# Mahler 7



## mikey

Just completed my first listen with Boulez and Cleveland.
Now I gotta say it does take me a while to latch onto Mahler and his goings on, but the 2nd is one of my favourite works so this will get some more hearings.

Disappointed that so much is made of the cowbells and they play the best part of 30s in the entire piece.
Anywho, now what is so weird about the last mov? I actually found the first mov the most chaotic and 'broken up'. So I read, the Boulez recording is one of the few to properly realise the last mov so perhaps I'm missing something in other recordings? I actually found it quite invigorating to hear Mahler in such high spirits (as is what _I_ gathered).


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I've never heard anything _bad_ about any of the movements...I have that recording by Boulez which you mention and I believe the first movement suffers from slight stodginess that is nowhere to be heard in any of the other movements. It certainly has the best Nachtmusik movements though.

On the first movement, perhaps it is the fast pace and complex polyphony that makes you hear it as more chaotic, but I've always felt it to be a very cleverly constructed movement.


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## mikey

Not bad per se, but the cd notes claim it's the most 'unloved' of all the movements and the 7th as a whole tends to be the black sheep of the cycle.


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## Cosmos

I think it's because the music contrasts so much, it's like a store thumb. The first four are dark overall, with some lightheartedness (especially in the fourth movement). Then, out of the shadows, the brass explodes into such a cloyingly triumphant finale, some guessed Mahler was trying to parody a grand finale. 

Personally, I agree with you in that the last movement is quite alright.


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## Mahlerian

mikey said:


> Anywho, now what is so weird about the last mov? I actually found the first mov the most chaotic and 'broken up'. So I read, the Boulez recording is one of the few to properly realise the last mov so perhaps I'm missing something in other recordings? I actually found it quite invigorating to hear Mahler in such high spirits (as is what _I_ gathered).


The last movement is just bizarre on a number of levels. It's labyrinthine in form and also hyperactive in jumping from key to key and mood to mood. There are a number of parodic aspects to it that some find unnerving.

The first movement is one of my favorites in all Mahler. Fourths pervade the texture at every level, thematically and harmonically (one of many things that connects this movement and this symphony to Schoenberg's roughly contemporaneous Chamber Symphony in E), and the movement's structure is clear, logical, and supportive of the magnificent beauty of the themes.


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## mikey

I got the 4ths connection.
I just found the the first mov more hyperactive than the last...it might be he plays up the contrasts, I don't know, but I'll give it another listen (or more).


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## techniquest

I have always enjoyed the 7th symphony (and the 6th which I got to know around the same time - about 35 years ago). I enjoy both and rate them far and away above the 5th, whose popularity I have never been able to fathom; surely it can't just be 'Death in Venice'.
Anyhow, I find the 7th has so much to say; it can be martial, soulful, thunderous, distant - other-worldly, and possibly the most optimistic of all Mahler symphonies. I find a lot in the 7th which connects to the sound world of the 3rd; maybe that's one reason why I like it.


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## SixFootScowl

I am starting to think the 7th may be my favorite Mahler symphony. Currently I have Bernstein New York Philharmonic (1965) and Levine Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I am about to listen to a library copy of Mahler 7 conducted by Dudamel. Anyway, I am wondering what are anyone's favorite Mahler 7s.


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## hpowders

I like it too. The best I've heard is the latter performance with the NY Philharmonic.

Bernstein really holds this problematic score together.

Try and listen to the second NY Philharmonic performance if you get a chance.


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## Chronochromie

Florestan said:


> I am starting to think the 7th may be my favorite Mahler symphony. Currently I have Bernstein New York Philharmonic (1965) and Levine Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I am about to listen to a library copy of Mahler 7 conducted by Dudamel. Anyway, I am wondering what are anyone's favorite Mahler 7s.


That's my favorite Mahler too. My favorite recording is by Michael Gielen with the SWR Symphony Orchestra.


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## padraic

Florestan said:


> I am starting to think the 7th may be my favorite Mahler symphony. Currently I have Bernstein New York Philharmonic (1965) and Levine Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I am about to listen to a library copy of Mahler 7 conducted by Dudamel. Anyway, I am wondering what are anyone's favorite Mahler 7s.


The Levine/CSO you mention and the latter Bernstein/NYPO on DG are my favorites.

Abbado is quite good (both Chicago and Berlin) and is often mentioned as a top choice.


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## SixFootScowl

Reviews are telling me both Bernstein 7ths are similar. 

Dudamel is just not right. Did that guy reorchestrate it or something?


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## Pugg

I go with Bernstein too, like the Solti also, never heard the Dudamel.


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## Merl

I have quite a few Mahler 7ths yet it's not my favourite Mahler symphony by a long chalk. My first was Haitink's with the Concertegebouw and that's a decent account but Gielen's reading was where it all started to make sense for me. Not for the first time I'll throw Bertini's recordings into the ring. His 7th is one of the strongest of a fine cycle.


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## Pugg

Merl said:


> I have quite a few Mahler 7ths yet it's not my favourite Mahler symphony by a long chalk. My first was Haitink's with the Concertegebouw and that's a decent account but Gielen's reading was where it all started to make sense for me. Not for the first time I'll throw Bertini's recordings into the ring. His 7th is one of the strongest of a fine cycle.


And if you have to choose just one...that would be?


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## Merl

Pugg said:


> And if you have to choose just one...that would be?


and the winner is............................Gielen!


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## SixFootScowl

Merl said:


> and the winner is............................Gielen!


Which one? I see two Gielen recordings of the 7th:

Berlin Philharmonic (live 1994) and SWF-Baden Baden (studio 1993). Seems the live one is the one to get.


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## Chronochromie

Florestan said:


> Which one? I see two Gielen recordings of the 7th:
> 
> Berlin Philharmonic (live 1994) and SWF-Baden Baden (studio 1993). Seems the live one is the one to get.


Nope, the second, studio one is.


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## Rach Man

Pugg said:


> I go with Bernstein too, like the Solti also, never heard the Dudamel.


I do like the Solti 7th with the CSO. I may be in a minority, but I like a lot of Solti's Mahler.


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## Merl

Florestan said:


> Which one? I see two Gielen recordings of the 7th:
> 
> Berlin Philharmonic (live 1994) and SWF-Baden Baden (studio 1993). Seems the live one is the one to get.


Nah, the Hannsler version is the one to get. The Testament one with the BPO does nowt for me. Gielen's SWR Mahler cycle is excellent.


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## Vaneyes

Florestan said:


> I am starting to think the 7th may be my favorite Mahler symphony. Currently I have Bernstein New York Philharmonic (1965) and Levine Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I am about to listen to a library copy of Mahler 7 conducted by Dudamel. Anyway,* I am wondering what are anyone's favorite Mahler 7s.*


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## SixFootScowl

Chronochromie said:


> Nope, the second, studio one is.





Merl said:


> Nah, the Hannsler version is the one to get. The Testament one with the BPO does nowt for me. Gielen's SWR Mahler cycle is excellent.


Well that's good because the BPO live one is very expensive, if I were to purchase it. But now I see Solti and Abbado recommended too.


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## Azol

If I had to choose the only Mahler 7, it will be this one:


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## realdealblues

I can't remember how many recordings I have of the 7th, but I know it's at least 30.

Out of all of them, Bernstein's 1966 New York recording on Sony is still my favorite and the only one I couldn't live without.


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## SixFootScowl

I am seeing reviews in a number of places praising Levine's 7th and his other Mahler symphonies, except for 10 which apparently has quite different recording characteristics in the adagio than in the rest of it (being recorded at different times and places and perhaps with different recording technology), but I have about the best Mahler 10 out there--Rattle!

That reminds me, Rattle has a pretty good 7th too, no?


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## Merl

I'm not keen on Rattle's older Mahler recordings. There's a couple I really like (#2 and #10 with the CBSO / Bournemouth) but most of the others I've heard or possess are just meh and some (#1 especially) are just very poor or lifeless. I cant comment on the new BPO Mahler symphonies - they get very mixed reviews. I will hear them very soon, no doubt and get back to you.


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## D Smith

Bernstein is my favourite. He makes it all work somehow. I heard this live conducted by Maazel with the NYP quite a few years ago and while it was an exciting performance it didn't hang together in the same way.


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## Pugg

Azol said:


> If I had to choose the only Mahler 7, it will be this one:
> 
> View attachment 89400


Specially watching it.......


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## Brahmsian Colors

Both Bernstein/NY Philharmonic and Tennstedt/London Philharmonic are superb, but to me the latter sounds close to inspired.


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## Markbridge

Florestan said:


> I am starting to think the 7th may be my favorite Mahler symphony. Currently I have *Bernstein New York Philharmonic* (1965) and *Levine Chicago Symphony Orchestra*. I am about to listen to a library copy of Mahler 7 conducted by Dudamel. Anyway, I am wondering what are anyone's favorite Mahler 7s.


These are also a couple of my favorites. Another one that I really enjoy is Thomas/London Symphony


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