Zubin Mehta's 25-year-old recording is a superb addition to the ranks of contending interpretations. It is lighter on its feet than Bernstein's classic version, with all the elements in Mahler's tonal landscape brought out in high relief: by turns lush, austere, grandiose, and intimate. Here is the Vienna Phil at its best, with two incomparable voices on the bridge--Christa Ludwig's steely mezzo and Ileana Cotrubas' soaring soprano. The "Legendary" on the cover is not hype: this is still as good as it gets. --Michael Church
A swift, youthful account with a tremendous climax, 2010-05-28
It's good to have this work on one disc, yet surprisingly Klemperer manages the same in both his celebrated studio and live recordings. The Wiener Philharmoniker and Staatsopernchor are in their finest form and Mehta is in his first youthful blaze of glory and promise before he settled down to celebrity, pedestrian interpretations and more sclerotic tempi.

So why "only" four stars? Well if you scan previous reviews, you will note that quite a few mention two things with which I am in agreement: first, the sound, while more than adequately remastered, is not as immediate and full as later, digital versions; secondly, although many rightly praise the magnificence of Mehta's finale, the correct inference from the omission of much comment on the first two movements is that while they are impressive, others surpass them. Both Klemperer and Tennstedt achieve more grandeur in the Allegro maestoso and I find more charm, variety, whimsy and underlying tension in several other versions of the famously "incongruous" Andante moderato. Bernstein, too, achieves both more "Innigkeit" and drama than Mehta, but as another commentator observes, Mehta's interpretation "builds and builds", and I can imagine wanting this disc for that stupendous last movement alone. He has very fine soloists in Cotrubas and Ludwig, although this music seems to bring out the best in so many singers and nobody surpasses Janet Baker, who owns the part, singing beautifully in recordings for Klemperer, Bernstein and Rattle.

We are spoiled for choice in recorded versions of the "Resurrection", hence while I understand its fame I would prefer several others over this Decca legends issue, starting with Klemperer, but it is still a thoroughly satisfying interpretation -especially that thrilling last movement.

One problem I found when listening to this CD is track order. You find quiet gentle tracks are seperated by viscious, strong and powerful ones. This makes it unsuitable for 'going to sleep to'.