What is a good intro to "Mahler"?

Thanks for the tip, I am new to classical and vinyl so I expected making some mistakes. Can you recommend a good recording of Beethoven's Egmont Overture? I have a copy from Classic records but felt the pace was too slow. I'm looking for pieces that are grand and engaging, ideally with moments of delicacy. The ONLY 2 classical records I own are Beethoven's Egmont Overture and the pending Mahler 5th Symphony. Any recommendations on recordings currently availble on LP that I should try?

Thanks,

By the way, I do have full range speakers with full tube equipment so I'm curious to hear what the Cisco recording will sound like. :)

ethannnn, I realize that your into LP's big time - i don't know what your CD source stuff is - i assume its up to speed, therefor - Unfortunatly, Mahler didn't get recorded a lot before Walter, Bernstein and Abravennel in the 60's. Good vintage Mahler LP's are very hard to find - There are many excellent CD's of Mahler performances that are arguably much better than what you will find on the lp's that are generally available on the used market. If you're into excellent performances of mahler, ask - if you just want lp's currently available, i can't help.

I think you should not limit yourself to vinyl Mahler. I own almost all of the Mahler that was issued on LP since I bought my first Mahler LP in 1964. In my earlier years I made a point of listening to every Mahler symphony recording and I bought most of them.

By 1964 there had been about 30 commercial recordings of Mahler symphonies. By the early days of the CD (1986) the number had grown to 300. As of 1997, the date of the latest Smoley Mahler discography, the number was around 1000!

Probably around 100 are really "must listen" performances if you like Mahler. While for each of the symphonies there is a truly great recording available somewhere on vinyl, many are either truly or practically available only on CD.

Furthermore, without starting another vinyl vs. CD flame, many of the CD reissues clarify Mahler’s orchestral textures over the original vinyl issues. This is particularly true if you only have domestic pressings of European recordings. This conclusion is based on direct comparisons listening with a score.

By sticking to vinyl you cut yourself off from some truly marvelous performances.

Thanks for the advice. Since my recent introduction into analog, I've been reluctant to listen cds. On my system, the differences between the two formats were not subtle. Unfortunately, this doesn't resolve the issue of source material. I love the sound of records but I hate the sound of old noisy records. Perhaps the answer is as you stated, support multiple formats, LP, CD, SACD, etc. My concern is, will my consciousness be listening for the best of performance or the best of sound?

Perhaps you should rethink your position re the music. My CD and my vinyl rigs are both into the five figures and I have many analog-CD duplicates so I think I have a least a basis for my comments.

The difference in sound between CD and analog is non existant compared to sound at the 50+ live Mahler performances I've heard over the years with the world's best orchestras and conductors.

I don't stop listening to recordings just because of the sonic gulf such that no recording is even comparable to well done live Mahler. If I did I would have missed hundreds of musically satisfying recorded performances. By listening only to analog you will be missing many superbly musical performances.