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I was wondering if there is a recording of the 5th Symphony that is commonly held as the best one out there. I know that it is all personal opinion, but I just want some ideas. I'm looking at getting the newer one of Sir Simon Rattle and the BPO. Any opinions on this would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Aaron Hynds

Abbado Conducting Chicago... c. 1980

that's all

Out of a dozen or more recordings of Mahler 5 I have, my favourites are Mehta conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Inbal the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra - although I know these are not favourites of the critics. But then I probably pay more attention to the tuba playing which on both of these is awesome.

I personally like NY Phil with Mehta, mostly because I feel that recording in particular is a good representation of what it probably sounded like on stage (read: not much tinkering with by egg-heads in a sound booth playing with knobs and buttons).

There are other good recordings as well:
Levi, Atlanta
Barenboim, CSO
Levine, Philadelphia
Chailly, Concertgebouw
Haitink, Berlin

I also have Royal Philahrmonic, with Shipway. Its ok, but there are better recordings.

A friend of mine has CSO with Solti, but I don't remember it being better than the NYPO recording.

ContraEuph wrote:You should defintely go for the Mahler 5 with Simon Rattle and Berlin Phil. There is a DVD that is awesome. The prinicipal trumpet plays way off to the side but is an awesome play and has the best trumpet sound to me for my taste. The low brass sound awesome. Everyone really knocks it out. Definitely get this one.
-my 2 cents

Ryan

I wasn't too impressed by this recording. Of course, it was a while ago, buy hey, who knows?

BGII wrote:Inbal/Frankfurt Radio S.O./Denon (probably hard to find now)

That now appears to be available cheaply on Brilliant Classics in compilation with the 4th.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Mahler-Symph ... F8&s=music

Has anyone seen the Levine/Philly on CD? Paul K sounded fabulous on this.

The Philadelphia Orchestra with James Levine on the podium is second to none! Frank Kaderabek plays the opening trumpet solo with a flare that is unmatched.

I have heard Paul Krzywicki play Mahler 5 live several times as well as on this recording. Paul's interpretation of the solo passages evokes the quintessence of the music.

With the suggestion of someone on tubenet, I bought the complete Mahler cycle with Frankfurt.Couldn't be happier.The price,tuba playing, and playing in general all exceeded my expectations.I never knew a choir could"Whup some ***" till i heard Mahler 2nd....

No one has mentioned the Vienna recording with Lorin Maazel from the early 80's. To me, that is how the piece should be played. Maazel gets some incredible music out of the orchestra, not that they need much help. He hits climaxes, especially in the first movement, that I haven't heard in any other recording, or concert for that matter.

UF_pedal_tones wrote:Can those of you who've heard it comment on the Solti recording with CSO? I just bought it last weekend, and haven't been able to listen to it yet....(it's been a LONG couple of days).

P.S. - I found it at my local Goodwill ( ). Cost me $1.

P.P.S. - I don't own a record player (I'll have to go to the music building on campus to listen to it), which is mostly the reason why I haven't heard it yet.

I would definitely recommend the Chicago/Solti/Decca recording. Let's just say the brass come through loud and clear on this one. This was my favorite recording until I heard Vienna/Maazel.

timayer wrote:No one has mentioned the Vienna recording with Lorin Maazel from the early 80's. To me, that is how the piece should be played. Maazel gets some incredible music out of the orchestra, not that they need much help. He hits climaxes, especially in the first movement, that I haven't heard in any other recording, or concert for that matter.

I second this whole-heartedly. My roommate found a copy at Borders rather inexpensively and clearly tops my list of Mahler 5 recordings.

I have a few "bones to pick".

I was answering what I thought to be the best performance recorded of Mahler's 5th Symphony. Although I don't have them all, I have the Solit/Chicago Box Set, the Rattle DVD, Bernstein w/ Vienna, as well as Abbado w/ Berlin and Chicago.

I must be the outcast in this board because I can't tell you who I think plays the tuba solo the best or who I think plays "x" passage the best. I just know which one made me sit up in my chair and really listen intently.

I have two key recordings of Symphonie Fantastique. One is Muti w/ Philly and the other is Sir Colin Davis with London. The low brass in the Philly recording is absolutely impressive. But, I like the London recording better. It's a better representation of the work.

Now, when choosing or evaluating recordings is the determining factor what the tuba player sounds like or what the low brass is like, or how the over all piece is presented?

Yeah, we're low brass players and it's nice to have a recording that displays incredible playing of our instrument, but does that make a recording good, or does that just mean the mix is bad?

Your opinion may differ, I'm just stating mine...

There is more than one viable reason to like a performance/recording,but i,for one, will admit that if the tuba/brass playing doesn't grab me,it'll get dusty waiting in my ipod.And I'm not ashamed to be a Neanderthal at all...

I would think that different people listen to things differently. Even the same person can listen to the same recording at different times and come away with two completely different views of it.

Listen to as much of it as you can, and make up your own mind. Thats all anybody can do.

To answer the question asked a couple of posts ago, I'm looking mainly for a recording that has a well-rounded and nicely recorded sound of the orchestra as a whole. I'm not too picky about how loud the low brass are, but it would be nice if you could hear them when they need to be heard. The Philly recording sounds interesting, and they are plenty to choose from, so thanks for narrowing it down, everyone! (I know that sounds kind of sarcastic, but trust me, it's not.)

I appreciate a well rounded and musical performance, with nice overall balance and sound, but as a tuba player, a good tuba tone is important to my enjoyment. I am not going to pretend otherwise.

Recordings with poor, or more often inaudible tuba* will soon end up on Ebay.

* of course excepting works without tuba

I'm personally a big fan of Vienna under Bernstein. It just sounds right.

Conspicuously absent is the Neeme Jarvi recording on Chandos Records with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. This is a very exciting recording with much stellar playing. Certainly worth a hearing.

Jarvi Mahler 5