My Personal Mahler Library

In light of this article that devastated me, realizing that this is truly the end of an era that it's a miracle lasted this long:

Note: I will occasionally update this as tastes change, perceptions change, familiarity grows, and new performances present themselves to my ears (10/16/22)

asterisk indicates essential performance, double asterisk indicates urgently essential

My Personal Mahler Library:

Mahler 1:

Total View: 

1. Dmitri Mitropoulos/Minneapolis Symphony 1940 **
2. Budapest Festival Orchestra/Ivan Fischer 2012 *

3. San Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas 2002 *

Classical: Bruno Walter/Columbia Symphony 1960
Romantic: Rafael Kubelik/Bavarian Radio Symphony 1979 (live) **

Rare: Herbert Kegel/Dresden Philharmonic 1979 (total) *
or Dusseldorf Symphony/Adam Fischer 2017 (total) 
or Pittsburgh Symphony/Manfred Honeck 2008 (romantic)
or Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony/Eliahu Inbal 2013 (total) *
or Cologne Gurzenich Orchestra/Markus Stenz 2012 (total)

Mahler 2:

Total View: 
1. Michael Gielen/SWF Symphony 1996 *
2. London Phiharmonic/Vladimir Jurowski 2013
3. Ivan Fischer/Budapest Festival Orchestra 2006

Classical: 
1. Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bernard Haitink 1985 (live video) *
2. Otto Klemperer/Bavarian Radio Symphony 1965 *
3. New York Philharmonic/Bruno Walter 1958

Romantic: 
1. Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic 1963 *
or Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic ** 1987
2. Simon Rattle/City of Birmingham Symphony 1998 video (not the famous 1987 recording, which sucks)
3. Michael Tilson Thomas/San Francisco Symphony 2004
4. Klaus Tennstedt/London Philharmonic 1989 (live) 

Rare: Christoph Eschenbach/Philadelphia Orchestra 2009 (romantic) *
Cologne Radio Symphony/William Steinberg 1965 (classical)
or Concertgebouw Orchestra/Otto Klemperer 1951 (classical)
or Israel Philharmonic/Zubin Mehta 1988 (live) (classical) *)
or Bruno Walter/Vienna Philharmonic 1948 


Mahler 3:
Total View: 

1. Rafael Kubelik/Bavarian Radio Symphony 1967 (studio or live) *

2. Budapest Festival Orchestra/Ivan Fischer 2017 *

3. Chicago Symphony/Jean Martinon 1967 *

Classical: 

1. Bernard Haitink/Concertgebouw Orchestra 1983 (live) *

2. Riccardo Chailly/Concertgebouw Orchestra 2004

3. Michael Gielen/SWF Symphony 2007

Romantic: 

1. Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic 1960 
or Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic 1986 **

or Leonard Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic 1973

2. Klaus Tennstedt/London Philharmonic (? on BBC)

Rare: Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony/Eliahu Inbal 2013 (total) **
or Minnesota Orchestra/Klaus Tennstedt 1981 (live) (romantic) **
or Cologne Gurzenich Orchestra/Markus Stenz 2012 (classical)

Mahler 4:

Total Views:
1. Leonard Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic 1973 *
2. Rafael Kubelik/Bavarian Radio Symphony 1970ish *
3. Simon Rattle/City of Birmingham Symphony 1996?
Classical:

1. Claudio Abbado/Lucerne Festival Orchestra 2009 *
2. Paul Kletzki/Philharmonia Orchestra 1958

3. Esa-Pekka Salonen/Los Angeles Philharmonic

Romantic: 

1. Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmoni 1960 or 

Leonard Bernstein/Concertgebouw 1986

2. Klaus Tennstedt/London Philharmonic 1981ish

3. Michael Tilson Thomas/San Francisco Symphony 2004

Rare: Eliahu Inbal/Tokyo Metropolitan 2014 (romantic)

or Herbert Kegel/Leipzig Radio Symphony 1979 (romantic *)
or Karel Sejna/Czech Philharmonic 1954 (total) *)
or Bruno Walter/Vienna Philharmonic 1950 (live) (classical)

or Benjamin Britten/London Symphony 1961 (total)

or Pittsburgh Symphony/Manfred Honeck 2010ish (romantic) *

or Simon Rattle/Vienna Philharmonic 1994 (romantic)
or Pierre Boulez/Cleveland Orchestra 1997ish (classical)


Mahler 5:

Total View: 
1. Bavarian Radio Symphony/Rafael Kubelik * 1971 or live 1981 **
2. SWF Symphony/Michael Gielen  2000 *

3. Philharmonia Orchestra/Benjamin Zander 2001 *

Classical: 

1. Cologne Gurzenich/Francois-Xavier Roth 2017
2. New York Philharmonic/Bruno Walter * 1947 

Romantic: 

1. Yomiuri Nippon/Eliahu Inbal 2013 *
2. Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle 2002
3. Pittsburgh Symphony/Manfred Honeck 2011

Rare:

NHK Symphony/Eliahu Inbal 2000 (romantic) **
or Vienna Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado 1980 (live) (total)

or Concertgebouw Orchestra/Rafael Kubelik 1951 (total) *

or Dusseldorf Symphony/Adam Fischer 2018 (total)

Mahler 6:

Total View: 
1. London Philiharmonic/Klaus Tennstedt 1991 (live) **

2. City of Birmingham/Simon Rattle 1989 

or Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle 2019 *

(note: Rattle has the most complete view of Mahler 6 there has ever been, holding the 19th century and the 20th in perfect balance, but the recorded sound serves him badly in both performances, and consequently neither recording quite does justice to what he accomplishes live.)
3. Philadelphia Orchestra/Christoph Eschenbach 2006

Classical: 

1. Malaysian Philharmonic/Claus Peter Flor

Romantic: 

1. Vienna Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein preferably 1988 but also 1976 **

2. WDR Symphony/Dmitri Mitropoulos 1959 *

3. Saarbrucken Radio Symphony/Gunther Herbig *

Rare:
or Berlin Philharmonic/Herbert von Karajan 1977 (live) (total)
or Melbourne Symphony/Mark Wigglesworth 2007 (live) (classical)

or BBC Philharmonic/Berthold Goldschmidt 1962 (total)

or Tiblisi Philharmonic/Jansung Kakhidze live video (romantic)

or Cologne Gurzenich/Markus Stenz 2014 (classical)
or Singapore Symphony/Eliahu Inbal 2019 (romantic)
or Verbier Festival Orchestra/Ivan Fischer 2014? (total)

or SWF Symphony/Michael Gielen 2007 (classical) 

or SWF Symphony/Michael Gielen 2013 (indescribable) **

Mahler 7:
Total View: Lucerne Festival Orchestra/Claudio Abbado 2006 ** or San Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas 2005 * or Bavarian Radio Symphony/Rafael Kubelik (live) 1976 ** or Budapest Festival Orchestra/Ivan Fischer 2019 
Classical: Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bernard Haitink 1985 (live) * or Bavarian State Orchestra/Kirill Petrenko 2018 or Oslo Philharmonic/Mariss Jansons 1993 *
Romantic: Vienna Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein 1976

or New York Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein 1985 * or City of Birmingham Symphony/Simon Rattle 1987 *

Rare:
Vienna Philharmonic/Simon Rattle 1995 (live) (romantic) *

or Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle 1999 (live) (romantic)
or London Philharmonic/Klaus Tennstedt 1993 (live) (romantic) *

or Concertgebouw Orchestra/Eduard van Beinum 1957 (classical) *
or Cologne Gurzenich Orchestra/Markus Stenz 2013 (classical)
or WDR Symphony/Gary Bertini 1991 (live) (classical)
or Dusseldorf Symphony/Adam Fischer 2016 (total)

or SWF Symphony/Michael Gielen 2007 (classical)

Mahler 8: (I'm not convinced I understand it)

Mahler Das Lied von der Erde:

Total View: 
1. Berlin Radio Symphony/Kurt Sanderling/Fanilla/Schreier 1982 (live) **
2. BBC Philharmonic/Raymond Leppard/Baker/Mitchinson 1977 (live) *
3. Concertgebouw Orchestra/Carl Schuricht/Thorberg/Ohlmann 1939 (live) *
4. Bavarian Radio Symphony/Rafael Kubelik/Baker/Kmentt 1970 (live) *)
5. Vienna Philharmonic/Bruno Walter/Ferrier/Patzak 1952 (live or studio) *


Classical: 
1. Philharmonia Orchestra/Otto Klemperer/Ludwig/Wunderlich 1967
3. SWF Symphony/Michael Gielen/Kalisch/Jerusalem 2011

Romantic: 
1. Vienna Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein/Fischer-Dieskau/King 1966

Rare:
Concertgebouw Orchestra/Eduard van Beinum/Merriman/Haeflinger 1956 (classical *)
London Symphony/Simon Rattle/Gerhaher/O'Neill 2016 (live) (romantic)
or Cleveland Orchestra/George Szell/Baker/Lewis 1970 (live) (classical)
or Vienna Symphony/Carlos Kleiber/Ludwig/Kmentt 1970 (live) (classical)
or 

Mahler 9:

Total View: 
1. BBC Symphony/Kurt Sanderling 1982 **

2. Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado 1999 *
3. Bavarian Radio Symphony/Rafael Kubelik * 1967
4. Vienna Philharmonic/Bruno Walter 1938 **


Romantic: 
1.Berlin Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein 1979 *

2. Columbia Symphony/Bruno Walter 1961


Classical: 
1. Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bernard Haitink 1969 or Concertgebouw Orchestra/Bernard Haitink 1987 (video) * 
2. Leipzig Gewandhaus/Riccardo Chailly 2013 (video)
3. Budapest Festival Orchestra/Ivan Fischer 2015 

4. Concertgebouw Orchestra/Riccardo Chailly 1999

5. Dusseldorf Symphony Adam Fischer 

Rare: 

Philadelphia Orchestra/Klaus Tennstedt 1987 (live, total) **

or Moscow Radio Symphony/Rudolf Barshai 1993 (classical) *

or Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra/Eliahu Inbal (total)

or Vienna PHilharmonic/Dmitri Mitropoulos 1960 (live, romantic)

or Cleveland Orchestra/George Szell 1968 (live, classical)

or Israel Philharmonic/Paul Kletzki 1954 (total but fast)

or NHK Symphony/Eliahu Inbal 1994 (live, romantic)
or Cologne Gurzenich Orchestra/Markus Stenz 2014 (classical)

or Philharmonia Orchestra/Benjamin Zander (total) 1999


Mahler 10:
"Total View": German Youth Philharmonic/Rudolf Barshai 2001 (the only performance that convinces me so far)