comments:
I think Reiner’s version gets overlooked. I think it is very good but I still prefer Klemperer’s version. You should listen to both as well as the many other available recordings. To digress slightly, would you believe there is a live recording of Carlos Kleiber conducting Das Lied with the Vienna Symphony in 1967. I believe he substituted for Josef Krips. The sound is mediocre but I recommend the performance anyway. I think this may be the only time Kleiber ever conducted that work. I read in a book once, Corresponding with Carlos, that Kleiber had studied and knew many other works that he never chose to conduct publicly or on recordings. What a loss! Could you imagine if he had conducted the 1980s Dresden Ring instead of Marek Janowski? I guess we’re fortunate that he recorded Tristan although he apparently abandoned it before the preludes to all the acts were recorded in final takes. Fortunately, DG was able to complete and release the recording with tapes of Kleiber’s rehearsal versions. https://music.apple.com/us/album/mahler-das-lied-von-der-erde-live/921598762 https://a.co/d/0gThSsB6