# SS 11.04.15 - Mahler #7



## realdealblues

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:*

Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911)*

Symphony No. 7

1. Langsam - Allegro risoluto, ma non troppo
2. Nachtmusik I
3. Scherzo
4. Nachtmusik II
5. Rondo-Finale

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## realdealblues

Ah, back to one of my favorites! Looking forward to hearing this one again as always. I'll go with what is for me the definitive recording of this work.

View attachment 68010


Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic


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## Jeff W

Going to spin a new one for me. I've listened to both Solti/CSO and Tennstedt/LPO now I'm going to listen to Rafael Kubelik and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.


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## ptr

Hooray for Capitan Spaulding!










Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest u. Pierre Boulez (RCO Live)

The Worlds best Mahler orchestra under a brilliant Mahler interpreter! 

/ptr


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## GioCar

The most intriguing of all Mahler' symphonies... should deserve a much higher place in the overall ranking, imo.

I'll go with Claudio Abbado / Berliner Philharmoniker


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## omega

*Claudio Abbado - Berliner Philharmoniker*










A truly excellent performance. I look forward to listening to it again.


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## elgar's ghost

Bernstein and Kubelik are my usual 'go to' recordings with the 7th, but this time I'll try one of these with a little help from Eeney Meeney Miney Moe:


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## JACE

Jeff W said:


> View attachment 68012
> 
> 
> Going to spin a new one for me. I've listened to both Solti/CSO and Tennstedt/LPO now I'm going to listen to Rafael Kubelik and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.


I'll go with the Kubelik/BRSO recording too. :cheers:


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## Mahlerian

The live recording with Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra from this set:









Is it perhaps the same one as the one on that BBC disc above? Recording date is listed as May 14-15, 1993.


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## D Smith

Another winner for Saturday Symphony, and another favourite of mine! Instead of my usual Bernstein, I'll be listening to Gergiev/LSO for the first time.


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## techniquest

Hmm, should I go with the old but still very controversial Klemperer recording, which I have in it's Classics for Pleasure vinyl incarnation, or should I go with my current favourite - Gielen / SWF-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden on Intercord? Decisions, decisions...


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## hpowders

I have the second recording by Leonard Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic in a live performance.

The best I've heard of this problematic score.

The orchestra was in good shape that day. Not always the case.


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## Zarathustra

I see Composer of Avant Guard is not here yet.

Anyway I'll go with Kondrashin. Not my favourite performance but I did listen to Abbado just a few days ago so I'll be listening to something a little different. 

This is a great and very under appreciated symphony.

EDIT - I think I'll go with Levine instead. I bought the box set and I'm yet to listen to this one.


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## GreenMamba

I've never heard this symphony. Abbado/Chicago for me.


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## Skilmarilion

I haven't participated in one of these for a fair while -- I'll be following D Smith's lead with the Gergiev.

I think the 7th, in various places, is bloody awesome. Any talk of its relative 'neglect' is really, all relative. :tiphat:


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## Triplets

Ihave that one on my phone and listened to it a few days ago. I like Abbado's Lucerne version a touch better but they both are really fine.


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## maestro267

I'm sure this was the first Mahler symphony I heard, during a Proms performance.


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## Balthazar

I'll be listening to Bernstein lead the NY Phil on DG.


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## brotagonist

I listened to my Abbado/Chicago recording not so long ago, so I'll go with this one:

Bernstein/Vienna


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## Heliogabo

One of my favorite symphonies, without hesitation. I have the Bernstein/NYP set, which I´ve been listening a lot. So, I think I'll go with... the Dude, and his young bolivarians.


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## ColColt

All of Mahler's Symphonies are enjoyed.


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## Vinski

I'll be listening to Michael Gielen and SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg.


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## csacks

I will go with Giuseppe Sinopoli and Philharmonia Orchestra. By the way, the only version that I have of this symphony, which is not in between my regulars


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## Haydn man

D Smith said:


> Another winner for Saturday Symphony, and another favourite of mine! Instead of my usual Bernstein, I'll be listening to Gergiev/LSO for the first time.


This will be my version for this week also


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## Vaneyes

Didn't use to be, but it's now one of my favorite works from all of classical music. And this is the recording that completely won me over. Jumped out of my seat on first listen, I did, I did. I'll be relistening Saturday, if not before. :tiphat:

*Mahler*: Symphony 7, w. CSO/Solti. Recorded May 1971, Krannert Center, U of Illinois. Recording Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson.


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## HIDEKI SUKENOBU

D Smith said:


> Another winner for Saturday Symphony, and another favourite of mine! Instead of my usual Bernstein, I'll be listening to Gergiev/LSO for the first time.


Now if I tried to find any other recording I didn't know, I would choose this. Usually I listen only to the finale of this symphony perfomed by Levine & CSO or Philadelphia O.


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## Zarathustra

Last night I listened to Levine but fell asleep before the end. Don't mock me; it is Nachtmusik after all and I WAS tired.

So today I finished listening to the Rondo Finale and then after the briefest of pauses continued with Kondrashin. Both solid enough performances. Prefer the Kondrashin though I think the 1st movement could be a little faster. Levine is alright but sometimes he messes with the tempo a bit too much for my taste, the timpani are a tad too loud in the Nachtmusik or the cow bells also too loud in the ending.

Anyway I love this work. A simple depiction of time passing by from dusk to dawn. When it is over it always feels like Christmas morning to me.

Not most of the time but some weeks it's my favourite Mahler.


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## Eramirez156

Well it just so happens that last nights concert at Orchestra Hall was the Mahler 7th with Bernard Haitink leading the Chicago Symphony.. the third movement makes me laugh sometimes, it puts me in mind of a demented waltz tune.


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## elgar's ghost

Mahlerian said:


> The live recording with Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra from this set:
> 
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> Is it perhaps the same one as the one on that BBC disc above? Recording date is listed as May 14-15, 1993.


Mine was recorded at Usher Hall, Edinburgh 29th August 1980 - I thought they might have been the same!


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## CyrilWashbrook

Slightly late to the party on this one, but I'll take a listen on Sunday. I first listened to it shortly after Abbado's death when somebody on these forums mentioned that they would remember him most fondly for his recordings of this work. I quite enjoyed it at the time (more so than some of Mahler's other symphonies), so worth another go I think. Specific recording: Abbado/Lucerne.


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## Mahlerian

elgars ghost said:


> Mine was recorded at Usher Hall, Edinburgh 29th August 1980 - I thought they might have been the same!


So many great Tennstedt recordings to choose from! His studio Seventh is a fine version as well.


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## elgar's ghost

Mahlerian said:


> So many great Tennstedt recordings to choose from! His studio Seventh is a fine version as well.


So it seems, M. Are there any significant differences between the studio and the live versions which you have?


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## Mahlerian

elgars ghost said:


> So it seems, M. Are there any significant differences between the studio and the live versions which you have?


The timings on the live one are slightly longer, but it doesn't feel slower at all. I'd say that the live version feels more immediate, and it has an excellent finale.


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## Triplets

Searching the shelves I found a Barenboim/Berlin Staatkapelle recording and I'm listening to it now. Barenboim's farewell concert here as MD was the 9th and it was very moving. I think he misses some of the irony here in 7 but he kind of gives it a Brucknerian turn. Well played and recorded.


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## Adam Weber

I've listened to this symphony probably ten times this last week. Abbado/Chicago, Abbado/Berlin, Boulez, Gielen, Zinman, parts of Bernstein, parts of Gergiev, parts of Solti... I should listen to all of Gergiev's, but I don't have much hope for liking Bernstein's or Solti's. My favorite at the moment is Abbado/Berlin. That one is currently in the mail, and I'm looking forward to hearing it in proper sound. Spotify works well enough, but DGG recordings always end up garbled for some reason, more so than recordings from other labels. I'm not sure what the technical term for it is, but the wind instruments drop in and out, so it sounds like they have a particularly electronic vibrato.


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## omega

omega said:


> *Claudio Abbado - Berliner Philharmoniker*
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> A truly excellent performance. I look forward to listening to it again.


If I have time, I'll maybe listen to this recording:








It is from the first Mahler cycle I've bought, and it's a long time I haven't listened to it. As far as I can remember, Sinopoli treats this rather bizarre symphony in a very bizarre way: lots of percussions, an unusually long 4th movement (17-18 minutes).


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## Cosmos

Awesome!!!

I'll do my usual: Boulez and Cleveland


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## Skilmarilion

I feel like the _Langsam _ introduction to the first movement holds the key to this symphony, particularly the opening passage played by the Tenorhorn -- and yet it feels like this is often taken far too slowly.

I'd gotten used to the Abbado / Lucerne performance on youtube (below), and was almost shocked by how slowly the beginning is in the Gergiev. Ditto with Tilson Thomas and Mehta, which I sampled on Spotify.

btw -- isn't the passage from 5:12 - 6:04 just utterly gorgeous?


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## Mika

Now playing Simon Rattle & CBSO from the Mahler Complete Works EMI box set.


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## techniquest

In the end I listened to an 'off-the-beaten-track' recording: the Orquesta Filarmonica de Gran Canaria under Adrian Leaper on Arte Nova. It's a fast, but detailed and satisfying recording; an enjoyable listen


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## JACE

Mika said:


> Now playing Simon Rattle & CBSO from the Mahler Complete Works EMI box set.


An interesting interpretation, I think. Odd. Maybe even willfully odd. But interesting.


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## Avey

I actually like MTT's version with the SFO on the Seventh. He doesn't got over the top anywhere, just sort of keeps things patient and natural -- like a baseline of emotion. Is that a good thing? Not necessarily, but that wholly depends on my mental state.


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## padraic

To me it comes across as soulless. (MTT/SFO)

After not resonating too much the Tennstedt live 7th, his studio 7th seems much more to my liking.


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## Albert7

I enjoy Dudamel's conducting on the DG label . Very awesome.


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