As an admirer and conductor of
Robert Schumann's four symphonies,
Gustav Mahler felt obliged to make extensive revisions to help clarify textures, bring vivid colors to passages where opportunities for brilliance had been missed, and make myriad changes in dynamics. To a certain extent,
Mahler succeeded in making
Schumann's music quite a bit sharper and a lot more colorful, but the changes of orchestration in many instances reveal the arranger's hand too plainly, particularly in the brass and woodwind parts, and the mix of
Schumann's Romantic scores with
Mahler's post-Romantic orchestral effects seems a little weird and disorienting for anyone who knows these works well. Of course, newcomers absolutely should get to know the originals first, and there's no dearth of great recordings available; experienced listeners who make the comparisons between them and
Mahler's revisions may well feel that what was good enough already should have been left alone. Yet
Riccardo Chailly and the
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig have performed a valuable service in recording these much discussed but seldom played versions, and listeners who have been curious about the extent of
Mahler's "tampering" may judge for themselves if he went too far. This double-disc package is strongly recommended for
Mahler completists, but it is not essential listening for anyone else.