Giving a Recording of M9 As a Gift, But What Version?

[barry guerrero]

I've come to the conclusion that Chicago is THE most Overrated Mahler orchestra on the planet, while the Dresden Staatskapelle is THE most Underrated. Pittsburgh seems to climbing up at this time.

[John Kim]

I've come to the conclusion that Chicago is THE most Overrated Mahler orchestra on the planet, while the Dresden Staatskapelle is THE most Underrated. Pittsburgh seems to climbing up at this time.

Wholeheartedly agreed!

I MUCH prefer the Dresden to the Chicago.

John,

[Russell]

I think Chicago is the most overrated orchestra, period--not just for Mahler.  (Nevertheless, I still love their M9 with Giulini.)  Their reputation started with Solti's tenure (I vividly remember the sensationalized press at the time) and their overhyped recordings on Decca/London.  I attended a Solti/CSO performance of the Bruckner 4 when they were visiting San Francisco many years ago--it was a pretty incredible concert, actually, but the brass section sounded as though they were trying to blow the roof off of Davies Symphony Hall.  (And they very nearly did!)

Russell

[Russ Smiley]

Not to jump on the bash-CSO-bandwagon, but I have to admit that though a horn player, I wasn't a fan of the Solti/CSO Strauss recording that I knew before I heard the Guilini recording of M9 (in '78 or '79 I think).  In fact, I wasn't impressed by Mahler at the time after sampling many recordings from the university library's stacks of LPs (probably Karajan, Horenstein, Haitink).  However, I received the Guilini M9 as a gift from my younger sister, and I listened to it straight through twice with head phones, and that recording was my 'Mahler epiphany'.  Sure, the strings are thin at times (and wow were the cellos-with-tremolos weird in the early CD version), but it remains a favorite.

Regarding Gilbert's version, I tried all the usually-recommended single-disc versions, and his is the one that resonates with me.

[barry guerrero]

Overrated doesn't mean 'bad' - it just means what it says. I really think a big part of the problem is Orchestra Hall. I heard a series of three concerts of the CSO at Carnegie Hall, and they were far more pleasant to listen to than usual.