Although several completions of
Gustav Mahler's unfinished Symphony No. 10 (1911) exist, from the fanciful ground-breaker by
Clinton Carpenter to later idiomatic reconstructions by Joe Wheeler and
Remo Mazzetti, Jr.,
Deryck Cooke's performing version of 1964 is the most famous of all, due not only to the controversies surrounding it, but also to the fact that it was the first to be commercially recorded. The 1965 Columbia Masterworks recording by the
Philadelphia Orchestra under
Eugene Ormandy appeared at the peak of the
Mahler revival, and positive critical reception gave it a cachet that lasted for many years, long after the demise of vinyl. Originally released as a double LP,
Ormandy's historic performance is at last reissued in Sony's Great Performances series with direct stream digital remastering, original cover art, and full liner notes, so those who want to hear
Cooke's first full edition of the Tenth may now enjoy it with the convenience of having the whole work on one CD. Yet this refurbished analog recording will not satisfy everyone, since its sound is noticeably fuzzy in the leanest, most exposed passages, and fans of all-digital recordings will find the audio is not as polished as on
Riccardo Chailly's,
Michael Gielen's, or
Simon Rattle's recordings, notwithstanding Sony's remastering. Also, since this version of
Mahler's last
symphony has its advocates and detractors, some may prefer to investigate the Wheeler reconstruction performed by
Robert Olson and the
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra on Naxos, or the rendition by
Mazzetti on RCA by
Leonard Slatkin and the
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Having these completions for the sake of comparison is the way to go for the most curious students of
Mahler's swan song, but for the average listener's purposes,
Ormandy's premiere recording is a satisfactory choice. ~ Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide
