Mahler Solti

György 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.

Decca celebrates one of the world’s most prolific conductor-orchestra partnerships with a deluxe 108-CD box set marking both the 20th Anniversary of the passing of Sir Georg Solti and the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 108 CDs presenting Solti’s and the CSO’s complete recorded legacy together: from their very first recording at Medinah Temple in March 1970 of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony to their last at Orchestra Hall, Chicago in March 1997 of Shostakovich’ Symphony No.15.

Decca celebrates one of the world’s most prolific conductor-orchestra partnerships with a deluxe 108-CD box set marking both the 20th Anniversary of the passing of Sir Georg Solti and the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 108 CDs presenting Solti’s and the CSO’s complete recorded legacy together: from their very first recording at Medinah Temple in March 1970 of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony to their last at Orchestra Hall, Chicago in March 1997 of Shostakovich’ Symphony No.15.

This Solti performance is the perfect balance between classical structure and clarity with expressive warmth. … Perhaps I'd rather hear Judith Raskin or Margaret Price singing "Das himmlische Leben, but Kiri Te Kanawa is just fine in the end. … This is truly a great performance from beginning to end.

Decca celebrates one of the world’s most prolific conductor-orchestra partnerships with a deluxe 108-CD box set marking both the 20th Anniversary of the passing of Sir Georg Solti and the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 108 CDs presenting Solti’s and the CSO’s complete recorded legacy together: from their very first recording at Medinah Temple in March 1970 of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony to their last at Orchestra Hall, Chicago in March 1997 of Shostakovich’ Symphony No.15.

Decca celebrates one of the world’s most prolific conductor-orchestra partnerships with a deluxe 108-CD box set marking both the 20th Anniversary of the passing of Sir Georg Solti and the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 108 CDs presenting Solti’s and the CSO’s complete recorded legacy together: from their very first recording at Medinah Temple in March 1970 of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony to their last at Orchestra Hall, Chicago in March 1997 of Shostakovich’ Symphony No.15.

It seems that Gary Bertini, like Gustav Mahler, is destined to be better remembered after his death than he was known during his life. When he passed away in 2005, he was little known outside Israel, Japan and continental Europe and nowhere near as widely recognised as the glamour conductors who appear on the пїЅmajorпїЅ labels. His recordings were few and hard to find. A year after his passing, Capriccio has launched a Gary Bertini Edition (see, for example, review) featuring live recordings drawn from the archives of the KпїЅlner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, and EMI has re-released his Mahler cycle.

A beautifully lyrical, mellow and atmospheric performance, recorded with outstanding clarity and fiedlity and clearly benefiting from having been recorded ''live''. Inbal's interpretation comes close to Solti's in its happy blending of the symphony's poetry and drama. Of course, the Chicago Symphony's playing for Solti (Decca), and for Abbado's rather more impersonal approach (DG), is in a class of its own, as is the Decca recording, but the Frankfurt strings have a lovely sheen and the woodwind and brass are superb—many Mahlerians may prefer, as I do, the sound of this fine orchestra in this music to the spotlit brilliance of Muti's Philadelphia (EMI) and the sometimes insensitive though highly-dramatic New Yorkers under Mehta (CBS).

It’s interesting that Georg Solti’s recordings of Strauss tone poems seem never to have gotten the attention that they deserve. True, he did not program them with the same frequency and comprehensiveness that he did Strauss’ contemporary Mahler, but Solti’s credentials as an exciting and idiomatic conductor of the operas have never been questioned. He knew and worked with the composer personally from his days at the helm of the Munich opera after the Second World War, and more to the point, he plays this music with just the kind of directness and virtuosity that it demands.