The Best Recordings of Mahler Symphony No. 9 

I remember listeining to the Karajan's Mahler 9 in the parking lot of the mall i worked for, in my car during break time. It was a very tough period. It steadily grew on me until i eventually became addicted. I remember playing back the final adagio over and over again in my head while working, there was just something hauntingly beautiful in the way the strings are layed out during the entire movement (and symphony). Those moments where the whole music seems like it's about to collapse on itself just to be saved by the recourring theme at last... It's harmonicaly edgy, yet heartbreaking and so powerfully nostalgic. I love the Abbado's version with the Berliner from 2002. Thanks for your video, i'll definetely check out the other recordings as well!

Nice to see another Classical review channel (competing with Hurwitz). BTW, Hurwitz hates the Barbirolli Berlin recording, but I agree with you. I think it is superb. My favorite is probably Ancerl which I had procured on LP back in the day...just a knockout performance. I also recently acquired the Bertini complete Mahler Symohonies with Cologne. It's very impressive and brilliantly recorded.

Thanks for the great review! Another very interesting live recording is Jascha Horenstein"s Mahler 9 with London Symphony, BBC Legends.

Mahler 9th is possibly my favorite symphony. Thank you for sharing. Surprisingly my most listened to is Ozawa and the Boston. I find his more restrained approach to soften the devastating blow of it all compared to something like Ancerl (which I also own and love). If you asked me which one sounded best at first I would say Ancerl but to my own surprise Ozawa gets more spin time. I believe it's due to the delicate treatment while still adding weight and tempo where needed along with its pacing while still offering good sound quality. I found this approach to work very well with the 9th. I will have to try Bruno Walter, when I first tried the sound quality turned me off but feel the need to check that off and experience it. I have tried Karajan multiple times and enjoy it. It certainly has its qualities and moments but overall feels clunky and less dynamic for my preference.

I adore the Chailly DVD from Leipzig, Solti in Chicago, the Bernstein/Concertgebouw, Abbado in Lucerne on DVD and in Berlin with the BPO perhaps at the top of my "tree" - the new Rattle live recording with the Bavarian Radio orchestra is quite magnificent

All great recordings - the Ancerl is probably my desert island pick. Another great one is Bruno Maderna’s.

Bernstein's Mahler Nine with the NYP is a great performance and is one of best things he ever did in NY. Solti's LSO Mahler Nine is beautifully played and has gorgeous Decca Kinsway Hall sound engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson.

Rattle's latest 9th with the Bavarian Radio on BR Klassik is also superb

Claudio Abbado with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra (Accentus acc 20214) did a very moving 9th on DVD in 2010. The silence at the end is...breathtaking!

congrats on making this channel. no snark, lets talk music. depends on the week, but karajan, klemperer, bernstein(concertgebouw), and chailly. tough call, if only one: karajan.

I totally agree about which version of the Walter Mahler 9 from 1938 sounds the best. I have every incarnation of this performance on CD, and this early one from EMI sounds warm and beautiful, as opposed to the clinical sterility of the Dutton and later EMI remasterings that I find to be unlistenable.

Subscribed! I started with Barbirolli, then Haitink, Giulini and now Blomstedt. Love the 38 Walter, and he saw Mahler conduct many times. I'm not keen on Rattle's Mahler. Thanks

Best...hands down....Bernstein/Concertgebouw. there is no equal. A close second might be Karajan BPO...the first one (not the digital remake).

I always thought Karajan's Mahler to be cold and detached. Which is why his recording of the 6th is my favorite. It's the only symphony that can withstand such treatment, IMO.

The violin solo played by Rose is quite touching. To those who are used to historic recording, this recording is quite good for a live pre-WWII recording. I do prefer his later stereo recording with theColumbia SO (LA Phil for the most part) which is beautifully played. The rehearsal, issued by Columbia is is fascinating.

Rattle Bayerishen Rundfunks. Beautiful and far superior to his previous efforts.

I’ll cast my vote to Klemperer for the best Mahler 9th. Levine is not far behind.

No one ever agrees with me, but my favourite Mahler 9 is by the Sofia Philharmonic with Emil Tabakov.

Walter! :) But where is Boulez?

Dave Hurwitz is presently sticking pins into his Gil Zilkha voo-do doll, while I'll start pushing needles into mine if this guy continues to pronounce 'Curry-arne' as 'Kerry-Ann'!

You are right to champion the Walter recording further to it having been made in those tense days before the Anschluss, while it can be compared 'emotionally' with the later studio recording of Das Lied von der Erde that Walter made with the dying Kath. Ferrier in 1952...That said, and as I have commented elsewhere on YT, perhaps the most poignant aspect (at least for me) of Walter's pre war Vienna 9th recording are those highly audible - and almost obbligato - cough's coming from the audience, and this in remembering that many in that then live assembly were Jewish, with a lot of them later going on to expend their last desperate breaths in Europe's gas chambers.

Nott & Bamberger is vg.

Karajan was a wonderful Mahlerian, it’s a real pity that he didn’t record all of Mahler’s symphonies. I would like to add the Concertgebouw Orchestra with Haitink; the CSO with Giulini and Abbado with the BPO to your list. I have NEVER liked SSRattle’s Mahler recordings, he sucks all the life out of the music.

Oh dear, the Hurwitz sycophants won't like this. Nice to see a proper instrument in the background and not a Tam tam...

I don't like the Walter '38, he didn't like it himself. The playing isn't good and the intonation at times is ropey to say the least. It's historically interesting for sure but actually not as good as Walter's remake with the Columbia SO and it's not really that intense in my opinion, if you want intensity go for Bernstein, who was a truly great Mahler conductor, avoid his almost train crash with the Berlin PO, his Concertgebouw is the one to go for (his New York is also pretty special too). Rattle is over hyped especially by the Brits, as is Barbirolli, but Barbirolli was far more musical than Rattle. Rattle is just boring. I agree that Klemperer is wonderful, but what do you expect he knew Mahler! Mahler gave him his first break as a conductor. If I had to choose only one it would be the live Karajan.

How can possibly the worst ever Mahler 9th recording make anyone's list of the best? The 1938 Walter/Vienna reading is rushed and horribly played (full of mistakes), and the sonics are miserable, even allowing for a live recording of its age. Bruno Walter himself very much disliked it, admitted it was quite awful, and never would have approved it for release.