Bruno Walter Mahler recordings.

[oscar]

I would like to ask for advice concerning Bruno Walter´s Mahler recordings.  Which would be the best ?  Especially the Symphony nr. 4, of which there are many live recordings,

best,

Oscar.

[Don]

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the 1958 New York Philharmonic version with Emilia Cundari and Maureen Forrester, since it was my introduction to the piece. Others may prefer a more "modern", sonically improved recording, but this is one of Walter's best recordings.

The famous Vienna 9th of 1938 has historical and sentimental overtones out the wazoo and is an important document, but not the best recording of the work.

[Mackjay]

I agree with Don about the Walter M9 of 1938. But I do like his stereo remake quite a bit, one of the best M9s, imho.
Also I recommend Walter's stereo recording of M2, a magnificent interperetation. And I think Walter does some nearly 'magical' things with Mahler's transitions, especially in the 3rd movement.

I never heard his M5 (mono) and have wondered about it

[barry guerrero]

"I never heard his M5 (mono) and have wondered about it"

Very fast throughout. I've never found it to be very interesting. It is well played, but so too is the Scherchen/Philadelphia M5 on Tahra, which is vastly more fascinating from an "interpretive" (i.e. nutzoid) standpoint. Scherchen is just insanely fast during the faster portions of the second movement, yet "Philly" keep up with him perfectly. Then he takes nearly 15 minutes on the Adagietto. But with Philly's incredible string section, that simply isn't a problem. It truly is a realization of the nutty stuff he was trying to pull off in Toronto and Vienna. In Philadelphia, he had an orchestra that could actually pull it off.

Personally, I think Walter's best Mahler recording is the N.Y./Columbia Records "Das Lied von der Erde".

[Mackjay]

"I never heard his M5 (mono) and have wondered about it"

Very fast throughout. I've never found it to be very interesting. It is well played, but so too is the Scherchen/Philadelphia M5 on Tahra, which is vastly more fascinating from an "interpretive" (i.e. nutzoid) standpoint. Scherchen is just insanely fast during the faster portions of the second movement, yet "Philly" keep up with him perfectly. Then he takes nearly 15 minutes on the Adagietto. But with Philly's incredible string section, that simply isn't a problem. It truly is a realization of the nutty stuff he was trying to pull off in Toronto and Vienna. In Philadelphia, he had an orchestra that could actually pull it off.

Personally, I think Walter's best Mahler recording is the N.Y./Columbia Records "Das Lied von der Erde".

Oh yeah, I forgot the DAS LIED --agree it's one of the best

[Don]

A second to the "DLvDE", truly great.

[Jot N. Tittle]

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the 1958 New York Philharmonic version with Emilia Cundari and Maureen Forrester, since it was my introduction to the piece. Others may prefer a more "modern", sonically improved recording, but this is one of Walter's best recordings.

This posting refers to M-2. Did anyone else notice that the CD of this performance went for $43+ on eBay the other day?  Maybe a member of the Bored, stimulated by Don's report, could not do without it?

     . & '

[Don]

If they did, they are insane or it was a special edition. You can get the performance with the M1 and the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen w/Mildred Miller on a two disc set for around 1/2 that.

[barry guerrero]

"Maybe a member of the Bored, stimulated by   .    .   

Is that what we are?!?      I wonder if Freud would analyze us the same way?   

[akiralx]

If they did, they are insane or it was a special edition. You can get the performance with the M1 and the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen w/Mildred Miller on a two disc set for around 1/2 that.

I suspect it was the original CD incarnation which seem to be prized by some collectors.

[waderice]

A 1948 Walter Mahler 2nd is in my collection, though I can't remember the orchestra/soloists while writing this....it is an excellent performance.  There were a couple other broadcast/private recorded performances of the 2nd by him, I believe, in addition to the commercial 1958 stereo Columbia.

Otto Klemperer, another champion of Mahler, kept track with Walter in the recorded Mahler 2nd performance sweepstakes - don't fail to overlook his performances.  While Klemperer didn't always faithfully follow Mahler's directions, his performances seemed to always come off quite persuasively.

[barry guerrero]

"A 1948 Walter Mahler 2nd is in my collection, though I can't remember the orchestra/soloists while writing this....it is an excellent performance."

It is a good performance. But, it's also from the Musikverein, which means there isn't a whole lot of organ either. Walter did an M2 in Chicago that was supposed to have been amazing. However, I've never seen any "pirates" of it.

Barry

[waderice]

Walter did an M2 in Chicago that was supposed to have been amazing. However, I've never seen any "pirates" of it.

That Mahler 2nd in Chicago was in the mid-fifties (either '55 or '56), when Reiner invited Walter to conduct the CSO.  I'll have to ask a musical friend who came from Chicago, and who knows that era very well, if he recalls any accounts of that Walter performance.

As to a "pirate" recording of that performance, one was unlikely to have been made at that time.  In '57 and '58, in-concert recordings of the CSO were made by Stephen Temmer for rebroadcast on WBAI radio in NYC.  Some of the Temmer recordings have been reissued in the past as premiums for CSO Marathon fund-raisers.

[barry guerrero]

This is getting a tad off-topic, but there was supposed to have been a Dorati/CSO M6 from the middle '60s that some say is really, really good.

Barry

[waderice]

This is getting a tad off-topic, but there was supposed to have been a Dorati/CSO M6 from the middle '60s that some say is really, really good.

Barry

Another question for my Chicago musical friend.  I distinctly remember Dorati's M6 while he was National Symphony Music Director; it likewise was an excellent performance, which I did hear live.