[HsvHeelFan]

I'm looking for recommendations on which CD to purchase of Mahler's 7th Symphony.

If you have a great sounding recording of a great performance of Mahler 7, please let me know.

Thanks..

HsvHeelFan

[Tyson]

Bertini is great, its part of the complete cycle, but the cycle is all great and wll worth picking up.

[HsvHeelFan]

Bertini is great, its part of the complete cycle, but the cycle is all great and wll worth picking up.

Thanks Tyson.  I'll check that out.

HsvHeelFan

[blackzarg]

I'm a very big fan of MTT/SFS. There have been some people irked by the interpretation, but the playing is top notch, as is the SACD surround channel. You can pick it up on Amazon for fairly cheaply!

[pheesama]

I find Simon Rattle very good: with City of Burmingham Symphony Orchestra

[blackzarg]

I'll second the Bertini set - it's probably one of the most consistent Mahler cycles recorded, not to mention my favorite of the Third. I too am very partial to MTT/SFS (as I live in the area!), but I think he did a spectacular job on the Seventh with the London Symphony a few years back.

[canzld]

Bernstein- NYSC
Haitink -Concertgebouw

[sneezingdog]

Look here for some interesting commentary: http://www.musicweb-international.com/Mahler/Mahler7.htm. I've got the Abbado recording with the Chicago Symphony and enjoy it very much.

[Tyson]

Abbado, Rattle, and MTT are all good, but I think Bertini is a bit better.

[rklein]

I have recordings of the 7th conducted by Klemperer, Neumann, Abbado, Bernstein and Solti along with Maazel, Inbal, Horenstein, Levine and Boulez.  These are either recorded sessions or live performances.  I have to say that Tilson Thomas conducting the London Symphony along with Boulez conducting The Cleveland Orchestra are my favorite.  For pure audio enjoyment, Tilson Thomas with San Francisco(Hybrid SACD).

Thanks,

Randy

[rklein]

I was curious regarding the boxed set of Mahler's symphonies(including the 10th along with Das Lied von der Erde) recorded by the late Gary Bertini and the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra based on Tyson's recommendation.  As I stated, I have many recordings of Mahler.  However, after reading more about Bertini and these recordings it seems a no brainer to pick up the whole set for only $69!  I look forward to hearing them.

As a side note...I have also played most of these symphonies with various symphony orchestras.  I did have the pleasure, while still a student, of getting to play Mahler's 4th and 5th Symphonies back in the late 70's, with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado and Klaus Tenstedt respectively.

Thanks,

Randy

[Tyson]

Holy cow Randy, that's AWESOME!

[Foolish Pleasure]

The 7th has always been a difficult symphony to tie together, Mahler's most problematic.  I have always heard it as a set of environments that must be presented with a unifying style, rather than with the inexorable logic and emotion of Symphonies 2, 5, 9.

I’ve dumped some 7s that failed to accomplish this: Kubelik/Bavarian RSO/DGG, Horenstein, and Tennstedt/LPO/EMI and kept others.  Klemperer/New Philharmonic/EMI, Solti/Chicago/Decca - neither of these was completely satisfactory – each showing insights, but leaving one unsettled.

Judging by the recommendations here, I assumed the available catalog had changed significantly since I did most of my Mahler collecting, and jumping over to Amazon, I see that is the case.  I would have never suspected, nor considered Michael Tilson-Thomas to be a Mahlerian (ducking brickbats).  So I listened to some clips on the Internet.  It would be ridiculous to judge a complete performance based on short clips, but my impression of the miking is that it is more distant to the orchestra than my recommended recording.

Ricardo Chailly/ Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/London would be my recommendation to combine performance with sound.  Slightly closer miking enables the listener to hear more three dimensionally into the orchestra, especially in the night music passages, picking up details and evoking nature.  He seems to bring the sort of unity to the composition described in the first paragraph.  Unfortunately it is now only available as a premium price out-of-print find (on Amazon, $32 and $43) or as part of a Mahler Symphony set – which wouldn’t be a bad idea if your library craves one cohesive survey.

Another interesting one is Boulez/Cleveland/DGG, who, I think because of his experience with French impressionist recordings, brings out the mysticism of the night music sections.

I fear we’ll never get the sense of completion from the 7th that we get from the soaring triumphalism of the 2nd or the resolution of anguish and pain that we get from the 9th, but I’ll keep my ears open for even better 7ths.