Gustav Mahler

[Sorrano]

That sounded good, DP, thanks! While I've heard some of the symphonies (saw No. 2 live some years ago) I am really not very familiar with them at all. I happened upon the Levine set at a good price, so I thought that would be a good excuse to get more involved in the symphonies. In the meantime, I've been an avid Bruckner fan and have several different symphonic cycles of his.

[Harvey]

Thanks! I happened across the Levine set that Harvey mentioned but haven't had the opportunity to listen to them yet. I haven't listened much to Mahler, but thought that might be a good excuse to start.

That seems a fine start. You'll just have to fill in the gaps with the two missing symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde, which was originally a symphony so I understand. I also bought a performing edition of symphony 10 which was incomplete when Mahler died. I got the Rattle 10th. I just ordered Muti's 1st because my first Mahler experience was last fall when Muti conducted the 1st live. Just last month I decided to check out Mahler and I am totally blown away at how wonderful Mahler's music is as I began exploring it with my new cycle--Bernsteins 1960s recordings.

I also bought a live recording of Mahler's 8th from the 1995 Colorado Mahlerfest. It is very good!

May I suggest you take it slowly. Listen to a symphony, digest it a bit with a few more listens, before moving to the next. I started July 13th and still have not heard #6, #9 and #10. It is worth taking it slowly.