Mahler on vinyl - your favorite

the Bernstein Mahler Box Set is a great place to start. either CD’s, or file download, or streaming (Tidal and Quboz both have this complete set), or the Lp Box Set.....you can’t go too far wrong.

https://www.discogs.com/master/1193298-Gustav-Mahler-Leonard-Bernstein-Symphonies-1-10

i have this original Lp box set and from time to time i pull it out.

i’m not any Mahler expert, but i do play lots of Mahler....and love it.

Des Knaben Wunderhorn -- On Vanguard Everyman Classics. Sung by Maureen Forrester and Heinz Rehfuss. Orchestra of the Vienna Festival. Maybe my favorite record on my shelf, regardless of genre.

Symphony No. 1, conducted by Bruno Walter. Columbia Symphony Orch. On Columbia Odyssey.

Symphony No. 3, conducted by Jascha Horenstein on Unicorn. Also released on Nonesuch. The Nonesuch is not as good a pressing but the tonal balance is better.

Symphony No. 4. Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Bernard Haitink. Fourth Movement sung by Elly Ameling. On Philips. My first exposure to Gustav Mahler. I heard it on the radio when I was a teen and was instantly a Mahler fan.

I dislike vinyl as a medium.  So I would only go for the Jascha Horenstein/LSO

Third, because apparently the digital remix changed the balances for the worse relative to the lp

Mahler 4,5 and 6 by Karajan/BPO on DG. Also Ozawa/BSO on DG doing Mahler 1 deserves mention. These are all LP's I owned before the Digital Era (1982). 

Just a few off the top of my head:

Mahler 2 - Tennstedt - London Philharmonic Orchestra on EMI

Mahler 5 - Bernstein - Vienna PO on DG

Mahler 2 - Bernstein - New York Phil on DG

Mahler 3 - Bernstein - New York Phil on Columbia

Mahler 8 - Solti on Decca

Mahler 4 - Maazel, Battle -  Vienna PO on Columbia

Thanks all! Listening to these on Qobuz and checking availability on used market. 

#2 Solti on London is gripping. Agree on the Elly Ameling Haitink 4th and Horenstein 3rd. But honestly Mahler is better on digital due to the huge dynamic range and the unavoidability of ticks and pops distracting during the pianissimos. 
You must listen to the Zander #6 and #9 with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. 

Yeah, I love the Solti Mahler 2nd as well. The problem with me and the Solti/Decca Mahler Eighth is that I just find the Eighth perhaps,errrr, a trifle overblown.

Listened to Mahler 4 with Bernstein. Can’t say that I like it. Will continue exploring other symphonies from the list above by Bernstein.

@crustycoot no issues with pops and ticks they won’t bother me too much as long as they’re occasional and minor. 

Mahler 1st with Solti and the London Symphony (better than the later Chicago disc.)

Mahler 9th Barbirolli, on Classics for Pleasure label.  Outstanding performance and sound.

Your moniker suggests sound quality is of importance, so with that taken in consideration:

no.1: Walter on US Columbia

no.2: Klemperer on UK Columbia (emi)

no.3: Mehta on Decca/London

no.4: Szell on US Columbia or UK Columbia (emi)

no.5: Barbirolli on HMV (emi)

no.6: Barbirolli on HMV (emi)

no.7: Solti on Decca/London

no.8: Solti on Decca/London

no.9: Walter on US Columbia

Lied von der Erde: Klemperer on UK Columbia 

I realise that the original issues of some of these recordings are in the collectors category and priced accordingly. In those cases (like the Klemperer no.2) you should try to find an early reissue, which usually will sound pretty good for much less. Enjoy the ride!

+1 @crustycoot  Great example is the Abbado/Chicago Resurrection.  The original lps were trashed by critics because the important offstage band was inaudible.  It was in the grooves but cartridges of the day couldn’t reproduce it.  The CD places it in perfect perspective relative to the main Orchestra 

The Abbado Chicago Resurrection was cut for the LP at a very low level, too low a level, and cannot be recommended.  Perhaps better in digital.

I agree and so will not repeat any of the above recommendations.

Songs of the Wayfarer, Fischer-Dieskau, Kubelik, DG (forget the attached 5th)

Sym 1, Horenstein, London Sym, Nonesuch

Sym 5, Abbado, Chicago, DG

Sym 7, Bernstein, NY, Columbia

Sym 9, Haitink, Concertgeboew, Phillips

Sym 10 Adagio, Boulez, London Sym, Columbia

Das Lied von der Erde, Walter, NY, Columbia

All of these hold there own into the digital era.

Symphony No.4-San Francisco Symphony Orchestra

Edo de Waart-Margaret Price

Since this was my first classical recording I purchased a sense of nostalgia exists.

@singingg did you mean ignore the attached on Kubelik’s Songs of a Wayfarer? I didn’t find it with the 5th…

Hope I got the right album. Checking it out on qobuz. 

DG 2707 056 : Symphony 5 and Songs of the Wayfarer (2 LP set)

I recently listened to this album and found the symphony lacking in refinement.

Here are some more suggestions from my LP list :

Das Klagende Lied, Boulez, London Sym (same discs as Sym 10 Adagio)

Das Lied von der Erde, Walter, Vienna Phil, ( ancient mono sound that is saved if you have the Decca curve in your phono pre)

Recital of Mahler Songs, Fischer-Dieskau, Berstein (piano), Columbia

Kindertoten Lieder & 4 Ruckert Lieder, Fischer-Dieskau, Bohm, DG

Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Schwartzkoff, Fischer-Dieskau, Szell, London, Warner

All…thank you! Streaming and checking the above suggestions, making a list. 

Regardless of its deficiencies in terms of sound quality, the Bruno Walter VPO Das Lied von der Erde with Kathleen Ferrier and Julius Patzak (Decca) is unsurpassed.

Not a symphony, but still one of the greatest of all Mahler recordings: Das Knaben Wunderhorn, Szell, LPO with Fischer Dieskau and Schwarzkopf (EMI)

I've picked up some of the old Tennstedt LPO cycle on vinyl recently but still find his way with Mahler difficult to like.