's very nice Masterworks Heritage box.
Today I finished acquiring and listening to all of the Mahler symphonies! My favorite and the one I seem to listen to the most is No. 1, right now I am listening to the Solti recording and I also have one by Boult which I do not care for the sonics of. Maybe it is the most accessible Mahler symphony and my favorite will change over time. I am curious what others on this thread would pick as their favorite symphony by Mahler?
I started to get a little into Mahler music a few years ago but still find myself not exactly a big fan since I am not into heavy metal. I have heard folks who love heavy metal really dig Mahler's works ...
I have found that for me 7 8 and 9 are the hardest to get into and probably my three least favorites right now. I enjoy the first six though!
I recommend you listen to his First Symphony. I find it very melodic and direct and less 'heavy metal' than some of his later work.
Cool. I only have a Karajan recording of the Sixth but I like it and am satisfied with both the performance and the sonics!
That was my first M6. I tried and tried but couldn't connect with it. Barbirolli flung the door open wide on first listen.
That's one of the better performances of the 6th in my opinion; Barbirolli's - like many of his performances - is over the top to my ears. Karajan's best Mahler for me is his second version of the 9th. My favourite Mahler conductors in general are (in no particular order) Haitink, Abbado, Karajan, Giulini, Chailly, Boulez, Klemperer, Szell, Kubelík, Walter and maybe Tennstedt and Levine, even though none of them are equally successful in all the Mahler symphonies they recorded. Bernstein isn't among my favourites, but I do acknowledge his pioneering work with Mahler and I do have his complete NYPO Columbia set (now Sony, of course) and a few of his remakes for DG.
Is the Karajan 9th you speak of the 1982 Berlin live recording? That is the one I own and the only one I am familiar with.
It is. His earlier version was recorded the year before and is also excellent in my opinion, but the 1982 live one is even better.
5 (Solti, CSO, 1970), 2 (Abbado, Lucerne), 4 (Reiner, CSO), 3 (Haitink, CSO), 1 (Muti, Philadelphia), 6 (Szell, Cleveland), 7 (Abbado, CSO) , 9 (Boulez, CSO), 8 (Gielen, Frankfurt Opera Orchestra). I have never been interested enough in the 10th to explore the various completions and realizations of it...my feeling is that although it may be close, it's not truly Mahler, so I have avoided it. I have some weird favorites here, I know...the Muti choice is the one I first heard and bought 30 years ago, and it still resonates the most with me. The 8th still gives me fits, hard to wrap my head around it. The 9th is next to last only because I have to be in a special mood to listen to it, it is so deeply powerful...confronting that symphony is not something I can do emotionally with regularity.