In odd-numbered symphonies, however, Sawallisch is a more competent leader than exciting and predictably, the comfort of its direction does not really give an exhilarating sense of this music. It must be said in his defense that these symphonies are formidable and that many leaders even among the best teeth are broken it (the cycle of Szell's not really what we would have expected). In their integrals, Leonard Bernstein more fire in the First (with New York at CBS / Sony) and Rafael Kubelik makes better with the Bavarian Radio climates Rhenish. This package can be complemented with isolated interpretations more intoxicating symphonies one, three and probably four (Sawallisch because it is good, but the work has a raised discography, including Wilhelm Furtwängler and Hermann Abendroth). There remains the case of the sublime Second, where are many exciting alternatives if we look a little (you can hear Toscanini, Fritz Reiner, Mitropoulos, Bruno Maderna, and others).
