SWR Sinfonieorchester des Südwestrundfunks, Michael Gielen - Mahler: Symphony No. 7 in E Minor (1993)

It's hard to understand why Mahler's 7th isn't more popular. It's full of humor, attractive melodies, inventive instrumental and chamber effects, and variants of his marches, peasant dances, and cowbell pastorales, along with thrilling huge climaxes. Michael Tilson Thomas made a fine version and, of course, Bernstein's New York Philharmonic recording is a longstanding favorite. Now Gielen, in the midst of an outstanding Mahler cycle for Hanssler, joins the elite Mahler 7ths with this brilliantly played, well-detailed recording. He has a command of Mahler's large-scale structures along with a way of bringing telling touches to your attention, as in the slapped pizzicato basses in the Scherzo. He also isn't afraid to lean into those typical arching string melodies that lose impact unless played with the rubato effects Gielen applies. And he makes sense of the wild final movement, a riot of conflicting themes and instrumental effects that sometimes sounds like a Charles Ives piece indulging on Viennese strudel. Mahler buffs shouldn't miss this one. -- Dan Davis