Mahler: Symphony No. 3 Mehta. Decca Analogue Productions

Gustavo Dudamel's historic Mahler Project was a highlight of music-making in early 2012, for he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in Gustav Mahler's nine completed symphonies, in a series of critically acclaimed concerts. The first CD to be issued from the marathon event is Deutsche Grammophon's 2013 release of the Symphony No. 9 in D major, one of the most challenging of Mahler's works to interpret and one of the most satisfying to hear when it is played with insight and originality.

David Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra have presented exceptional performances of Gustav Mahler's symphonies in the hybrid SACD format, and this recording of the Symphony No. 9 in D major follows suit in its spot-on reading and splendid sound. Among the most enigmatic and difficult of Mahler's completed symphonies to interpret (perhaps only exceeded in strangeness by the Symphony No. 7, or in mystery by the unfinished Symphony No. 10), the Symphony No. 9 is haunted by visions of death, and Mahler's range of expressions runs from poignant lyricism to abject terror, resignation, and finally, sublime transformation.

Simply put, this set is a treasure that is also a bargain. Two masterful performances by Barshai and the outstanding Junge Deutsche Philharmonie (a youth orchestra playing like a world class orchestra), both performances among the best available versions of each work. Mahler's unfinished score for his Tenth symphony has been ably projected and realized in performing editions of (most commonly) Deryck Cooke, Joe Wheeler, Clinton Carpenter, Remo Mazzetti, and others. Performances of the Tenth are now commonplace, and there are numerous recordings, many compelling.

David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich have received extraordinary praise for their polished recordings of Gustav Mahler's symphonies, and kudos will surely greet the appearance of the Symphony No. 8 in E flat major, the most ambitious work of the cycle and the greatest challenge to a conductor's ability to marshal several ensembles into one immense entity. Hallmarks of Zinman's earlier Mahler recordings and RCA's superb engineering are the crispness and clarity of details, and the ensemble sound is exquisitely balanced between the chamber groupings within sections and the towering orchestral climaxes.

As a diehard Mahlerite, I have to say I thought I knew the Seventh fairly well, but Inbal manages to make this familiar (to me) work seem utterly new and strange while holding it firmly together (which too often isn't the case in performances of this problem-child of the Mahler family). And he does this without seeming to impose his personality on the music. This is the only Seventh on disc I know of that can match the Bernstein versions (Sony and DG). And it's better-recorded than either of them. Hey Denon–when are you going to reissue all of Inbal's Mahler recordings in a boxed set, as DG did for Bernstein? This is a missed opportunity.

For its final concert of the 2021–22 season and Osmo Vänskä’s last as artistic director, the Minnesota Orchestra chose to present Mahler’s mammoth Eighth Symphony, which calls for one of the largest complement of performers in the history of music, a symbol of the communitarian spirit of collective cultural, social and religious-philosophical endeavour in what has been referred to as a ‘Mass for the Masses’. Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, unlike his others, reveals no contrary despairing voice.

Most recordings of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 in D major present it as it was published in 1899, in the definitive four-movement version. Yet an earlier state of the work was the 1888 tone poem Der Titan, which not only lent its title as an unofficial nickname for the work, but also contained the Blumine movement, which Mahler dropped from the final score. Curiously, many modern conductors have incorporated it back into the symphony as the second movement, even though its slow tempo and sentimental mood break the momentum and excitement created by the joyous first movement.