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Mahler - The Symphonies / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti | 
 enlarge | Artists: Kiri Te Kanawa, Georg Solti, Gustav Mahler, George Solti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Isobel Buchanan, Mira Zakai, Arleen Auger, Heather Harper, Yvonne Minton, Lucia Popp, John Shirley-quirk, Martti Talveala, Helga Dernesch
Label: Decca
Category: Music
List Price: $79.98
Buy Used: $43.95
You Save: $36.03 (45%)
New (4) Used (10) from $43.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 53539
Format: Box Set
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 10
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 5.8 x 5 x 3.3
MPN: 430804
UPC: 028943080422
EAN: 0028943080422
ASIN: B0000041Z6
Release Date: February 11, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: All items are guaranteed to play like new or they will be replaced or a refund will be issued.
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | 1. Langsam. Schleppend. Wie ein Naturlaut | | • | 2. Kraeftig bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell | | • | 3. Feierlich und gemessen, ohne zu schleppen | | • | 4. Stuermisch bewegt | | • | 1. Allegro maestoso |
Disc 2
| • | 2. Andante moderato | | • | 3. In ruhig fliessender Bewegung | | • | 4. Urlicht. Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht | | • | 5. In Tempo des Scherzo |
Disc 3
| • | 1. Kraeftig - Entschieden | | • | 2. Tempo di Menuetto. Sehr maessig | | • | 3. Comodo. Scherzando. Ohne Hast | | • | 4. Sehr langsam. Misterioso | | • | 5. Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck |
Disc 4
| • | 6. Langsam. Ruhevoll. Empfunden | | • | 1. Bedaechtig. Nicht eilen | | • | 2. In gemaechlicher Bewegung. Ohne Hast | | • | 3. Ruhevoll | | • | 4. Sehr behaglich |
Disc 5
| • | 1. Trauermarsch | | • | 2. Stuermisch bewegt. Mit groesster Vehemenz | | • | 3. Scherzo: Kraeftig, nicht zu schnell | | • | 4. Adagietto: Sehr langsam | | • | 5. Rondo-Finale: Allegro |
Disc 6
| • | 1. Allegro energico, ma non troppo | | • | 2. Scherzo: Wuchtig | | • | 3. Andante | | • | 4. Finale: Allegro moderato |
Disc 7
| • | 1. Langsam - Allegro | | • | 2. Nachtmusik 1: Allegro moderato | | • | 3. Scherzo | | • | 4. Nachtmusik 2: Andante amoroso |
Disc 8
| • | 5. Rondo - Finale | | • | 1. Andante comodo | | • | 2. Im Tempo eines gemaechlichen Laendlers. Etwas taeppisch und sehr derb |
Disc 9
| • | 3. Rondo-Burleske. Allegro assai. Sehr trotzig | | • | 4. Adagio. Sehr langsam und noch zurueckhaltend | | • | Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Veni, Creator Spiritus | | • | Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Imple superna gratia | | • | Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Infirma nostri corporis | | • | Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Accende lumen sensibus | | • | Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: [Veni, Creator Spiritus] | | • | Part 1: Hymnus: Veni, Creator Spiritus: Gloria Patri Domino |
Disc 10
| • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Poco adagio: Waldung, sie schwankt heran | | • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Ewiger Wonnebrand | | • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Wie Felsenabgrund mir zu Fuessen | | • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Gerettet ist das edle Glied | | • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Uns bleibt ein Erdenrest / Hier ist die Aussicht fr | | • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Hoechste Herrscherin der Welt / Dir, der Unberuehrbar | | • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Bei der Liebe, die den Fuessen | | • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Neige, neige, Du Ohnegleiche | | • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Blicket auf zum Retterblick | | • | Part 2: Final scene from Goethe's Faust Part 2: Alles Vergaengliche |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Gyoergy Solti has come in for his share of hard knocks as a Mahler interpreter, and no one will pretend that he has the same sort of intuitive empathy for this music that Leonard Bernstein has. But he does have the Chicago Symphony Orchestra--no mean advantage--and many of these performances have come up sounding rather well. London also has been smart to include his first (and better) performance of the Fifth, and he generally does quite well by Symphonies Nos. 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9 as well. There may be better performances of the other symphonies available, and every music lover will have personal preferences, but at a budget price this set offers pretty impressive value for the money. It deserves its success. --David Hurwitz
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
Mahler at his best November 23, 2008
This recording ofers fine sound quality and the Fifth is perhaps the best performace. Chicago as always features a great brass section.
The only problem is the way that somee of the symphonies run over two discs so the breaks between the works can make it had to find the start of a work. The Tenth (Adagio) is not included.
Solti Reconsidered February 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The recent tenth anniversary of Solti's death has prompted me to renew my acquaintance with this conductor's work. Over a period of several months I have been listening to recordings from various phases of Solti's career of diverse repertoire from Bach to Bartok. As a result of this effort, I have come to a new estimation of an artist of whose work I had previously a fairly low regard. This estimation was, I believe, based more on the received opinions of record reviewers than my own perceptions. I had always believed Solti to be a "high-voltage" sensationalist who tended to brutalize the standard repertoire. That assessment, however, misses both the abiding accomplishments of Solti's career as well as the many ways in which his interpretive proclivities matured over the years. The stereotype of Solti as a brutalizer now seems a hasty generalization based on an incomplete assessment of a complex artist who developed in surprising ways over a long career. If this assessment seems ill-considered, I would encourage you to check out some of Solti's later Haydn and Mozart recordings, which are remarkably sympathetic, or his surprisingly idiomatic *St Matthew Passion* (one of the most oustanding modern-instrument versions of that work).
The set under review here presents Solti's work with the CSO over a span of about fifteen years. Earlier versions of certain symphonies with other orchestras, and in some cases later versions with the same orchestra, have been passed over for the sake of presenting a maximally coherent interpretive profile. In some cases, the compilers' decisions concerning which versions to include were regrettable, though overall one can derive from this set an accurate estimation of Solti's approach to this composer, with its characteristic virtues and vices. What is most striking about these performances, perhaps, is the sheer virtuosity Solti evokes from the band with which he was associated for such a large portion of his career. They respond instinctively and with remarkable unanimity to his every gesture. This is playing that, in purely technical terms, approaches perfection. Another virtue is Solti's ability to balance detail and structure in unfolding Mahler's densely contrapuntal textures and sometimes convoluted symphonic arguments. Like his fellow Hungarians Fritz Reiner and George Szell, Solti combines intellectual brilliance with a consummate understanding of orchestral sonority at every level. But unlike them, his approach to Mahler (and other composers) is warmer, more affectionate, and ultimately more compelling. Indeed, the very intensity of his involvement with this music can be disturbing, and may account for the impression of sensationalism that has worried many reviewers over the years.
However, no single conductor can interpret every work within a composer's symphonic output with equal insight or enthusiasm; and so Solti's Mahler cycle is predictably uneven--though no more so perhaps than Bernstein's, Kubelik's or Abbado's (to name just a few).
Here is a brief run-down of my (mostly positive) impressions of each performance in this set:
No. 1: Solti's earlier version of this symphony with the LSO is a riveting account, justly praised for its brilliance. The later CSO version, included here, is warmer, more evocative, and also more hazily recorded (early digital). The introduction to the first movement is quite magical, but thereafter the tension begins to flag, and despite some gorgeous playing, the overall impression is one of fits and starts. My own preference would be for the superbly remastered LSO version, or better yet for Horenstein.
No. 2: Solti also recorded this with the LSO in the early Sixties. The later version may lack the grip of the earlier, but it is more sensitive to nuance and atmosphere, particularly in the long Finale. I prefer the soloists in the LSO version, but otherise the later performance is to be preferred; it conveys a greater sense of occasion. On the other hand, Solti doesn't begin to convey the spiritual depths of the work as searchingly as Klemperer, Walter or Bernstein.
No. 3: I have not heard Solti's LSO version of this work, but it was almost universally regarded by critics as unsympathetic. The later version conveys a certain welcome cogency in a work that can seem to ramble, but otherwise this is one of the less impressive performances in Solti's Mahler Cycle. Solti doesn't seem entirely in sympathy with the work's evocation of cosmic forces in the first movement, or pastoral epiphanies in the second and third. The fourth movement with its Nietzsche setting manages to convey a haunting quality, and the Morning Bells of the fifth are exuberant enough. But then in the finale, Solti fails to convey the rapt quality one desires: things just keep getting faster and louder. Little spiritual exaltation here. For that, go to Horenstein or Bernstein/Sony.
No. 4: A vast improvement over Solti's earlier version with the Concertgebouw which was indeed "brutalized." This time he's got the measure of this work's nostalgia and whimsy, and Dame Kiri is quite lovely in the finale. In the end, however, I would opt for Walter, Kubelik or Kletski in this work.
No. 5: An unpleasantly hard-edged, even hard-nosed interpretation. Solti's later CSO recording, done live on tour, is far more effective. Indeed, it is one of the most ecstatic accounts of the score I have ever heard.
No. 6: A thrilling performance--maybe not a profound as Bernstein, but superbly played and vividly recorded, with devastating cumulative effect. One of the better sixths around, in my estimation. Far better than the overpraised Karajan.
No. 7: Bernstein evokes a more haunting atmosphere in movments 1-3, but Solti's incisiveness is also welcome. Solti is surprisingly seductive in the fourth-movement serenade, and second to none in his ability to hold the ramshackle finale together. Overall, a compelling account, and once again the CSO cover themselves in glory.
No. 8: Arguably Solti's most famous recording, and justly so. A performance of a problematic work that successfully combines rigor with sensitivity. No imporant detail escapes Solti's attention, yet he has the measure of Mahler's "cosmic" vision. Tennstedt conveys the work's religious ardor more effectively, and Bernstein is uniquely propulsive in the first movment; but Solti grasp of the work's architecture is so complete that everything proceeds with a sense of dramatic inevitability. The solo and choral singing are first rate; perhaps unrivalled on any other version.
No. 9: Solti would not seem to be an ideal expositor of this elusive, death-haunted work, and indeed his earlier LSO version could be accused of exposing every dark corner of the piece with a searchlight brilliance. The later CSO account, however, reveals how much Solti matured as a Mahler interpreter. It conveys the hushed intensity as well as the tragic import that were lacking the first time around. Solti's is a dark, turbulent vision of the work--no easy consolations here. Even the second movement--which if often given as a kind of comic relief--is dark and menacing here, thanks to a slowish tempo and heavy accents. Throughout the CSO revel in Mahler's kaleidoscopic scoring. A superb Ninth, in my estimation--though it doesn't quite achieve the catharsis of Bernstein or Karajan.
In sum, then, the prospective purchaser would probably do better to acquire individual versions of each symphony rather than opting for an integral set under one conductor. However, if the idea of a modestly priced box appeals to you, and if you are open to Solti's intensely dramatic and hyper-virtuosic style of interpretation, then I wouldn't hesitate to acquire what is ultimately one of the better Mahler cycles around.
I still come back to these performances after 10 years. July 6, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was a young high schooler when I bought this set. When i heard all of these performances I was inspired and amazed at the power of mahler. Now 10 years later i will say my tastes have changed, and I have heard many other versions of mahler. And while there are many amazing performances of all of mahler symphonies I still think this set is truely inspirational. With all that said i want to take the time to point out my new mahler passion. Abbado and the Lucerne festival orchestra and their ongoing mahler DVD project.
If you have the rescources and the money, I would suggest that you invest in this series. The performace of Symphony 5 is great and on par with many of the great performances. I still think Solti's 5th is the definitive recording, but the lucerne performance is still worth the money. And the "Ressurection" symphony is truely an inspiring performace. But it is the 7th symphony that is truely awe inspiring. I have never heard a performance so full of life and musicality. I cry everytime i hear it. I just ordered the new release of mahler's 6th symphony and i have high expectations as well.
Back to Solti's mahler. In my humble opinion the Recordings of 2, 3, 5, and 6 are definitive recordings. I have not come across another recording that I like better. I would have said the same thing of the 7th until I heard Abbado's on DVD. Now it is my definitive 7th. The 8th is generally consididered difinitive as well and i won't argue at all, but i did recently come across a new recording on the naxos label with the Warsaw philharmanic and Antoni Wit conducting. It is well worth checking out. The ninth i fully admit is the symphony I am least familiar with. I do however enjoy the recording here in the Solti set, but fully contest that there might be better out there. So this leaves us with the 1st and 4th. The recordings in this set are fine recordings, but again there are probably better ones out there. One of my favorite 1st is one on the Harmoni Mundi label, with the Florida Philharmonic and James Judd conducting, but I recently found out it is out of print. So if you come across a copy I highly recomend picking it up. So as for the 4th, I don't have any recording to recommend.
So my overall recommendation is if you wan't a great reference recording of the mahler symphonies this is the way to go. I don't think there is another set out there that can compete with the solti version. I also say that if you can, expereince the ongoing mahler interprtations on DVD with Abbado and the lucerne festival Orchestra.
 Great artistic interpretations & technical reproduction January 9, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Beautifully reproduced. I say that because I also had CDs of these performances before they were reproduced for this collection. Absolutely warm and human interpretations by Solti. Thanks for putting this all together.
It's all about Mahler December 3, 2005
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
So many Mahler performances, both in concert and on record, are mannered to the extent that one senses a conductor trying to convey the impression that it is his personal suffering, not the composer's vision, which is producing such beautiful music.
Not Solti's. He and his incredibly virtuosic orchestra let Mahler do the talking. The 5th, 6th and 7th especially lend themselves to Solti's approach, while the 8th benefits from his
long, successful career in the pit. Though Karajan, Walter, Guilini and others have recorded great 9ths, I defy anyone to find a better played one than this. Solti gives us the orchestral tours de force that are the Mahler Symphonies and which, I believe, explain why "my(his)time will(has) come."
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