I have two earlier recordings that also substitute a baritone for the alto part, and both involve Fischer-Dieskau. The first, from 1959, has Murray Dickie as tenor, with the Philharmonia conducted by Paul Kletzki. Although I prefer the greater intensity of the Bernstein recording, this earlier version has its own merits. Fischer-Dieskau was still in his youthful prime, whereas in the Bernstein the vocal deterioration and tendency to compensate by barking and over-emoting was just starting to appear. But James King is preferable to Dickie, and Bernstein's interpretation is magnificent though extreme--the bleakest and blackest that I've heard.
The other is a live recording from 1964 in which Fischer-Dieskau was joined by Fritz Wunderlich, with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Joseph Krips. The high hopes I had for that one were immediately dashed by the execrable recorded sound. There's hardly any bass response--the tam-tam sounds like a pie tin. And Krips, estimable conductor though he was, sounds out of his element in Mahler.
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