Mahler's Resurrection, Gilbert Kaplan/VPO recordin

I have Kaplan's 1st recording of the M2 - I think its amazing, considering that Kaplan is not a professional musician, that he could come up with this kind of performance. That said, I find the performance itself unexciting. It has only been listened to a couple of times. My interpertation of the reviews that I have read about the new VPO version is that the recording may be better but that the performance itself isn't all that much, albiet some, different. In view of the many outstanding 2nd's available, I've had no interest in acquiring a 2d Kaplan. Sorry to sound negative..............

I have the recording, wasn't enthralled by it the first time around, but need to listen to it again at a louder volume (as any Mahler needs) before I can really say anything definitive. Interpretively it is very similar to his first recording, though a bit more polished as Kaplan has gotten better as a conductor and the VPO is a superb orchestra. Sonically it was OK, though I felt the Delos recording with Litton and the Dallas was superior sonically in terms of sounding like what you'd hear in a live performance. I've never been a fan of DG's recording style, but in this case, given Kaplan's hands-on approach to the piece and recording, the use of multi-miking and EQ may actually serve as a benefit, if you agree with Kaplan's interpretation--you might not hear it as you would in a concert hall, but the highlighting of particular instruments may make the performance more compelling. I'm awaiting the Tilson-Thomas and Zander versions on SACD, given the quality of the earlier recordings in their cycles, they may be worthwhile.

I am not going to pay full price for new Kaplan/DG, every review I ahve read prefers the original Kaplan/Conifer (which I do already own) These are my preferred CD versions to date:

Rattle/EMI
Klemperer/EMI GROTC
Bernstein/Sony (prefer this to newer DG version)
Litton/Delos
Solti/London/CSO (prefer this to earlier LSO version)
Mehta/Decca Legends

Best deal has to be latest remastered Klemperer/EMI Great Recordings of the Century version. Single CD at mid price level, spiritually moving performance but not the last word in dramatic excitement. I had the previous non remastered version and the sound improvement is quite dramatic.