Search - Gustav Mahler, Georg Solti, London Symphony Orchestra :: Mahler: Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection'

Hugely Under-rated LSO / Solti Version

Scriabinmahler | UK | 09/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"First I was reluctant to buy this CD because there were no stars, but it proved to be a silly concern. Solti's 1966 recording of Resurrection with LSO is no less powerful and profound than his famous CSO version recorded later. Actually most of explosions throughout the symphony are much fiercer than his later version. This is not the sort of cosmetically refined and artificially calculated Mahler of our time, but Solti's Mahler is as rough and violent as nature itself. Only weakness comes at the very end of the climax where tension level drops a little. But I still give 5 stars for this as there are much more inferior recordings of recent years with 5 stars (Rattle, Chailly, Boulez etc ). No doubt one of the great recordings of this symphony along side Walter, Klemperer, Kubelik, Stokowski, Haitink, Levi.



Remastered sound is too bright for my taste but a bit of adjustment of amplifier solve the problem and you don't need to stand up to change to second CD! 81 minutes are squeezed on one disc!!"

Great sound, but a so-so performance

Virginia Opera Fan | Falls Church, VA USA | 02/07/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have to admit a bias relative to Solti's Mahler: his penchant for the "orgasm in every other bar" (to quote Wieland Wagner) makes for superficial excitement but not much interpretive depth. The performance loses coherence after the "voice in the wilderness" episode and the end of the work is just plain dull. After all the climaxes, the ending is an anti-climax. On the positive side, Harper and Watts sing very well indeed.



I still prefer this production to Solti's remake with the Chicago Symphony, primarily due to the quality of Decca's 96khz/24 bit remaster. The forty something year old sound is pretty spectacular.



Solti's Mahler just isn't to my taste - other listeners may have a different opinion. My advice for a single disc performance of this symphony is Klemperer's touchstone recording on EMI's Great Recordings of the Century - one of the items in that series that truly deserves the appellation and finally available without the distortion that disfigured earlier CD issues. For a little more cash, the Bernstein recordings (I prefer the CBS to the DG) and Walter do not disappoint. For that matter, I prefer Zubin Mehta's Decca Originals single disc to the Solti."