Baseline: I generally like bright and colorful interpretation of Mahler's symphonies. Some conductors are too dark (notably, Rattle) or maybe too analytic (Boulez, Sinopoli, Abbado, & Haitink), who are usually not my favorites.
My favorite Mahler conductors: Klaus Tennstedt, Gary Bertini, & Leonard Bernstein
My favorite box sets: Tennstedt, Bertini, & Bernstein (DG)
No. 1: Tennstedt (live, EMI), Walter, Kubelic
No. 2: Klemperer (EMI), Kaplan (MCA)
No. 3: Horenstein, Bertini
No. 4: Szell, Karajan, Berstein
No. 5: Tennstedt (live, EMI), Barbirolli, Bernstein, Solti (live/newer, Decca)
No. 6: Bernstein (DG), Karajan, Szell
No. 7: Abbado (Lucerne Festival), Klemperer, Chailly
No. 8: Tennstedt, Gilen (Sony), Solti
No. 9: Karajan, Bernstein, Barbirolli
No. 10: Levine, Gilen
Das Lied: Klemperer, Bertini, Walter (Decca)
Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Schwarzkopf/Fischer-Dieskau/Szell
My favorite live attendance: Mahler 9 / Ozawa conducting Saito Kinen Orchestra (San Francisco, 2001?), Mahler 1 / Yan Pascal Tortelier conducting NY Phil (NY, 2005), Mahler 2 / Salonen conducting LA Phil (LA, 2003), Mahler 6 / Boulez conducting London Symphony (Edinburgh, 2000)
Disclaimer: I couldn't have listened to all of Mahler's recordings (impossible anyway), so I probably left out many good ones.
- Hyung
