What is the best sounding Mahler symphony cycle?

Jim 204
  I assume that you mean Ivan Fischer and Budapest.  I like their Fourthand I’ve been comparing it with the Blu Ray of Ivan Fischer leading the Concertgebouw.  They are very similar

@mahler123   Yes I did mean the Budapest band I find they are very light with the symphony which Mahler implied through Bruno Walter and the soprano they chose is suitably childlike in the last movement instead of the gargantuan warblers that some past conductors have chosen.

Yeah, their Fourth is a keeper.  Started listening to their Sixth today but haven’t formed an opinion yet

More  Budapest...I auditioned the Sixth.  It’s Andante-Scherzo, which I don’t like but can correct with a touch of the remote.  And there is some great playing here, particularly strings in the Alma theme and elsewhere.  However, I am starting to concur with Mayor Adam..they sound like they don’t have the cahones to complete with the big boys in this, Mahler’s most ferocious conception.  They are a relatively small band at around seventy players, and I think that they should have augmented themselves to compete with the likes of Chicago, Berlin, Vienna, etc

Has Mariss Jansons with the RCO been mentioned? I’m listening to the #2 live recording and the sonics are excellent. Not the most powerful rendition, but every detail by the Concertgebouw is heard with no harshness and with plenty of air and space defining the soundstage. The instruments and venue are well mic’d and provide 3 dimensional sound.
In hires it’s a most enjoyable experience.