Leonard Bernstein is among my favourite Mahler interpreters and I was not disappointed by this production. Apart from the 9 completed symphonies this set includes Das Lied von der Erde and the Adagio from no.10, but none of the completed versions of the tenth, which Bernstein never recorded (nor I suspect conducted).
The DVDs are from live performances given in the 1970s and the picture shows its age in places, though the sound is very good for its vintage. This was Bernstein's golden age: the fiery young man had matured, but not to the level of some of the extended tempi that spoiled some of the recordings from his last decade. It is also worth noting that these performances were not conceived as a complete cycle, so were not performed chronologically, nor are they all with the same orchestra, though the Vienna Philharmonic has the lion's share. That they were not a noted Mahler orchestra at the time (despite the composer having been their conductor when he wrote most of these) is remarkable, that they did not initially respond to Bernstein's sometimes heart on sleeve way with Mahler is well documented, but in the end he won them round and the performances are mostly at least very good.
The 2nd is the famous performance from Ely Cathedral with LSO, shown at the time on British television. The setting does compromise the sound recording, but this is more than made up for by the fact that Bernstein is one of the few conductors to observe Mahler's instruction at two points in the finale for the soprano soloist initially to be part of the chorus, only later 'softly standing out', rather than being a soloist from the start. Mahler meant this and wrote it in the score, and it works so much better when it is observed.
It is a shame that the 7th is given with its internal movements in the order scherzo - andante rather than the other way round but this was quite common at that time, albeit now largely discredited.
The bonuses are well worth watching too. Bernstein is a great teacher (see also his Harvard lectures).
