Steve Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Tony Duggan:
>
>>Someone whose opinion I normally value (no one on these Lists) once said
>>that Szell was "not a natural Mahlerian" which is think is too harsh.
>>His account(s) of the Ninth that I have heard are excellent.
>
>I'd have agreed with that statement, once upon a time when I hadn't heard
>his Ninth or his Lied.  I have since, and I agree with Tony.  However, I
>still think a Real Mahlerian has to do the entire cycle.

That's too harsh, Steve.  That would rule out Walter and Klemperer neither
of whom ever touched the Sixth.  In fact Klemperer was very selective
indeed in his Mahler.  He never got round to the Eighth, though he was
always talking about it, and hardly ever touched the Fifth which he played
with cuts or the First which he conducted only when young.  I rather admire
the conductors from the previous generation who played what they felt most
in sympathy with.  The current disease of "Completecycleitis" produces more
dull recordings of Mahler's work than anything.

Tony Duggan, England.
Mahler recordings survey:
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/Mahler/