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This is what I hate about record companies and explains why they're in trouble: this has been done, and done superbly on BIS. These retouchings are not going to attract casual listeners; only specialists and real music collectors who probably already have the fine BIS versions. With so much interesting and good music still not available, I wish they would spend their time on something else.

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I think with much of the music industry owned by HUGE companies, if they do put out music, they want music that will sell. Sad to say.

Is this the BIS recording(s) you refer to?

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...1&comp_id=2722
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...1&comp_id=2724

Those are the ones, and they're great -- if you can accept at the outset the changes, which frequently do clean up the texture, and some of them were adopted by many conductors over the last 100 years. The worst thing Mahler did was to excise a significant number of bars near the end of #2: it's a wonderful passage of harmonic changes that apparently Mahler thought slowed down the coda too much, so he took the cut. Very unfortunate.

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I'd probably want to spend more time with Schumman's material before I dive into the Mahler re-orchestration anyway. Didn't also do this with Beethoven's 9th?

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Good lord, didn't that man accomplish enough in his relatively short life?

Besides Opera Conductor, Composer, he was also a remix artist? Next we'll find out he wrote a book.

I heard the CSO do the Mahler 2 a week ago (3/17) with MTT conducting. Pretty good performance. I found MTT's tempos to be glacial at times. particularly in the first movement (but in spots in other movements as well), which to my ears somewhat destroyed the flow of the line... and this coming from someone who likes the Abbado/CSO 1977 recording alot, which DA considers to be too slow (at least the 5th movement).

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was the mezzo, and was absolutely outstanding... Ulricht sounded as good (if not better) than I have ever heard it. The offstage brass/etc. was a bit ragged in the 5th movement, but all in all, the orchestral playing was very good. Best money I've spent in quite some time...

Chris

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He may not have written a book, but he also re-wrote Bach and Bruckner. I guess he had his own personal vision of everything, and it was his way or the highway.

If you are interested in his Bach, just get the Chailly M3; the filler on the 2nd cd is his orchestration/arrangement of the Bach Suites.

Mahler's Bach (on the Chailly Mahler 3 disc) did nothing for me, I'm sorry to say. Also did not care for Chailly's Mahler 3, for that matter. It went off to eBay.

Also did not care for Chailly's flashy, detailed Mahler 9. It went off to eBay.

Also did not care for Tilson Thomas's Mahler 9. Fantastic recording of a boring, creamy-rich rendition. It went off to eBay.

eBay is handy.

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Origen
How about a list of your favorite Mahler performances for each symphony, be interested in your picks.....here is my latest:
Mahler List

Here you go. Please note that I have not heard nearly as many Mahler recordings as you have, including many of the ones in your lists of top 5 faves. But I'd be thrilled to find I like any others I hear in the future more than the ones I currently rank as my personal favorites:

Top Mahler list by Symphony

1) Horenstein/Nonesuch (Unicorn)

2) Kaplan/DG (but haven't heard very many)

3) Zander/Telarc

4) Klemperer/Angel [Honorable mention Tilson Thomas/SFS]

5) Solti/MHS

6) Barbirolli/EMI *TIE* Zander/Telarc

7) Bernstein/DG

8) Abravanel/Everyman (but haven't heard very many)

9) Horenstein/BBC Legends [Honorable mention Bernstein-Berliner DG not from the cycle]

10) Wigglesworth/BBC Music

I just noticed that only Horenstein and Zander (in a tie) and Bernstein (if you count an honorable mention) get two bests from me. It's a wonderful situation to have so many excellent performances to choose from.

It would be fun to get a few more lists of favorite Mahlers. I will definitely check out some of your recommendations, DA.

DA,

I'm surprised the list has lasted so long! I would like to say that Bertini's M7 is probably my favorite at this point as much for the wonderful sound quality as his grasp of the architecture.

Earlier tonight I turned on the tv (Discovery HD Theater -- BBC Proms 2002) and there was Simon Rattle conducting the M8 with what appeared to be a student orchestra and a chorus of thousands.

Unfortunately the sound quality was really awful even when run through my home theater surround sound system. The soloists were drowned out by the orchestra and the individual instrumental solo passages were also inaudible. I guess the BBC had problems with the mikes or something.

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My favorite Bertini performances from set were 5,7.......too bad many Caiman bargain sets are missing M7

I am puzzled with so many Bertini sets purchased there is a dead silence here on Mahler thread with almost no discussion of them. The sound quality is excellent for entire Bertini set, and although Bertini's Mahler more objective style is not my preference for Mahler he does it much better than other "objectivist" conductors like Gielen, MTT, Boulez etc

Origen
I would look into getting a used Bernstein/Sony and/or Solti/London complete Mahler set at Amazon......these are more emotional, dramatic Mahler style which sounds like you might like.

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Is there a complete London set? or is it our of print now?

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DA: I am going to have to disagree with you about Bertini vs. Boulez. I don't fault the conducting or playing on the Bertini set, but I don't think that Bertini had quite the same program relative to Mahler as Boulez does. Also, I think that Bertini could get the emotion and the drama in there when necessary; however, I cannot see Boulez being able to do that effectively. For me, I see Bertini as a literalist, i.e., the score and the intention of the composer; on the other hand, Boulez seems more interested in clarity for the purposes of deconstructing the score. I prefer, on an intellectual level, the latter approach.

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Amazon has it in stock both new and used:
Solti