[amigomatt]

For anyone interested in a good start to the Mahler symphonies, here are some of my favourites.  I'm quite a Mahler fanatic, so it's not easy to whittle it down to this, but here goes..
 
1st - Kubelik/Bavarian RSO or Bernstein/Concertgebouw
2nd - Kaplan/LSO or Klemperer/Bavarian RSO or Bernstein NYPO (newer DG)
3rd - Chailly/Concertgebouw or Tilson Thomas/LSO (great recording, hard to get hold of now) or Bernstien/NYPO (older CBS) or Czech Philharmonic/Neumann
4th - Horenstein/LPO or Cleveland/Szell
5th - Solti/Chicago SO (older Decca) or Chailly/Concertgebouw or Barbirolli/Philharmonia
6th - Bernstien/VPO (newer DG) or Levine/LSO or Sanderling/St. Petersburg PO or Chailly/Concertgebouw
7th - Abbado/Chicago SO or Boulez/Cleveland O or Tilson Thomas/LSO
8th - Wyn Morris/Symphonica of London (hard to get hold of but amazing) or Solti/Chicago SO or Boulez/Berlin Staatskapelle
9th - Karajan/BPO (later, live version on DG) or Columbia/Walter or Bernstein/BPO (the only performance they ever did together, slightly scrappy playing at times, but white hot intensity)
10th - Rattle/Bournemouth SO or Rattle/BPO or Chailly/Berlin Radio SO
 
There are many more great performances, but I can't imagine anyone not enjoying the ones above.  Every single one of those performances have something amazing about them, IMO.  They all have great recorded sound too, which I think is very important when listening to such complex and massive works.
 
Hope that helps someone!

 

[Copperears]

Btw maybe this is well-known here, but I've noticed Deutsche-Grammophon and Phillips (under Universal?) have basically made their huge library digitally available online, with lots of recent reissues of some classic stuff.....Karajan, Bernstein, Haitink sets, among others.

Some of it is available through iTunes as well.

It's a phenomenal archive both of info and of the history of classical music recording, from the start.

Extremely exciting to have all this without the hiss and distortion we all lived through, and packaging/CD damage, for the past century.

Definitely search on it and look around. Don't be limited by prejudices requiring only the latest in 24/192kHz fidelity; there's a real treasure trove of spectacular performances, recorded well by sound engineers with deep musical understanding from even the earliest days, and any slight inadequacies in even the earliest of these recordings will more than be made up for by the wealth of musical experience being conveyed.

Furtwangler, Kempff, Brendel, Oistrakh.....the list is endless!

Far better in my opinion to spend thousands of dollars on this than yet another, silly, overpriced tube amp and "perfect" DAC update for your system, for vanishingly small improvements in sound quality.

 

[Copperears]

I remember getting Levine's 6th with the LSO when it came out on vinyl.....hated it. Plodding and directionless, plus I've always been disappointed in the LSO's horn section, a real problem for performing Mahler.

 

[perhapss]

  Anyone here listen to more contemporary orchestral music? I'm debating picking up the set of complete symphonies of Alfred Schnittke, on BIS. I've listened to him on and off over the years, and I'm still not sure what to make of him. Enigmatic to me at least. With his disorienting pastiche aesthetic, he typifies postmodern classical.

I'm a huge fan of Contemporary and modern music.
I've also had the BIS Schnittke set of symphonies.
The quality is a bit mixed IMO but worth checking out.
I will say I've not spent much time with his symphonies and really enjoy his concerto Grossos and concertos in general.
 
Schnittke is one of those composers that at some times I'm not exited about but when I'm in the mood he's phenomenal.
Schnittke was a key composer in the later soviet era musical development and represents the peak of Soviet/Russian modernism.
 
Saying all this makes me think I should re-visit those symphonies again....

 

[analogsurviver]

Btw maybe this is well-known here, but I've noticed Deutsche-Grammophon and Phillips (under Universal?) have basically made their huge library digitally available online, with lots of recent reissues of some classic stuff.....Karajan, Bernstein, Haitink sets, among others.

Some of it is available through iTunes as well.

It's a phenomenal archive both of info and of the history of classical music recording, from the start.

Extremely exciting to have all this without the hiss and distortion we all lived through, and packaging/CD damage, for the past century.

Definitely search on it and look around. Don't be limited by prejudices requiring only the latest in 24/192kHz fidelity; there's a real treasure trove of spectacular performances, recorded well by sound engineers with deep musical understanding from even the earliest days, and any slight inadequacies in even the earliest of these recordings will more than be made up for by the wealth of musical experience being conveyed.

Furtwangler, Kempff, Brendel, Oistrakh.....the list is endless!

Far better in my opinion to spend thousands of dollars on this than yet another, silly, overpriced tube amp and "perfect" DAC update for your system, for vanishingly small improvements in sound quality.

Above post must rank among #10 best and most useful ever posts on head-fi.
 
I will post where it is possible to obtain downloads of recordings from German Democratic Republic that were originally issued as LPs on coveted Eterna label - in 192/24. 
 
These recordings excel both in musical as well as technical department, some will leave first time western listeners with jaws dropped  -  all the way.
 
http://www.e-onkyo.com/music/
 
Since there are many references to Mahler, here 1st by my favourite conductor -
Herbert Kegel. VEB Deutsche Schallplatten = ETERNA 
http://www.e-onkyo.com/music/album/kicc9464/
 
You can "easily" navigate trough some of the other great East German releases .

 

[perhapss]

  For anyone interested in a good start to the Mahler symphonies, here are some of my favourites.  I'm quite a Mahler fanatic, so it's not easy to whittle it down to this, but here goes..
 
1st - Kubelik/Bavarian RSO or Bernstein/Concertgebouw
2nd - Kaplan/LSO or Klemperer/Bavarian RSO or Bernstein NYPO (newer DG)
3rd - Chailly/Concertgebouw or Tilson Thomas/LSO (great recording, hard to get hold of now) or Bernstien/NYPO (older CBS) or Czech Philharmonic/Neumann
4th - Horenstein/LPO or Cleveland/Szell
5th - Solti/Chicago SO (older Decca) or Chailly/Concertgebouw or Barbirolli/Philharmonia
6th - Bernstien/VPO (newer DG) or Levine/LSO or Sanderling/St. Petersburg PO or Chailly/Concertgebouw
7th - Abbado/Chicago SO or Boulez/Cleveland O or Tilson Thomas/LSO
8th - Wyn Morris/Symphonica of London (hard to get hold of but amazing) or Solti/Chicago SO or Boulez/Berlin Staatskapelle
9th - Karajan/BPO (later, live version on DG) or Columbia/Walter or Bernstein/BPO (the only performance they ever did together, slightly scrappy playing at times, but white hot intensity)
10th - Rattle/Bournemouth SO or Rattle/BPO or Chailly/Berlin Radio SO
 
There are many more great performances, but I can't imagine anyone not enjoying the ones above.  Every single one of those performances have something amazing about them, IMO.  They all have great recorded sound too, which I think is very important when listening to such complex and massive works.
 
Hope that helps someone!

I see you mentioned Kaplan.
Check out his version with Vienna.
 
Don't read his bio first and you might have a more objective view.....

 

[extrabigmehdi]

For a comprehensive  review of all  cd available for each mahler symphonies,
you have this:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Mahler/index.html
 
Otherwise I do not understand much, why a conductor like anton nanut is overlooked.
 
Probably you'd prefer a condutor with a "big name" .
But according to allmusic.com :
 

While most of his recordings have been found on budget or lesser-known labels over the years,
his work has generally received favorable critical response.

 
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/anton-nanut-mn0000754610
 
 
Anyways ; it's this cd that raised for me some curiosity for Mahler:
 

 
I'm not an "expert" regarding classical music , but I looked at different performance from "big names", and it just wasn't the same.
I liked the tension/ slowness (followed by more "romantic" moments)  in first movement ,
and the closest performance I  could find was Eliahu Inbal.
But Anton nanut performance is more "dramatic", and the recording  with better sound quality.

 

[amigomatt]

I remember getting Levine's 6th with the LSO when it came out on vinyl.....hated it. Plodding and directionless, plus I've always been disappointed in the LSO's horn section, a real problem for performing Mahler.

 
Always been disappointed with the LSO's horn section?  That seems incredible to me, given that it's one of the most notably amazing horn sections in the world.  In fact, the entire brass section are pretty much held in the highest of esteem in terms of their quality of playing.  The big Hollywood soundtracks they play on is more than testament to that for any listener.

  I see you mentioned Kaplan.
Check out his version with Vienna.
 
Don't read his bio first and you might have a more objective view.....

I bought the earlier LSO Kaplan recording when it first came out out of curiosity, completely understanding this scenraio with this guy.  It's a great performance without any doubt.  I have the later VPO version, and have enjoyed that, but still prefer the earlier LSO reading, especially the brass playing (and related to my above comment, the horn section, which on this recording are the only section to do justice to the big fast triplet passages in the last movement, which get lost in every single other reading except this one!).  Also, it's hard to have a truly 'objective' view with such romantic and personal music as Mahler's.  There's too much scope for interpretation for those that are essentially great and varied performances to be definitively right or wrong.

 

[bigshot]

The problem is Levine, not the LSO. Tennstedt did a fine job of Mahler with the LSO.

 

[analogsurviver]

  For a comprehensive  review of all  cd available for each mahler symphonies,
you have this:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Mahler/index.html
 
Otherwise I do not understand much, why a conductor like anton nanut is overlooked.
 
Probably you'd prefer a condutor with a "big name" .
But according to allmusic.com :
 
 
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/anton-nanut-mn0000754610
 
 
Anyways ; it's this cd that raised for me some curiosity for Mahler:
 

+++++
 
I'm not an "expert" regarding classical music , but I looked at different performance from "big names", and it just wasn't the same.
I liked the tension/ slowness (followed by more "romantic" moments)  in first movement ,
and the closest performance I  could find was Eliahu Inbal.
But Anton nanut performance is more "dramatic", and the recording  with better sound quality.

I am delighted to see the name of my countryman conductor mentioned. What is available on recordings is not so good as his latest performances live - despite maestro's Nanut respectable age.
In one of the threads I did post about his 2nd with the orchestra composed out of students of Akademija za glasbo from Ljubljana, Slovenia 
http://www.ag.uni-lj.si/index.php?lang=en&page_id=3812 some three years ago in the great hall of Cankarjev Dom http://www.cd-cc.si/en/ .
That night, 2nd was so fresh and vibrant I have no recollection of similar performance available on commercially available recordings.
National radio RTV Slovenija and myself did two separate recordings - due to multitude of reasons, mine was not succesful, as the permit to record has been given beyond any reasonable time, after the finished rehearsal so that I could only guesstimate where to put the mike just prior to the start of the concert. To top it off, Sony HiMD minidisc recorder, the only thing I could in a hurry grab to record with, decided to malfunction in what is otherwise termed as "nonsurvivable crash" - only thanks to the extreme beyond the call of duty perseverance at the Sony service centre I can thank most of the recording has been salvaged, but approx 5 minutes at the beggining and at the end had to be sacrificed in order to salvage anything at all.  
 
Had the permit been granted in time, I would record with my then top kit and position the mics right - but even so, regardless of subpar recording, sheer performance of the young musicians under the baton of conductor almost 4 times their average age makes up for it.

 

[amigomatt]

The problem is Levine, not the LSO. Tennstedt did a fine job of Mahler with the LSO.

That wasn't the LSO with Tennstedt, it was the LPO

 

[bigshot]

hmmm... gonna have to go check my cds!
 
Just googled... you're right. But a bunch of sites online have gotten it wrong too. Doggone those Londoners and their lookalike orchestra names!

 

[amigomatt]

hmmm... gonna have to go check my cds!

Just googled... you're right. But a bunch of sites online have gotten it wrong too. Doggone those Londoners and their lookalike orchestra names!

Yeah, I don't think tennstedt ever recorded with the LSO. I would have loved to have heard that though!

 

[perhapss]

   
Always been disappointed with the LSO's horn section?  That seems incredible to me, given that it's one of the most notably amazing horn sections in the world.  In fact, the entire brass section are pretty much held in the highest of esteem in terms of their quality of playing.  The big Hollywood soundtracks they play on is more than testament to that for any listener.
I bought the earlier LSO Kaplan recording when it first came out out of curiosity, completely understanding this scenraio with this guy.  It's a great performance without any doubt.  I have the later VPO version, and have enjoyed that, but still prefer the earlier LSO reading, especially the brass playing (and related to my above comment, the horn section, which on this recording are the only section to do justice to the big fast triplet passages in the last movement, which get lost in every single other reading except this one!).  Also, it's hard to have a truly 'objective' view with such romantic and personal music as Mahler's.  There's too much scope for interpretation for those that are essentially great and varied performances to be definitively right or wrong.

I agree with your point on objectivity but I feel a lot of the criticism of Kaplan is seriously biased by critics personal feelings about his background.

 

[amigomatt]

  I agree with your point on objectivity but I feel a lot of the criticism of Kaplan is seriously biased by critics personal feelings about his background.

Great!  I have no criticism of Kaplan at all.  I play music professionally too and his background is the very alluring thing for me!  I can't see how anyone could criticise a man that has done what he has!  That LSO recording is one of my very favourites.