James Levine conducting the Chicago SO in Mahler Symphony No. 7

I purchased this LP way back when it was new. I had only really listened to Mahler’s 2nd, and had gone through a few cassettes of that work. The 7th was a double album, and pricey at the time if I recall [the original LP was replaced by a cd years later]. Still, I was intrigued enough to give it a try.

If you have over an hour to spend, it is well worth a listen. I have other versions of the 7th but I always come back to this one. The engineering is excellent, great orchestral separation in the sound, one of the better albums from RCA, and actually won the Grammy in 1983 for Best Engineered Album, so there you go.

The performance is available in the Levine/Mahler box set I mentioned in a past blog post.

This recording is also part of the BasicRep Starter Collection.