It's a symphony that has always bewitched me, but it does require a special way to bring out all its aching (and often ugly) beauty.
I learned the work through Ancerl/CPO, went on to buy Klemperer/PO and Barbirolli/BPO. Listening to the latter again recently, I was struck by the way my concentration wandered mid-way through the 1st Movement, how the timpani sounded more like muffled bongos, and how harshly sibilant the cymbal crashes sounded. Still, the final adagio remains a potential 'reference' movement - not over-egged and slow as many modern versions, but still retaining lyricism and poignancy in its swifter tempo.
I still felt I hadn't found the 'perfect' version, so I have been streaming lots of other versions, old and new, to see if any revealed anything new to me. After much listening, the two that opened up a whole new vision of the work in terms of its sonic scope and emotions were:
1) Walter/Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Sony)
2) Haitink/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Philips)
Both have long been praised (the Haitink by Deryck Cooke) and rightly so. Wonderful interpretations and recordings.
I'm still interested in a version in modern sonics, and look forward to Ivan Fischer's account one day with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, as his Mahler cycle has often proved insightful (but not always - his generally excellent 2 suffers from a terrible alto in 'Urlicht' who also kills the choral ending for me
). Nott's version is marred by a sneeze and dropped score in the final adagio, quite shattering the tension of the movement built up until that point.
Over to you.
I learned the work through Ancerl/CPO, went on to buy Klemperer/PO and Barbirolli/BPO. Listening to the latter again recently, I was struck by the way my concentration wandered mid-way through the 1st Movement, how the timpani sounded more like muffled bongos, and how harshly sibilant the cymbal crashes sounded. Still, the final adagio remains a potential 'reference' movement - not over-egged and slow as many modern versions, but still retaining lyricism and poignancy in its swifter tempo.
I still felt I hadn't found the 'perfect' version, so I have been streaming lots of other versions, old and new, to see if any revealed anything new to me. After much listening, the two that opened up a whole new vision of the work in terms of its sonic scope and emotions were:
1) Walter/Columbia Symphony Orchestra (Sony)
2) Haitink/Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Philips)
Both have long been praised (the Haitink by Deryck Cooke) and rightly so. Wonderful interpretations and recordings.
I'm still interested in a version in modern sonics, and look forward to Ivan Fischer's account one day with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, as his Mahler cycle has often proved insightful (but not always - his generally excellent 2 suffers from a terrible alto in 'Urlicht' who also kills the choral ending for me
). Nott's version is marred by a sneeze and dropped score in the final adagio, quite shattering the tension of the movement built up until that point.Over to you.