Where Sir Georg explores a forested garden in a polo shirt, sport jacket, and slacks. Don't forget your wingtips!

 

I have never been totally on board with Leonard Bernstein's heart-on-sleeve approach to Mahler, although his first is a cracker.

I suppose this is why I take to Solti's Mahler. In Symphony no. 1, I find more humanity and wandering spirit from the Hungarian conductor, especially compared to his other Mahler outings.

With that aspect, in Chicago it is more evident when Solti wants the orchestra to explode. There is less time for preparation and less time for the wind down. It seems hasty and calculated.

I think that is the slight drawback of this Chicago recording compared to his earlier one with the London SO. Both are very similar outlooks from Solti, but there are some minor sonic differences between analogue and digital, and he is ever more natural with the music in London, making that one a smidgen more special.

But, I could really be happy with either. Truthfully, Claudio Abbado and James Levine, who both recorded Mahler's first in Chicago as well, might have found the more effective middle ground between both of Solti's recordings.

A review from 2024

Sir Georg Solti was great in Mahler’s Symphony 1, perhaps the conductors best symphony in his cycle. His is a fierce, clear-eyed view, featuring stunning orchestral virtuosity, very different from the heart-on-sleeve Bernstein, who so promoted Mahler in the US.

Like others, I think I mildly prefer Solti’s outing with the London SO from the 60s over this Chicago recording from the 80s, but there is still much to admire here.

Some of the pros of this Chicago recording is the clean, taut sound from Chicago in their Orchestra Hall. The London SO from the 60s was not the powerhouse it became later; they could sound a little rough, but I think this aspect also aided their cause in Mahler’s 1st. Here Chicago can seem clinically fresh, but are certainly a powerful ensemble, and the bass has much more impact.

The Decca sound features bright treble from its early digital recording, not quite as satisfying as Decca’s older analogue sound. But in both recordings, Solti captures the youthful zest of Mahler’s early symphony. If he doesn’t quite resurrect the same mystical forested atmospheres and magical timings from London, Solti was always at his best with this symphony in Mahler’s cycle.

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Works
Symphony 1 in D Major 'Titan'

  I. 15.45
 II. 7.44
III. 11.34
IV. 20.50

Ensembles
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Georg Solti, conductor

Label: Decca
Year: 1984
Total Timing: 55.53

 

 
A tough call.

I like Solti in Mahler's first symphony, but I think his earlier recording with the London SO has the edge on his Chicago one.

Nitpickery? Perhaps...

The other option is to not listen to either Solti recording, and instead go for Abbado or Levine in Chicago instead. Or Bernstein...?

 

 

 

 

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