Anybody here listen to Mahler?

Mahler is my favorite musical artist in any genre. Tunes! Emotions!

If you can tolerate classical vocals, try "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" recorded by soprano Maureen Forrester, bass Heinz Rehfuss and the Vienna Symphony conducted by Felix Prohaska. It'll instantly take you back in time to fantasy Medieval days. Solid sound quality, too.

Mahler's First Symphony inhabits the same magical place. Try Bruno Walter's old recording, in pretty good sound, as well.

The Fourth Symphony is gentle, easy and, again, filled with fine tunes. The final movement is the proverbial child's vision of heaven.

Mahler's Seventh Symphony can get more than a little long in the tooth but the final movement is glorious & friendly.

In any event, Mahler creates complete musical worlds, worlds you find yourself wandering around in.

I'm not a knowledgeable Mahler listener, but I am a fan.  He can come over any time. :)

Another fairly complete (no 8th) is Michael Tilson Thomas' recording with the SFO in SACD for those who care.  

There sure is an 8th in the series.  

Yes, Tilson-Thomas did record a Mahler 8.  I enjoy that series a lot.

@tuberist ,

I, too, had a hard time with Mahler in the beginning.

My 2 cents:

Start with the First Symphony-Way too many good recordings, so you have no problem finding a good one.

For vocal, I found Das Lied von de Erde, to be an easy listen- and it contains music from the 1st symphony, so you get to hear it in a different setting.

If you are still interested, move onto his other symphonic and vocal works.

Late Mahler is pretty strong stuff (like the Brahms Requiem-IMHO- Well, not that bad😉),

I found the 6th symphony by accident (Horenstein in Stockholm Live, if I recall). It is another ’easy’ listen.

B