Mahler: Symphony No.1 in D major

Mahler Symphonies were a regular part of Solti's concert repertory throughout much of his career and when he was appointed Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1969 he embarked on a complete cycle of the nine symphonies for Decca (starting with Symphony No.5). Solti recorded this account of Symphony No.1 with Chicago in 1983 (twenty years after his first recording of the work with the London Symphony Orchestra) and the new digital recording was very enthusiastically received:

'The reading and the playing remain as persuasive as ever...[Solti] has dropped back the pace of the scherzo a notch or two with beguiling effect; the reading is now all one could ask for...the strings are first-rate in the 'Wayfarer' music...the new version has a clear edge in both playing and recording in the symphony's peroration...the Chicago players give Solti everything he asks for in sonority, power, and rhythmic attack...as an interpreter of this symphony Solti has lost little of his old flair and insight.' Gramophone October 1984