# SS 24.01.15 - Mahler #3



## 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. 3

1. Kräftig. Entschieden
2. Tempo di Menuetto
3. Comodo (Scherzando)
4. Sehr langsam - Misterioso
5. Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck
6. Langsam-Ruhevoll-Empfunden

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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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## Lord Lance

Listening to this classic:

View attachment 61926


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## realdealblues

One of my absolute favorite symphonies!!! This weekend I'll go with my favorite recording and honestly the only one I will ever really truly feel I actually "need"...

View attachment 61925


Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic
Soloists: Jennie Tourel, Martha Lipton


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## elgar's ghost

Nice choice! I'm tempted to play Bernstein (Sony) or Horenstein (U.K.) but I'll go for a recording which goes under the radar a bit.


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## Pugg

​Although it's hard to choose,
I go for this one.


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## csacks

Very nice. I will listen to Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, included in a nice set by DG with Mahler´s complete orchestral work.


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## JACE

I'll go with my favorite Mahler Third:










Rafael Kubelik, Bavarian Radio SO & Chorus, Marjorie Thomas (alto)


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## hpowders

The best Mahler Third for me is from the early Mahler symphony recordings by Leonard Bernstein and the Ny Philharmonic.


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## ptr

Yea! Will listen in the car driving from Genève to Genua tomorrow!








Marjorie Thomas; Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Tölzer Knabenchor u. Rafael Kubelik

/ptr


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## shadowdancer

+1 on Bernstein. 
My sample comes from this box.


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## hpowders

shadowdancer said:


> +1 on Bernstein.
> My sample comes from this box.
> View attachment 61943


Yes. This performance of the Mahler 3 has been unsurpassed. One of Bernstein's greatest recordings.

Accept no substitutes!! :tiphat:


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## brotagonist

Mahler Symphony 3
Tennstedt / LPO

Now that all of my 2014 orders have finally arrived, I am not sure whether I will hear additional versions. Excitement distracts.


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## GioCar

Jascha Horenstein and the London Symphony Orchestra for me










One of my first LP purchases (the cover art is different)


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## starthrower

realdealblues said:


> One of my absolute favorite symphonies!!! This weekend I'll go with my favorite recording and honestly the only one I will ever really truly feel I actually "need"...
> 
> View attachment 61925
> 
> 
> Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic
> Soloists: Jennie Tourel, Martha Lipton


Picked up this one a couple of months ago. Beautiful music!


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## hpowders

realdealblues said:


> One of my absolute favorite symphonies!!! This weekend I'll go with my favorite recording and honestly the only one I will ever really truly feel I actually "need"...
> 
> View attachment 61925
> 
> 
> Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic
> Soloists: Jennie Tourel, Martha Lipton


Yes, I agree completely. This is the greatest performance of the Mahler 3 ever!


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## AClockworkOrange

I'll be going with Klaus Tennstedt's live recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Waltraud Meier on ICA Classics.

When it comes to Mahler, Tennstedt is my first thought - much like Furtwängler & Beethoven. Like Furtwängler, Tennstedt - though superb in the studio - is at his best in the live environment with an audience fuelling proceedings, pushing Maestro & Orchestra to their full and considerable potential.

On Sunday, I will also watch Leonard Bernstein with the Wiener Philharmoniker. I haven't got around to watching this disc yet so it will be very interesting.


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## Avey

_ ._


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## Skilmarilion

Oh wow. To have this work pop up at this stage in the game is a real treat. After the 9th this is probably my favourite Mahler symphony.

I'll put on the performance by Jansons and the Concertgebouw on TV, from this DVD set:


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## Vinski

I will listen to SACD.


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## Richannes Wrahms

Skilmarilion said:


> this DVD set:
> 
> View attachment 61965


Looks like a cereal box. Have you got your GUSTAV'S this morning?


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## Jeff W

I've only heard this one once before... I think I'll go with:









Georg Solti with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra


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## D Smith

One of my favorites, too! Saturday Symphony seems to have struck a chord with the regulars. Bernstein also for me.


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## Mahlerian

Boulez/VPO for me. I love the first movement trombone solo in this recording. It's been a while since I've listened to the whole thing, though.


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## Triplets

I am listening to Jascha Horenstein and the LSO as we speak.


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## Triplets

Skilmarilion said:


> Oh wow. To have this work pop up at this stage in the game is a real treat. After the 9th this is probably my favourite Mahler symphony.
> 
> I'll put on the performance by Jansons and the Concertgebouw on TV, from this DVD set:
> 
> View attachment 61965


I have that set. It's good, but the Jansons didn't strike me as very eventful.


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## nightscape

Gonna change it up a bit and go with Honeck.


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## MagneticGhost

I won't have time to listen to this symphony. But I'm very excited for you all. 
Tote Amazeballs - as they say in some parts around here. (translation - Totally Amazing)
If I was going to join in - I'd choose Bernstein's DG as per D Smith above. Definitive!!


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## donnie a

GioCar said:


> Jascha Horenstein and the London Symphony Orchestra for me
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of my first LP purchases (the cover art is different)


One of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen-and so appropriate for this work! I've read lots of things about this legendary recording, but have yet to hear it.


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## donnie a

I like the Salonen recording (especially the last movement).


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## Haydn man

I have this box set and so it shall be this version for me.
If time allows might give another version a try having read the other suggestions


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## Alfacharger

GioCar said:


> Jascha Horenstein and the London Symphony Orchestra for me
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of my first LP purchases (the cover art is different)


I have this recording on LP on the Nonesuch reissue. I also have it on CD on Unicorn label but the second disc suffers from the notorious "bronze rot" and is unplayable.

I will go with Leinsdorf and the BSO. The Mahler 3rd is one of the BSO specialties,


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## JACE

GioCar said:


> Jascha Horenstein and the London Symphony Orchestra for me
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One of my first LP purchases (the cover art is different)


GioCar,

Your comment about the different cover art piqued my interest. Did your LP cover look like this?










I'd never seen this before. I just did a web search and stumbled across it.

In record stores, I'll occasionally see Horenstein's M3 that Nonesuch licensed & released here in the USA. It looks like this:


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## Blancrocher

Nagano & co. A satisfying, cool performance, imo.


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## Triplets

donnie a said:


> One of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen-and so appropriate for this work! I've read lots of things about this legendary recording, but have yet to hear it.


 Just replayed it yesterday, and I hadn't heard it in a while, either. The sonics are a little duller than I remembered, but still a seat of the pants performance.
Pristine Audio has released a Concert Performance of Horenstein and Berlin in the 5th from 1961. Todays my birthday so I am going t osplurge and order it. Horenstein never commercially recorded the 5th.


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## JACE

Triplets said:


> Pristine Audio has released a Concert Performance of Horenstein and Berlin in the 5th from 1961. *Todays my birthday so I am going t osplurge and order it.* Horenstein never commercially recorded the 5th.


Happy Birthday! 

Let us know what you think of that Horenstein M5.


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## Triplets

JACE said:


> Happy Birthday!
> 
> Let us know what you think of that Horenstein M5.


Just did, and it's downloading now.
I also ordered the 9th, a live recording with the Vienna Symphony from a Mahler Festival that they had in 1960. I have the Horenstein Vox Studio recording with the same Orchestra from 7 years previous. There is a commentary on the site from Horenstein's Nephew, Mischa Horenstein, who apparently supplied the tapes to Pristine for both the 5th and the 9th. It is worth reading on the Pristine site. Apparently the Orchestra(and the Viennese Public) still held both Mahler and Horenstein in disdain at that time for their Jewishness and per Mischa, the Orchestra deliberately tried to sabotage the performance of the 9th. 
Per Mischa the Viennese didn't didn't accept Mahler as a Major Composer until Bernstein convinced them in the 1970s. I remember seeing a rehearsal extract of Bernstein leading the VPO in one of the Mahler Symphonies and the Concertmaster was arguing with LB, at one point refering to the music as "Scheissmusik" (Shitmusic).


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## JACE

Triplets said:


> Per Mischa the Viennese didn't didn't accept Mahler as a Major Composer until Bernstein convinced them in the 1970s. I remember seeing a rehearsal extract of Bernstein leading the VPO in one of the Mahler Symphonies and the Concertmaster was arguing with LB, at one point refering to the music as "Scheissmusik" (Shitmusic).


Wow. Amazing how perceptions can change over time. Can you imagine a Concertmaster in ANY of the world's great orchestras saying that now?!?!?


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## Mahlerian

JACE said:


> Wow. Amazing how perceptions can change over time. Can you imagine a Concertmaster in ANY of the world's great orchestras saying that now?!?!?


Mahler was not considered a serious composer by many (save his immediate circle and the Second Viennese School) until after WWII. Critics routinely trashed his work based on a few stereotypes, some of which have, incomprehensibly, persisted to this day.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Coming a bit late to this thread.......I'm listening to Boulez's version.



ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> This is a long symphony, but great all the way through, especially when conducted by Boulez:


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## Autocrat

Haydn man said:


> View attachment 62033
> 
> I have this box set and so it shall be this version for me.
> If time allows might give another version a try having read the other suggestions


This is mine as well, I think I have it on SACD.


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## ahammel

I'll have to check in with the Tennstedt recording tomorrow.


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## TurnaboutVox

Mahler #3 - what else is Sunday morning for? I've gone with Tennstedt and the LPO on EMI. I'm still getting to know this recording, having got used to Rattle and the CBSO over the last 25 years. (I've deliberately not listened to that very familiar version today).

It is a great symphony, though, isn't it?


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## Triplets

TurnaboutVox said:


> Mahler #3 - what else is Sunday morning for? I've gone with Tennstedt and the LPO on EMI. I'm still getting to know this recording, having got used to Rattle and the CBSO over the last 25 years. (I've deliberately not listened to that very familiar version today).
> 
> It is a great symphony, though, isn't it?


 Yes, it is. Isn't it interesting that the same piece of writing that was the inspiration for Richard Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra was Mahler's inspiration?


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## GioCar

JACE said:


> GioCar,
> 
> Your comment about the different cover art piqued my interest. Did your LP cover look like this?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'd never seen this before. I just did a web search and stumbled across it.
> 
> In record stores, I'll occasionally see Horenstein's M3 that Nonesuch licensed & released here in the USA. It looks like this:


Jace, the cover of my LP is this one:









but possibly I prefer the CD cover instead.


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## Triplets

Just listened to the Mahler 5 by Horenstein and the Berliners. It's a powerful performance. I particularly liked I, which really sounds like a Funeral March, with a much greater kinship to II in Beethoven's Eroica than I had ever thought of before.
The Adagietto is taken a brisk clip and I like it that way.
The Sonics are a limitation. This recording was praised in Fanfare for it's listenability, and it is certainly listenable, but like all historical recordings when I finished I felt the need to play a modern version to cleanse my ears. There is also a fair amount of audience noise, intrusive during the Adagietto. The Sonics are particularly limiting when I compare it to the Bruno Walter 1947 recording, released and wonderfully remastered by Sony as part of a Walter Mahler box. That recording almost passes for a Stereo recording.
Speaking of Walter, and getting back OT, did he ever record the 3rd?


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## Mika

From this box set









Simon Rattle & City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra


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## JACE

Triplets said:


> Just listened to the Mahler 5 by Horenstein and the Berliners. It's a powerful performance. I particularly liked I, which really sounds like a Funeral March, with a much greater kinship to II in Beethoven's Eroica than I had ever thought of before.
> The Adagietto is taken a brisk clip and I like it that way.
> The Sonics are a limitation. This recording was praised in Fanfare for it's listenability, and it is certainly listenable, but like all historical recordings when I finished I felt the need to play a modern version to cleanse my ears. There is also a fair amount of audience noise, intrusive during the Adagietto. The Sonics are particularly limiting when I compare it to the Bruno Walter 1947 recording, released and wonderfully remastered by Sony as part of a Walter Mahler box. That recording almost passes for a Stereo recording.


Thanks for the review, Triplets! 



Triplets said:


> Speaking of Walter, and getting back OT, did he ever record the 3rd?


According to Vincent Mouret's online discography -- http://gustavmahler.net.free.fr/symph3.html -- Walter did not record the M3.


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## Triplets

JACE said:


> Thanks for the review, Triplets!
> 
> According to Vincent Mouret's online discography -- http://gustavmahler.net.free.fr/symph3.html -- Walter did not record the M3.


Thanks. I wonder if he performed it, but was unable to interest a record company. Many Walter malter broadacast perofrmances have surfaced recently, but if there is no M3 out there perhaps he didn't program it....


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## Heliogabo

Nobody here prefers Abbado's version w/ WPO & Norman? . Do you have opinions about this recording? I'm looking forward for this version


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## donnie a

Triplets said:


> Just listened to the Mahler 5 by Horenstein and the Berliners. It's a powerful performance. I particularly liked I, which really sounds like a Funeral March, with a much greater kinship to II in Beethoven's Eroica than I had ever thought of before.
> The Adagietto is taken a brisk clip and I like it that way.
> The Sonics are a limitation. This recording was praised in Fanfare for it's listenability, and it is certainly listenable, but like all historical recordings when I finished I felt the need to play a modern version to cleanse my ears. There is also a fair amount of audience noise, intrusive during the Adagietto. The Sonics are particularly limiting when I compare it to the Bruno Walter 1947 recording, released and wonderfully remastered by Sony as part of a Walter Mahler box. That recording almost passes for a Stereo recording.
> Speaking of Walter, and getting back OT, did he ever record the 3rd?


I don't believe he ever did. I wish he had. Speaking of the faster Adagietto (which I prefer as well), I believe Walter took it at a pretty good clip, too, didn't he? So did most of the older generation of conductors, so I understand. Walter doesn't linger around too long in the last movement of the 9th, either. I've heard some conductors take it so slow that it comes apart at the seams. (Sorry I pulled this off-topic again. )


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## GKC

This was my first Mahler 3rd. Slowish but grand and beautiful:









And I agree with Elgar's Ghost on this one:









But I would, as it's the "home town" orchestra.

Anybody heard this one? If so, how is it?

View attachment 62189


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## Triplets

Heliogabo said:


> Nobody here prefers Abbado's version w/ WPO & Norman? . Do you have opinions about this recording? I'm looking forward for this version
> View attachment 62147


Don't know it, but I love Abbado from Lucerne


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## techniquest

Sorry I'm late for this one, but I've been away most of the weekend. Can I do a 'Monday Symphony' for this please?
I'll go with a couple of recordings not mentioned so far:
1. Chicago SO / Levine on RCA








2. Rundfunk SO Berlin / Heinz Rogner


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## Pugg

> techniquest said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry I'm late for this one, but I've been away most of the weekend. Can I do a 'Monday Symphony' for this please?
> I'll go with a couple of recordings not mentioned so far:
> 1. Chicago SO / Levine on RCA
> View attachment 62199
> 
> 
> 
> I love this one also
Click to expand...


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## techniquest

I've finished listening to the Chicago SO / Levine recording on RCA. It has been in my collection forever and was the second Mahler 3 I owned after the Horenstein. Listening to it again now after so many years and so many other Mahler 3's, it has lost some - just some - of it's sparkle.
The first movement is pretty fine throughout with growling very low basses and some rasping tuba, a great trombone solo (thankfully not too much vibrato). It tends to be a case of loud = fast while quiet = slow though, and it suffers from the common problem of under-recorded tam-tam.
The second and third movements (my favourites) are pleasant enough, but the third does drag: it is slower than I'm used to in the non-posthorn-solo sequences. The 4th movement has us back on track with soloist Marilyn Horn doing a fine job - her voice is perfect for this piece. No 'pull-ups' for the cor anglais or oboe however. In the short 5th movement, the choir sounds really small, almost like a chamber choir but happily the kids section sound great even if there are only three or four of them. The final 6th movement starts _so_ slowly! It comes as something of a shock after the 5th, which in itself isn't particularly fast, but the contrast is very marked. As such, by the time we eventually get to the coda I almost feel a sense of relief which isn't how I'm supposed to be left after Mahler 3. Oh well, now to put on the Rogner recording on Berlin Classics...


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## techniquest

Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin / Heinz Rogner (Berlin Classics).
Just finished listening to this. It's a live recording, isn't it? It has to be, surely. Everything about the sound except for the 5th movement is somehow odd. In the first movement especially, it all sounds as though it's being played in an aircraft hangar. There are also some problems with the orchestra being together, particularly towards the end of the movement. In the second movement, things are taken at an average pace, but I hear no rute (or rattle) where it ought to be. 
The 3rd movement starts just a touch slower than I prefer, but it's fine. That is until you get to the posthorn which has a very peculiar sound and a couple of fluffed notes. The oddities continue into the 4th movement with the cor anglais and oboe pull-ups which are attempted but separate the notes as well as do a glissando - a very strange effect. The oboes fares better doing this in it's first attempt, kind of gives up in the second, but tries again in the third. The alto soloist is excellent in this movement, and the vocal superiority continues into the 5th movement which is by far the best performed and recorded of the set with a superb ominous-sounding central climax section.
The finale starts with a broad and dignified sound, slow but not too slow. However towards the end it really sounds as though the orchestra is getting tired with wobbly brass chorales sounding like a salvation army wind band and some very poor tuning in the final diminuendo just before the coda and in one of the kettledrums at the coda. Maybe it's just me, but this is not a good recording.


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## motoboy

GKC said:


> Anybody heard this one? If so, how is it?
> 
> View attachment 62189


It is my personal favorite, but I am partial to Mehta. His 2nd is overwhelming.


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## GKC

Yes I have his spectacular 2nd. I found it recently as a sealed box LP set. It sounds amazing and performance is now my favorite.
I will have to get his third. Thanks Cornetist ;-)


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## CyrilWashbrook

I'm very late to the party on this one, but I may as well take the opportunity to listen to the work again. I've never really taken to Mahler for some reason, but I do like the third and would probably rate it as my favourite.


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## Lord Lance

CyrilWashbrook said:


> I'm very late to the party on this one, but I may as well take the opportunity to listen to the work again. I've never really taken to Mahler for some reason, but I do like the third and would probably rate it as my favourite.


If you dislike Mahler's Third Symphony, give this record a try:


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## motoboy

GKC said:


> Yes I have his spectacular 2nd. I found it recently as a sealed box LP set. It sounds amazing and performance is now my favorite.
> I will have to get his third.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001C...&dpID=51l1RsNosZL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

This one is a pretty good deal with both 1 and 3. I don't know about this import release. The one I have only appears available as a digital download.


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## CyrilWashbrook

Lord Lance said:


> If you dislike Mahler's Third Symphony, give this record a try:


No, the opposite: I said that I like Mahler's third.


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## OboeKnight

My school is doing the first and sixth movements of this. Our concert is next week. The sixth movement is so beautiful.


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## Zarathustra

I listened to Bernstein NY the other week. Nice recording. Still doesn't do it for me like the 6th or the 2nd. Maybe when I'm older and wiser.


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## Becca

Vinski said:


> I will listen to SACD.
> 
> View attachment 61966


Yea verily! I have both this and Tennstedt but it is the Chailly which usually comes off the shelf.


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