Excellent , it's such a stunning piece, Rafael Kubelik. Solti Bernstein, ( Sony) and Abbado are my favourites .

 

The first Mahler symphony I got into and still my favourite. I've got silly numbers of recordings of this one.

 

I love it. It was the first Mahler symphony that I really loved. Though I think the introduction was ripped off from Star Trek. Kind of like how Holst ripped off Star Wars.



Seems like there's a lot of that going on!

 

Excellent, of course, as are all Mahler symphonies. Nonetheless, I prefer most of his later compositions over this work, and I rate it as an 8.5 out of 10 in terms of how much I like it.

 

Probably the most startling, original First Symphony ever written. It didn't register with me way back when. I had the legendary Horenstein/LSO recording on Nonesuch (who didn't?) and it took several playings before it began to really sink in. I've played it many times and it still thrills me. (Although that last page of contrabassoon/bassoon 3 is pretty annoying.)

 

My favourite first symphony; excellent, no doubt about it. Although it’s not even the best Mahler symphony, it’s still easily excellent.

 

Not so good and not so bad. I don't regard Mahler with the same degree of adulation as many do here on TC. He wrote a great bleeding chunk of a symphony (the first 3 movements of Symphony No. 2), and an OK symphony (No. 4). I dislike most of the rest and particularly dislike Nos. 3 & 8. No. 1 is listenable but not great.

 

I don't regard Mahler with the same degree of adulation as many do here on TC...

We all know you don't and it begs me to ask you: why even post on this thread if you're not even a fan of the composer to begin with? If you don't like any of the later symphonies, then you don't like Mahler's music. If Das Lied von der Erde doesn't do anything for you or Symphony No. 6 leaves you reaching for the stop button, then you don't belong on this thread. Sorry, but it would be the equivalent of me going on a Tchaikovsky thread and saying the 1st symphony was 'okay', but the rest of them weren't any good. Why even bother?

 

Very good, the first movement ist mostly excellent, the 3rd also, I find the 2nd mvmt a bit trite (although it fits well into the whole, maybe even better in the older 5 movement version when it once had the subtitle "under full sail"/mit vollen Segeln) and the finale too long and not fitting so well with the rest. But especially the beginning of the first movement holds up well with much later Mahler (or other late romantic/impressionist/early modern music).

 

It is not called 'Titan' though. Too bad that people still refer to it in that way. sometimes.

I voted excellent because it scores the rare 6/6 on the Artrockometer (as do #2, 4, 6, 9, and 10).

 

I concur Art. I would also add 3, 5, 7 & 8 to your list. The Philistines may disagree!😎

 

Many symphonies and other works are called made up names never encountered by their composers, so I don't think it is the worst thing that a symphony is sometimes incorrectly called a name that correctly applied to an earlier version that was very similar, except for one additional movement and some slight changes, these latter making fewer differences than often are between versions of Bruckner symphonies.

 

Brilliant symphony, revolutionary for its time in its eclectic approach to quotations and stylistic incongruities. At the time of Wagner's death - the first modernist - Mahler was already inventing musical postmodernism.
It's my least favorite of his symphonies though. I'm with Kreisler here: beautiful first movement that already has lots of elements that would define Mahler's later style, then it becomes more or less standard late-romantic fare. I never liked the scherzo (the scherzo from Roth's symphony, which allegedly served as the model for Mahler's is actually much better!) and I find the irony of the 3rd movement laid on a bit too thickly. Mahler would do this kind of thing in a much more subtle way later. The finale has its moments, but it's overly long, relies on superficial effects too much and can't sustain its rather meager melodic material.

 

According to Mahler he didn't encounter the Rott symphony until he worked on his own 3rd symphony. Now he might have been not remembering correctly or even obscuring his closeness to Rott (although I find the latter highly unlikely) but the scherzo is rather generic and with the common background of Bruckner, Schubert etc. and actual folk laendlers doesn't really need Rott as an explanation, I think.
(There is a trio or subsidiary theme in some Bruckner symphony that is almost identical to a trio or scherzo from some Beethoven violin sonata, but I am pretty sure it's not an intentional quotation, just based on common 19th century laendler motives.)

 

One of my favorite Mahler symphonies along with the 3rd, 4th and 9th. My preferred interpretation is Walter's with the Columbia Symphony.

 

I quite like the 1st Symphony by Mahler. The first movement is great. The second movement is OK. The third movement melodies sound like something I would have improvised on the piano at elementary school -- it must be simple on purpose, but still I´d like a bit more effort. I like the finale, though.

Overall, nothing about this symphony 'irritates' me and I am able to enjoy everything, which is good!

(The occasionally irritating rhythmic stuff is from the 4th symphony onwards, like the forever staccato hopping on one note, the forever dotted rhythms and the forever marching).

 

Mahler is in my 'Top 5', but I don't rate his Symphony No. 1 as highly as his Symphony No. 2 for example. This 2nd symphony was a huge leap in quality and maturity. I will say this about 1st symphony, it has one hell of a finale. That last movement is stunning and has the emotional charge that the best Mahler has within it.

 

I am not sure if there is anything as original and daring in #2 as the beginning (or maybe even most) of the 1st movement of #1, the rest might be more uneven in the earlier work.

The 3rd movement has not completely shed the earlier rudimentary program. (One could argue that most movements in the first 4 Mahler symphonies still bear some rudiments of programmatic ideas, cf. the commentary/"plot" to #2, the later discarded titles for #3). The inspiration was a grotesque picture of animals burying the hunter. Then there is the Klezmer music in the woodwinds/trumpets and finally the central section that stems from the last lied of Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, the dream under the linden tree. I don't claim to know how this fits into the symphony but I like the movement very much

Moritz von Schwind: "Wie die Thiere den Jäger begraben" (1850)

 

Does anyone remember the first performance they heard of Mahler's 1st? I believe mine was Bernstein with New York Philharmonic on Sony. This set to be exact:

This set is essentially a boxing up of all the 'Bernstein Century' releases. No new remastering whatsoever.

 

I think the first I heard was Bruno Walter/Columbia on a cheap and not so great sounding CD of a friend's. The first I owned on CD was Bernstein/Concertgebouw/DG. It's a beautiful recording but I think the 3rd movement is not sufficiently grotesque and the finale also lacks a bit of punch. (I have had similar quibbles with the even better sounding Gielen, IIRC.)
My favorite of the ca. 10 recordings I heard/own(ed) is Kubelik/DG. (I am afraid I don't care enough for the piece to try his live on Audite that some apparently prefer)
Walter/NY or Columbia are also very good but the sound isn't, I don't mind mono for some other music but it's a liability here. (Scherchen's is the only one I got rid of because the sound was fairly poor (mono but ridiculous highlighting of harp and whatnot) and the performance not quite special enough to make up for it.)

 

I want to tell Haziz I'm sorry for my boorish behavior. I was out-of-line and, yes, wrong for even bringing any of this up.

 

Apology accepted. Enjoy the music.

 

Outstanding symphony for a first start. It is a symphony i regularly revert to. But of course Mahler has produced more exhilarating or moving symphonies after his first (2, 3, 5, 9, 10, Das Lied von der Erde),

 

Any favorite performances of the 1st?

 

I love the Mitropoulos. I also like Barbirolli, Bernstein/RCO, and Kubelik.

But my absolute favorite is Bruno Walter conducting Toscanini’s NBC orchestra in 1939, shortly after he fled Europe. The concert is electric.

 

I think its fantastic. Probably the most impressive first symphony from any composer I can think of. And to think he exceeded it numerous times in later Symphonies. Impressive

 

Not to derail the thread, but some other first symphonies that I admire: Shostakovich, Sibelius, Nielsen, Martinů, Vaughan Williams, Roussel, K. A. Hartmann, Dvořák (this one gets put down a lot, but I love it) and Langgaard.

 

Even though I like it, I will say that other Mahler symphonies plumb more depth. In fact, if forced to choose it is among my lesser favorite Mahler symphonies, though I like them all and have multiple versions.

Current ranking:

9-5-7-6-4-3-1-2-8

I am quite alone in my opinion of the 2nd, which I find impressive but not terribly compelling on repeated listening. The 8th depends on my mood. Sometimes I can get really into it.

 

I am quite alone in my opinion of the 2nd, which I find impressive but not terribly compelling on repeated listening. The 8th depends on my mood. Sometimes I can get really into it.

Actually no. I pretty much think of #2 and then #8 as the very end of the list for me as well. I just don't see what the fuss is about.

 

Mahler's First is wonderful, when offered in the same exuberant spirit which attends his early songs and cycles. When so rendered, it is excellent indeed.

Favorite recordings:

Mahler - Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 & 3 ~ Leonard Bernstein, Sheila Armstrong, Janet Baker, Christa Ludwig, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra https://a.co/d/3iyQPub

And Tennstedt with the CSO:

 

Mahler's First is wonderful.......

And Tennstedt with the CSO

The Tennstedt/CSO is a great version...really powerful....

 

I'm always up for Mahler's 1st and 3rd. Then it's the 4th and the 9th. The others I have to want to listen to. I suppose if I were to get into technicalities and craftsmanship, I could pick my list apart, but somehow that's how my brain works.

As to the 1st, I have a special connection to it because my grandson's name is Ethan, and as a young boy, I pointed out to him how it starts out with a boy in the woods hearing the bird call his name, "Ethan," and the symphony follows the boy as he grows up. That started a special bonding process between us two, and now he listens to classical music because I do.

 

I’m not at all familiar with the ‘Ethan’ theory in Mahler’s 1st. I’ve read quite a bit about the 1st and I don’t recall seeing this. What’s your source? 🤔