Help: M7 examples of contrasting interpretations

[hrandall]

Thanks everyone for all the excellent suggestions. Our first M7 Mahler Night will be tomorrow (Thursday), so I'm working on my list now. I'll post it here once I decide on everything. I'm thinking 4 different recordings.

I'm leaning towards:

TBD ? : a good solid "central" reference M7 maybe showing earlier interpretations. Any votes for this one?
Barenboim: an example of Barry's idea of the M6 to M8 bridge
Kubelik NYPO: to show a slow version
Scherchen Toronto: to contrast a very fast, unsentimental reading.

Not sure yet about the order, either, except for the first one to be a "central" reference version.

Suggestions?

[barry guerrero]

As well as transporting one from the shattering A-minor end of M6 to the doorstep of "Veni, Creator Spiritus", M7 is also Mahler's 'concerto for orchestra'. Every little 'bloop' and 'bleep' that every instrument plays is perfectly audible. I'm convinced that Bartok must have known the work. It's also a Mahlerian travelogue. The fields of Bohemia/Moravia are in there (first Nachtmusik in particular). The Alpen lands are in there. Italy is in there (second Nachtmusik). The brashness of a young America is in the finale. It's all there. It's a multidimensional work.

[AZContrabassoon]

It is a good reading, no doubt. The sound is natural enough - but I could do with more percussion. Rute and triangle in particular are largely absent. Or my hearing is kaput. I really like the no-nonsense way with the Finale. And in the introduction he gets the string tremolos correct - not measured 32nds. (I know, it is a confusing notation, but since virtually everyone except Barenboim and Solti do it unmeasured, I'll stick with it.)

By the way, the Scherchen is with the TRONTO Symphonic Orchestra, at least on the edition I have.

No one has mentioned versions to avoid - maybe there are too many. But here's my list: Masur, Klemperer, Svetlanov, and Schwartz.

[hrandall]

Thanks for all the ideas - would still be happy to hear more.

Last night was our first M7 session. I decided on this for the program for the next 4 weeks:

Bertini / Koln
Kubelik / NY
Scherchen / Toronto
Barenboim

There's others I would like to hear, but we'll do those another time. I think after 4 weeks of the 7th we'll be ready to move onto studying another of the symphonies.

I agree about avoiding the Klemperer M7.

[barry guerrero]

That's a good variety. My opinion is if you were to use the Klemperer, you'd want to limit it to just the first two movements. Klemp's slow crawl just doesn't work in the latter movements.

[umbernisitani]

It seems that the Philharmonia has a monopoly of weird Mahler 7s on CD!  Klemperer's was glacial, Sinopoli's and Horenstein's were both fascinatingly perverse, while the most recent Maazel (recorded in 2011) is also immensely glacial (though not as glacial as Klemperer).  Maazel's first movement takes almost 27 minutes; the finale 20 minutes.