Karl Miller wrote:

>....  my friend said..."why don't they ever cut Wagner!" While it wouldn't
>be an easy thing to do musically, it did strike me that I wasn't aware of
>attempts to do so.

Bernard Haitink imposed a cut in Tristan last year at Covent Garden.  There
are also cuts in older recordings.  Notably the Reiner Tristan from Covent
Garden in 1936 on Naxos.

>Was curious if others knew of attempts to do so...also, why not "edit"
>Mahler?

Listen to the recordings of the First Symphony by Paul Kletzki where he
imposes a cut in the last movement.  I even possess a recording of Mahler's
First Symphony conducted by Bruno Walter that has a small cut in it at the
end of the last movement.  I also have a recording of Mahler's Second
conducted by Stokowski with some small cuts in the last movement.  It
happens.

Tony Duggan, England.
Mahler CD recordings survey is at:
http://www.musicweb.uk.net/Mahler/index.html