DLVDE recommendations

[justininsf]

Any recommendations for DLVDE?  Please share, modern, old, performance, live, whatever you feel is good.  I have only a few of these and would like some input.

[waderice]

Justin, there are four recommendations I have:

Thorberg/Kullman/Walter/Vienna Philharmonic (1936) EMI
Ferrier/Patzak/Walter/Vienna Philharmonic (1952) Decca, monophonic sound
Forrester/Lewis/Reiner/Chicago Symphony (1959) Sony/RCA, stereo sound
Baker/King/Haitink/Amsterdam Concertgebouw (1979) Philips

Wade

[Roffe]

I concurr more or less with Wade, but want to add:

Ludwig/Wunderlich/Klemperer/Philharmonia (1967) EMI

and a "modern" one:

Norman/Jerusalem/Levine/Berliner Philharmonic (1992) DG

Roffe

[James Meckley]

Three other worthy contenders, a bit off the beaten path:

Janet Baker, Waldemar Kmentt, Rafael Kubelík, Bavarian RSO (1970) AUDITE

Janet Baker, John Mitchinson, Raymond Leppard, BBC Northern Sym. (1977) BBC CLASSICS

Birgit Finnila, Peter Schreier, Kurt Sanderling, Berlin Symphony (1985) BERLIN CLASSICS

James

[barry guerrero]

I think the Philips 'twofer' that has the Baker/King/Haitink/RCOA "DLvdE" plus other Mahler song cycles is a true winner. Or, if you prefer, you could get it in a Philips 'twofer' that has Haitink's first M9, which I think is a tad overrated.

Fortunately, there are many, many good "DLvdE" recordings. I wouldn't discount Fassbaender/Araiza/Giulini/BPO (DG) or Forrester/Lewis/Reiner/CSO (RCA). Those are both really fine.

[hrandall]

I'd agree with just about all of these recommendations (except for a couple I haven't heard yet). I'd add the Bernstein / Vienna / King & Fischer-Dieskau (Decca) recording for the alternative tenor / baritone version. While I prefer an alto in the work, I think this recording is so good it belongs on the shelf alongside the other legendary options already mentioned.

I'd also enthusiastically second James' recommendation of Janet Baker, Waldemar Kmentt, Rafael Kubelík, Bavarian RSO (1970) AUDITE.

Cheers,
Herb

[waderice]

Incidentally, I forgot to state in my earlier post that Mahler biographer Henri-Louis de la Grange considers the Reiner recording of DLvdE as the best one.

Wade

[justininsf]

Thanks for all the input.

Is this piece less recorded than the other symphonies?  Is it less recorded than the 8th?  Just curious, I haven't seen a ton of recordings in general for this.

[waderice]

With nos. 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 excepted, DLvdE is probably recorded moreso than those I cite.  And for sure, it's performed more often than those.  I may be wrong on the numbers of recordings, but that's just my impression.

Wade

[hrandall]

Lately I've been revisiting some of the Das Lied von der Erde CDs in my collection, and I'm finding that I really enjoy the Karajan / Ludwig / Kollo / Berlin recording more than I remembered. What do you all think of that one? Surprisingly, I'm not finding many reviews of it online other than at Amazon.

Best,
Herb

[Jot N. Tittle]

Your collection of Das Lied should include the live performance of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Josef Krips, featuring Fritz Wunderlich and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, still available from Amazon.com and probably others. Fi-Di's rendering of the "O sieh! Wie eine Silberbarke schwebt / Der Mond am blauen Himmelssee herauf" is, for me, worth the full price.

     , & '

[Jot N. Tittle]

Yet another DLvdE, although probably difficult to find at a reasonable price, is the piano version featuring Cyprien Katsaris at the piano with Brigitte Fassbaender and Thomas Moser. I believe this resulted from Stephen Hefling's research and discovery of Mahler's piano version.

     , & '