I have the one you have, having attended the Concerts from which it was generated. It's ok, but not exceptional.
Let's lay aside the whole Scherzo Andante issue, because one can always reprogram a CDP or a playlist. My personal favorites:
1) Karajan/BPO (I hope Mahlerian doesn't see this)
2) Bernstein/NYP
3) Abbado/Lucerne
4) MTT/SFSO
5) Horenstein/Stockholm (really 2nd rate Orchestra keeps this down)

I have heard, and don't care for, Barbirolli, MacKerras, Kubelik, and Levine
Szell is worth a listen, but he makes a lot of cuts in the score

 

My personal favorites:
(I hope Mahlerian doesn't see this)
2) Bernstein/NYP
3) Abbado/Lucerne
4) MTT/SFSO
5) Horenstein/Stockholm (really 2nd rate Orchestra keeps this down)

See what?

Thanks for the list! What makes the Karajan/BPO controversial?

It's a horrible desecration of the score, which ignores just about all of Mahler's orchestral balances as well as many of his directions.

Other than that, it's fine, of course. Very clean, pretty, and completely soulless.

I prefer Tennstedt (especially the live one on the LPO's own label), Abbado (the Berlin, but the Lucerne is fine too), and Bernstein (the DG one with Vienna). Boulez would be on the next tier, a finely dramatic and taut reading, but not my first choice.

 

Thanks for the list! What makes the Karajan/BPO controversial?

 

I guess we'll wait for Mahlerian to weigh in
Oh,and since you are a fellow Chicago guy,Solti has an opening unlike any other that I have heard; he makes the double basses sound like slithering snakes. Once past that, however, his intensity and lack of irony become wearying

 

Like all of Solti's Mahler:v8, sonic boom, lightning hitting an outhouse...

 

I quite like Klaus Tennstedt, Claudio Abbado, and Leonard Bernstein.

 

Bernstein and Boulez are my two favourites of the 6th.

 

Oops! I forgot Sir John Barbirolli.

 

Zzzzzzzzzzzz.....

 

I find Mahler to be a Composer that is remarkably free of interpretive dogmatism. Conductors as diverse as Bernstein, Boulez, Adler, Horenstein, Abbado, Scherchen, Gielen etc can all approach from different perspectives and illuminate different facets of his Art. That doesn't make it 'Conductor-proof"--far from it-- but just as his Symphonies were meant to encompass the World, there is a mighty big tent required to fit in all the valid viewpoints.
I find Von K's 6th to be valid. It certainly isn't the only way to approach the work. His 5th and 9th miss the mark, and I agree with your comments if they were directed at those recordings. I haven't heard his Fourth. His Sixth, however, for me, is indispensable.

 

See, when you say it like that, I can't help but agree.

I still find Karajan's Sixth infuriatingly wrong-minded, though.

 

 

Bernstein( first recording) Solti / Karajan / Bernstein (second recording):tiphat:

 

This version by Mariss Jansons is worth a listen. You can read a review of it here.

 

Bernstein/NYP still holds a special place in my heart and is highly recommendable but the Bernstein/Vienna performance on DG is probably the must own recording when it comes to Mahler's 6th in my book.

I still like Thomas Sanderling/St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra but it's out of print and very hard to find.

Surprisingly Christoph Eschenbach/Philadelphia has an exceptional recording and is coupled with the rarely heard Piano Quartet.

Recordings from Yoel Levi/Atlanta and Michael Gielen/SWR Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden/Freiburg would round out my elite Mahler 6th recordings.

I like some of the others mentioned but the above to me are the top tier.

 

Bernstein/NYP still holds a special place in my heart and is highly recommendable but the Bernstein/Vienna performance on DG is probably the must own recording when it comes to Mahler's 6th in my book.

I still like Thomas Sanderling/St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra but it's out of print and very hard to find.

Surprisingly Christoph Eschenbach/Philadelphia has an exceptional recording and is coupled with the rarely heard Piano Quartet.

Recordings from Yoel Levi/Atlanta and Michael Gielen/SWR Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden/Freiburg would round out my elite Mahler 6th recordings.

I like some of the others mentioned but the above to me are the top tier.

I like the Gielen and the Sanderling as well. I haven't heard the Eschenbach but I find him an interesting musician.

 

I havent heard this version yet. But his version with BPO on Philips is one of my best.

 

I'm no expert whatsoever, but I have been listening to Mahler for many years and for me the two best recordings of the 6th remain Barbirolli with the New Philharmonia, and Levine with the LSO.

 

Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic is exhausting emotionally and IMO, one of the greatest performances of Mahler 6 I could ever hope to hear.

 

Despite issues with sound quality I love Tennstedt's 1983 live version with the LPO but it irks me that the post-production engineers couldn't find away to edit out the 'BRAVO!' which was bellowed with nothing less than indecent haste by an over-excited and/or well-fuelled punter when the final note barely had the chance to die away. My other favourite is Bernstein on DG.