This recording was considered one of the outstanding Mahler Eighth’s of the LP era, at a time when it, Bernstein’s, Hatink’s, and Abravanel’s were all that were generally available. Bernstein’s was and still is a great performance, but it was hampered by bland recorded sound. In contrast, Solti’s featured a demonstration-quality recording that suggested massiveness while also presenting much fine detail (on no other recording will you hear those terse organ chords in the first-movement development). Add to this Solti’s muscular way with the score and it becomes understandable why his version was so popular.
However, there’s been much more Mahler committed to disc in the intervening decades, starting with Ozawa’s beautiful yet soft-edged Eighth at the dawn of the CD era, and continuing with this past year’s powerfully engaging renditions by Nagano and Wit. Recording techniques have greatly improved, with the naturalness of recent discs shining a revealing light on the rather gimmicky multi-miked, dynamically-limited sound of Decca’s 1970s production. Solo voices dominate the sound stage, consigning the Chicago Symphony to the background–which is unfortunate, as the orchestra turns in a truly virtuoso performance. (Then again, the singing is so beautiful and heartfelt that some listeners may not mind very much.) The assembled choral groups all perform handsomely, while Solti, when he’s not speeding along excitedly, tends to belabor the music’s slower passages in an attempt to underscore its “profundity”. Still and all it remains a worthy rendition, but one whose reign has been supplanted by newer, fresher, and superior-sounding alternatives. Decca’s latest remastering gives the recording the best sound it’s had on CD.
