In answer to your question, I note that my distinguished colleague, Marc Bridle, has come up with an interesting suggestion with Sinopoli. Normally Marc and I agree on many things and indeed I certainly would second his endorsement of Haitink's live 1968 Mahler 6, as well as picking up on your point about how some conductors not only didn't conduct the Eighth, but even some experienced hands (such as Abbado [as suggested by Marc] as well as Haitink) didn't do it very well either. However, while I find Sinopoli's Mahler to usually be very interesting, I also find him a little left-field even if, to be fair, it is consistently left field. So my own nomination for a consisent one conductor led symphonies 5,6,7 & 8 would probably be from Bernstein's second DG cycle where the Fifth and Sixth are amongst the very best of all, with the Seventh and Eighth not far behind. Clearly that one is from a single cycle, but an alternative would be a mix and match Klaus Tennstedt - his late, live accounts of the Fifth and Sixth with the LPO are terrific and could be supplemented by the 1987 Philadelphia Seventh and any of his Eighths; all showcase the child-like wonder he habitually brought to his Mahler performances.
Ironically then how Tennstedt was the one conductor whose final Mahler Seventh with the LPO challenged my views of the symphony to its foundations - I think this was one of very last times he conducted in public and quite possibly was his final public engagement (I hope more knowledgeable readers will correct me if I am wrong - he did conduct a Weber Overture [I think] with a student orchestra after it, but nothing else that I am aware of). This final recording is most certainly not a journey from darkness to light, unlike before - the long shadows from the first movement obstinately remain and haunt the the jubilation of the final movement, which now sound forced and hollow. It is a remarkable reading and perhaps indicates why I found this conspectus so much harder to complete than that of the First Symphony. Hopefully the Eighth (which is the next one I will do) will be easier, but beforehand we have Marc's own Conspecus on the Sixth to look forward to.
That said, these are just my own opinions and, as always, I would be fascinated to learn those of others.
Best wishes,
lee
Using your criteria of same conductor/orchestra I'd choose Sinopoli/Philharmonia, not least because his recordings of those three symphonies, with the possible exception of Nr.8, offer the most challenging perception of the journey between them. That is especially true of Nr.6 and Nr.7. I don't think any complete cycle is quite as difficult as the Sinopoli one for the listener. Nor more rewarding.
The complete survey of the M6 is in my hands and I will send you in the direction of one very dark horse recording. It's Fabio Luisi and the Orchestre de Suisse Romande. The CD is extremely expensive, but the download is affordable. Otherwise, the Haitink '68 M6 is a good choice (probably his best attempt at this symphony). Mahler 8 used to be done so infrequently; not so today, the discography is large. My feeling is that a lot of conductors who don't otherwise conduct Mahler (like Thielemann) conduct M8 - as did Colin Davis - and treat it as if Mahler never composed the work. Those performances one should avoid (add Abbado to that list, too). Sinopoli is still as recommendable today as he was when his recording appeared back in the 1980s.
Like everyone else here, I’ve been enthralled and fascinated by Lee Denham’s book-length (50,000 words!) survey of Mahler Seventh recordings. Still haven’t taken it all in.
Lots of interesting ramifications, some of which extend well beyond the bounds of the Seventh.
I’ve been specially interested by Lee’s argument that ‘it is a work that undoubtedly moves from darkness to the sunshine of C Major in its final movement…. For me, it is indeed a journey of the night, from the darkness that the listener is plunged into at the end of the Sixth Symphony when the music topples over into the abyss, to the blazing light of the opening of the Eighth Symphony’s hymn “Veni, Creator Spiritus”.’
This idea intrigues me. My wife & I often listen to Mahler’s Knabenhorn symphonies (2 + 3 + 4) as a set, in matching performances, on 3 successive eveings. Ditto with the Rückert symphonies (5 + 6 + 7).
If I wanted to listen to [?5 +] 6 + 7 + 8 performed as a journey into the light, in a stylistically homogeneous sequence (same conductor, same orchestra) on successive evenings, what would be my best option?
Many of the finest recordings of 7 take the opposite view, and invest its finale with (in Lee’s words) a ‘sense of Shostakovichian irony, of a triumphant final movement that is not really triumphant.’ (Bernstein, for instance, was an outspoken advocate of that view, both in his comments and in his recordings.)
Also, some of the conductors who DO present the finale of 7 as a journey into the light didn’t record 8.
Subtracting all those, what are my best remaining options? Haitink (using his very Christmassy Kerstmatinee 7, and perhaps the vibrant 1968 live 6 in his Q Disc box)? Neumann?? Adam Fischer???
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