Help me spend my money:

[reidmt]

I don't have a whole lot of money, but I've been thinking of treating myself. We have a slew of Mahler symphonies on our CD shelf, but I've been seriously considering getting a boxed set. I have the Bernstein recordings I want. My wife likes the old Cleveland horn sound but I don't think there's a box. I'm also not really into the Walter

Comments

[reelbigcolin]

are the norton lectures the ones that became the book 'the unanswered question'? if so I would go with that, especially if you have several different recordings of the mahler symphonies. that book was awesome and I didn't even get to hear it, just read it.

[reidmt]

Yes. I have the book, and watched at least one for MUHI. It was the lecture that started with Ravel's Espana and ended with the finale from Mahler 9. The video of the lecture was, in my mind, cooler than the book b/c Bernstein played the piano and excerpted live performances of a lot of the pieces.

These videos may be out of print, I'm still looking around for them on DVD; I've hit some leads on Froogle but I'm a little wary of their stores.

What makes Bernstein so great for me is his take on music. Rather than relying on historicisms, he approaches each work almost as if its his own. It makes a huge difference, especially in the live performances.

MT

[reelbigcolin]

I agree that Bernstein approaches very uniquely, but I must say I am generally dissatisfied with his conducting. A genius compositionally, historically, theoretically, and personally, but I think his conducting leaves a great deal to be desired.

[asddsa]

the kubelik boxed set !

[kishnevi]

That's like asking for the best set of Beethoven symphonies--or Bruckner, for that matter, or Shostakovich. Every recording is a different perspective, and the more perspectives you have, the better.

But I'm not a fan of Bernstein's lectures. Perhaps in lieu of a recording, purchase full scores [I have no idea of availability or pricing, and Amazon doesn't list any]. Or boxed set of a composer you don't have on your shelf, such as
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004R9F0/qid=1151546727/sr=8-10/ref=pd_bbs_10/104-9995541-3911108?n=507846&s=music&v=glance (if you don't already have him)

[kulturkamf]

I have a few. The Solti chicago is terrible. The brass over power the orchestra and are out of tune and play with poor rhythm; the same can be said for the strings. And when you can actually hear the woodwinds the parts aren't recognizable

your money

[kenwoodscc]

Hi Reid
Even if you have the Bernstein discs, there is something to be said for the Bernstein DVDs, which are cheap now on Amazon. Haitink has a DVD cycle coming out this month as well. Abbado's latest round with Berlin and Lucerne is pretty impressive, but isn't in a box set. I know everyone loves Kubelik, but it's out of tune almost all the time and the recoring is really dry. I'm afraid ad hoc is the way to go- Tony Duggan did a really interesting survey of all the recorded versions of all the symphonies. His 2nd survey is here, for instance-
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Mahler/Mahler2.htm
Hope you're all well there.
KW