Recent Mahler LP finds

[Leo K]

These are LP's I've found in used record stores and ebay...it's really fun to collect Mahler on vinyl...and these sound dramatically different over the CD pressings...as most of you know already I'm sure!

The most dramatic change in sound quality is the Bernstein DG M9...what an amazing difference....the CD can't even hold a candle next to the LP...there are details in the recording I miss on M9 CD's, with the exeception of some of the better sounding Exton SACD's (Macal for instance).

Okay, here are some I've discovered lately:





Amazingly, I got this NM Berstein M5 for less than four bucks!   












Another lucky find, for about 25 dollars...it really is worth the high prices I usually see:






There are some more I can't find photos for...such as the Haitink M9 and M6 from his first Mahler cycle...really excited about those as well.



All hail the vinyl!!!!!


--Todd

[sbugala]

Those Bernstein DG Mahler recordings are a tough choice for any collector. The debate: enjoy it on vinyl if you like it on vinyl OR take the money and run by selling it on ebay.  Some people pay absolutely crazy money for those.  I've heard them, and although I consider myself a vinyl fiend, I'm not totally won over. (Awesome bigger cover art, though!) 

http://cgi.ebay.com/MAHLER-no-9-BERNSTEIN-DG-419-208-1-2-DIGITAL-LPs_W0QQitemZ200265339463QQihZ010QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 The bottom line, you found some good vinyl pretty cheap.  That Barbirolli is probably a nice pressing, too.

[barry guerrero]

What I'm wondering is this: If the LP's actually sound better than their CD counterparts, would burnt CD copies of the LP's also sound better than the commercial CD issues?

Barry

[Leo K]

What I'm wondering is this: If the LP's actually sound better than their CD counterparts, would burnt CD copies of the LP's also sound better than the commercial CD issues?

Barry

Barry, In most cases I think they do sound better, as I can testify and John Kim thought so to if I remember correctly!

--Todd

[akiralx]

Never seen that cover for the studio Karajan M9.

I assume the Barbirolli M6 (rather garish cover, now on the recent GROC CD remastering) has the A/S order as he preferred, rather than transposed as it was for at least the first CD reissue?  I'm debating about getting that new GROC, never heard the performance, but I tend not to like slow M6s.

By the way I just noticed on iTunes a Barbirolli M9 with the Bavarian RSO.

[barry guerrero]

For a slower performance of M6, the Barbirolli is, indeed, very good. I just wish the "Great Rec. of the Cnty." reissue had Beecham's "Heldenleben" as a coupling instead of the yucky "Metamorphosen".

[Dyolf]

Hi
As I mentioned in my first posting in this forum, I have bought many (over 100) used LP´s from UK and the US this summer, and a fair part of theese were obvious Mahler recordings. Those in the picture are just the ones I find most interesting. And as Leo says, there are sonic excuses to keep buying that black stuff. There is however no denying that the benefits really comes to fore, when the source and playback chain is first rate. This is even more important than when playing digital material.



Abravanel and Utah was new to me, but I found both his M4 and M8 very satisfying, a little in the Klemperer tradition with no exageration anywhere, but just plain music. The Kletzki M4 is just outstanding, and it is an enigma why this is not recommended more often. Levine M10 is an oddity in itself. The adagio is an analog recording from 1975(76) and was coupled with M5 on a double LP, the remaining movements recorded digitally in 1980.(Cooke ll) Sonically very good and coherent.
The Walter M2 and M9 are classics, but especially The ninth is a marvel on this LP issue.
Last but not least we have Wyn Morris. In my book he ranks up there with Klemperer. His Klagende lied is from -67 and without the "Waldmarchen" first movement. Tempi and off-stage orchestra is first rate, the tenor is not.
His M8 with the "Symphonica of London" was recorded prior to the live event in Royal Albert Hall in 1972, and though I had heard about it, I had never heard it. This is now, alongside Solti and Tennstedt  , the ones I mostly listen to.

Anticippating more recommandations reg. mahler and vinyl.
Steen

[sbugala]

I like that Kletzki M4, too.  I prefer it to Klemperer's.  It just goes to show, the Philharmonia was a darn good orchestra in those days.  What amazes me is how many lesser known conductors, (but not necessarily less talents), made some fine recordings with them.

[Don]

Kletzki's M4 is still available on an EMI 2 disc budget set with a DLvdE and some fillers...

YES! it is I should have looked first, according to Archiv it is EMI 76912 with M4 as discussed above, DLvdE  tenor/baritone version (Murray Dickie Tenor and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Baritone) with a Schubert Rosamunde Overture and M 5 Adagietto as filler. Not bad for $12.99.

[Amphissa]

Steen, I applaud your commitment to vinyl. I resisted CD for many years. I did not buy my first CD player until the mid-1990s, and I still bought LPs after that. But as the quality of CD recordings improved, I eventually sold many of my LPs. My record collection shrank from 3,000 to only about 500. And most of those were jazz and classic rick that never appeared on CD or the CD as awful.

Last year, my turntable was broken during a move. I tried for a year to live without a turntable, but it finally became unbearable. Several months ago, I went shopping on Audiogon and bought a splendid new turntable, a high end cartridge, and a new, better quality phono stage. I am now very happy playing my LPs again.

You are right. The better the front end (turntable, cartridge, phono stage), the better the audio quality. My new turntable rig is much better than the one that was broken. I have once again fallen in love with vinyl.

[Dyolf]

Congrats with your new front end Amphissa.
Soundwise CD has seen improvements during its lifetime, sure, but it is also the whole process involved in LP playback that I enjoy. Checking the surface, lowering the pick-up etc. Not to forget the liner notes and photos. Having entered the post 45-year spectacle era, I really hate the minute CD text books. The only thing CD really excells in, is the length of the listening session.
And I do confess, sometimes you really do get some lousy quality used LP´s. At the moment listening to Verdi/Ballo in.../Callas - US angel label, and it is nealy unlistenable. Yesterday however it was Dire Straits/brothers in arms - a splendid example to show, how good vinyl can be.
Steen

[Leo K]

Congrats with your new front end Amphissa.
Soundwise CD has seen improvements during its lifetime, sure, but it is also the whole process involved in LP playback that I enjoy. Checking the surface, lowering the pick-up etc. Not to forget the liner notes and photos. Having entered the post 45-year spectacle era, I really hate the minute CD text books. The only thing CD really excells in, is the length of the listening session.
And I do confess, sometimes you really do get some lousy quality used LP´s. At the moment listening to Verdi/Ballo in.../Callas - US angel label, and it is nealy unlistenable. Yesterday however it was Dire Straits/brothers in arms - a splendid example to show, how good vinyl can be.
Steen

I was wondering about that Dire Straits album! 

Although I use an inexpensive turntable, I still hear the difference in sound.  I have a nice receiver, perhaps that helps with the sound?  Anyways...sometime I plan to get a turntable such as Amphissa was discussing...it really is worth it.

By the way, I love the Gilbert Kaplan M2 on vinyl...it sounds much more powerful with more presence.

--Todd

[barry guerrero]

I can't see myself investing the time, love, and labor that LP's can easily take up. However, I'm intrigued by the idea of burning CD's of L.P.'s that are either rare - particularly jazz - or will definitely end up sounding better than the commercial CD release. Please keep posted any good experiences in burning CD's from LP's.

Barry

[techniquest]

Here is some of my Mahler vinyl collection.



(M1)
The LPO / Delogu recording was my first M1 and remains my favourite (although I also have a Leinsdorf recording which is superb). Good old Classics for Pleasure; I think I paid 99p for it way back when!
The LSO / Levine recording was bought from a charity shop for about 50p. Well worth it!!

(M2)
I bought this in the 80's but I can't remember where from. I can't recall ever seeing this recording again, though it probably exists somewhere. Not the best of recordings, but a great performance! I also have vinyl M2's from Neumann, Tennstedt, Walter and Morris.

(M3)
I have the famous Horenstein recording which is great, but I really love this Levine one. It was a Christmas present back when I was a kid.

(M4)
I don't have a standalone vinyl M4...

(M6)
Sorry this isn't in order - the Barbirolli recording was bought at the Royal Festival Hall back in the 80's and was my first M6. Wow it's noisy!!
The Levine is at times even more aggressive with the hugest of tam-tams in the finale.



(M5)
The Morris M5 is simply wonderful - no one captures that opening change from optimism to depths of despair like him. I have the CD version and it sounds just as good.

(M7)
This Klemperer recording (also bought at the Royal Festival Hall) was my introduction to the seventh and I really liked it. Imagine how shocked I was when I heard a different performance that seemed (to me) to speed through it at breakneck speed!

(M8)
I still adore the Morris / Symphonica of London recording in both the vinyl and CD formats.

(M9)
Klemperer again and AFAIC a perfect first movement. My most recent Mahler vinyl purchase (for £1.99) is the  Barbirolli / Berlin Phil recording which interprets the 9th very differently from Klemperer indeed.

(M10)
I don't have standalone M10 on vinyl, nor a DLvDE.

Finally the Haitink / Concertgebouw boxes on Phillips which I picked up over 20 years ago for a tenner! What a bargain!

[klingsor]

(M9)
Klemperer again and AFAIC a perfect first movement. 

 

Nice to see that LP cover again. M9 is my favorite symphony, and I have never heard a better First Movement, despite what some say is "shaky playing". Klemperer's climaxes in this music (especially the last one) are downright nightmarish, and any Mahlerian needs to hear this at least once.  I think the old man understood this symphony in a very personal way and put it into this recording.