5/5 brilliant
  by Erez Katz (MA, USA)
There are so many recordings on the 5th and most are bloated and cluttered.
Bernstein cuts to the chase and the VPO follows him with love.
Highly recommended!

1/5 Wrong Symphonies on Disc 1
  by JFunk85 (IL, USA)
I work at a library, and we've owned this title (purchased from Amazon) since May 2006. It hasn't been used very often at all, but no one has mentioned this discrepancy before now. (And this has been triple checked by a patron, the librarian, myself, and my other coworkers - it's just really bizarre).

Disc 1 is labeled as having the 4th and 5th symphonies, but actually contains the 1st and 2nd. When we play the disc, the music and the captions verify this.

I don't know if this is one fluke disc or if there are a whole batch that have been made incorrectly, but felt this was definitely worth mentioning to potential buyers. If a patron had let us know about this sooner, we would have tried to exchange (and am sure Amazon would have obliged), but it's been almost three years now.


5/5 Lenny will leave you exhilarated and exhausted!
  by Mr John Haueisen (WORTHINGTON, OHIO United States)
For Mahlerites, his symphonies are much more than musical performances--they can be an emotional or spiritual journey through the struggles, fears, and triumphs of life.

This Sixth Symphony is a 1976 performance in the Vienna Musikvereinssaal with PCM stereo and DTS 5.1. The 2 dvd set also includes the 4th and 5th symphonies, which are performed as magnificently as the Sixth, on which I am focusing here.

As in several Mahler symphonies, there is extensive use in the Sixth, of harps, the triangle, cowbells, and the gong. In the final movement, we hear and see the sharp rifleshot crack of a giant wooden mallet, striking out the 3 hammershlag blows so unique to the 6th symphony.

I believe that at this writing, this is the only DVD recording of the Mahler 6th. But there couldn't be a better choice of conductor than Leonard Bernstein. Lenny jumps, flutters, soars to heaven, and agonizes, as he anticipates every note of a symphony he loves so well.

Humphrey Burton has directed this recording in such a way that we see instuments at their key moments in the symphony, and we see Leonard Bernstein as he leads each wave of emotion. If you've heard and enjoyed these Mahler symphonies, just wait 'til you hear and SEE them!