Gustav Mahler: Best of the Best

Best of the Best ·     Lieder ·     Orchestral

One of the greatest opera conductors of his era, Mahler (1860-1911) the composer nonetheless devoted almost all of his creative energies to symphonies and songs. His combination of intellect, emotional directness, and irony has made him one of the quintessential voices of the 20th century. Mahler's music epitomizes both its anxiety and the last flowering of Romanticism. Here are his essential recordings.

	Mahler: Symphonie no 1, Lieder / Kubelik, Fischer-Dieskau
	Gustav Mahler(Composer), et al Usually ships in 24 hours Click here for more information	List Price: $11.97 Our Price: $9.99 You Save: $1.98 (17%)
Amazon.com essential recording Here's a delightful coupling: Mahler's First Symphony and the song cycle that donated many of its themes to the larger work. Best of all, both performances are superb. Rafael Kubelik is the dark horse among Mahler conductors. His interpretations are always fresh, unforced, and seemingly without exaggeration. However, he knows how to build a climax, and his generally swift tempos never permit a minute's boredom. There are many moments to cherish in his performance of the symphony, not least the...Read more
	Mahler: Symphonie no 5 / Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker
	Gustav Mahler(Composer), et al Usually ships in 24 hours Click here for more information	List Price: $16.97 Our Price: $15.49 You Save: $1.48 (9%)
Amazon.com essential recording Mahler's Fifth was one of the pieces Leonard Bernstein owned. This interpretation is broader than the one he recorded with the New York Philharmonic in the early 1960s, but it's little changed in feeling. It is, however, far more polished and a good deal more persuasive. The recording, like all of Bernstein's later Mahler cycle, was made live; here, he and the Vienna Philharmonic give a gripping performance full of telling nuance, intensely expressive yet thoroughly controlled. It's a reading...Read more
	Karajan Gold - Mahler: Symphony no 9 / Berlin Philharmonic
	Gustav Mahler(Composer), et al Usually ships in 24 hours Click here for more information	List Price: $32.97 Our Price: $31.32 You Save: $1.65 (5%)
Amazon.com essential recording Herbert von Karajan's Gustav Mahler performances were highly variable, and he recorded the Ninth only a few years before this live version came out. That performance was so-so, and featured a spectacular missed entrance in the third movement that somehow made it onto the master tape. Very embarrassing indeed. So it's no surprise that von Karajan wanted to do it again, and this time he really got it right. This is one of the great Ninths: stunning playing, an interpretation of real emotional...Read more
	Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde /Klemperer, Ludwig, Wunderlich
	Gustav Mahler(Composer), et al Usually ships in 24 hours Click here for more information	List Price: $11.97 Our Price: $9.99 You Save: $1.98 (17%)
Amazon.com essential recording Mahler considered The Song of the Earth his most personal work, and indeed it is one of his greatest and most moving. Its six sections, sung alternately by the mezzo-soprano and tenor, are set to seven poems from The Chinese Flute, a collection of Chinese lyrics translated into German by Hans Bethge, which echo Mahler's love of nature and contrast the earth's renewal each spring with the transience of human life. Composed after he lost his beloved 4-year-old daughter and was diagnosed with a...Read more