[nealric]

Since the forum seems to have a lot of Mahler fans, I wanted to see what people's thoughts were on his 10th. 
 
I initially disliked Mahler. After several listens, I eventually came to love all of Mahler 1-9 (I have the CSO set). The problem was that it took me a while to hear the structure- I didn't initially get what it was all about. Once I finally heard it, I was awed.
 
I was reading about the unfinished 10th and was intrigued to find it had been completed by others after his death. I picked up a recording of the Cooke version, and I'm having trouble getting into it. Symphonies 1-9 seem to present a profound struggle. All I'm hearing out of the 10th is aimless wandering punctuated by climaxes that don't seem to fit. 
 
Am I just not hearing the structure, or is the 10th just not up to par without Mahler completing it himself? Are there better editions to listen to?

 

[Doc Sarvis]

Well, the one movement that is actually by Mahler is the Adagio.  You are discovering why many conductors refused to acknowledge the 10th (except the adagio) as part of the Mahler canon.

 

[nealric]

Hmm... so I guess the consensus is that it's not up to the standard of greatness. I may keep working on it. I want to be able to like it. 

 

[zumaro]

I think it is hard to comment upon the greatness of a work of which only 2 movements were completed by Mahler himself. I would think from what I have read, that the critical opinion of the work is very high however, whatever the merits of the various performing versions might be, or even the ethics of playing it in this state. My own opinion is what there is of the work shows a composer at the continued height of his powers, with the opening Adagio being one of the best things he wrote. Most would reasonably assume that a Mahler completion of the symphony would have been much better than the bare bones initial Cooke realization of the score, but it is still a formidable work even in this form. Other completions play around with the orchestration and inner lines to try to make it sound more idiomatic - Cooke himself continued to work on the score even. Whether any improve things is pretty much open to debate.
 
Not sure which version you are listening to, but the 2nd Rattle recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, is an obvious choice, but I also like the Gielen and Chailly versions. All make a good case for the work.