"The soft tam-tam in the first movement (and elsewhere) is excellently caught, for example, but the cymbals are oddly off-mike, and this robs some of the climaxes of the power that Eschenbach is clearly conjuring from everyone else. In all other respects, though, the playing of the Philadelphia Orchestra is pretty outstanding: rich strings, gutsy brass (as already suggested), and poetic winds (solo oboe particularly). Ultimately, with so many choices available at such a high level of interpretive and technical accomplishment, the question nowadays is not so much whether this is "the best" Mahler 2 available, but rather, does it offer enough special moments to reward repeated listening. Yes, it does".