Ten Perfect Orchestral Recordings...

So Haitink is not part of a tradition which goes back to two conductors who were poles apart !!! Well that is one heck of a tradition. I think you need to think a little more about what you are writing and stop just repeating phrases out of books.
....are you in fact Parla !!!

I have to agree with troyen1 on this - there is nothing anywhere to indicate that Mahler was ever trying to present himself as part of the canon.

As for the meirts of Haitink and Bernstein I have to say I would always hold on to Bernstein's Mahler 6 and 9 in the later DG cycle. The Sixth really is a brutal view and the ninth contains some extraordinary moments, such as the whole third movement which Bernstein takes at such a lick that one fears for the orchestra, who totter on the edge of collapse. I also have soft spot for the fourth, even thought features a boy treble, totally outside the composer's instructions I think. But somehow for this listens it works and not as effect - there is something intagible in the way the score is presented that makes the choice of voice seems totally right. A curiosity no doubt, but a notable one.

Haitink. I have similar concerns about Jansons in Mahler. They seem to be very literal presentations - supremely realised and perfectly suitable for Saturday morning listening. But that is the problem - if the desire is to place them in the canon, then they fail because in the attempt too many edges are smoothed, too many ambiguities spelt out. On another post I wrote about Lebrecht's 'Why Mahler?' and one of the better themes Lebrecht explores is how Mahler created music soaked at point in irony and juxatposition between the banal and the unique, between the sauve and the naive. I am sure Haitink is aimn for it, but for me he nevers touches a nerve. My problem I know - he doe a better job of conducting the score than I ever could.

I am suprised Gielen's Mahler never gets more of a mention - I think that in total the Hanssler/Gielen cycle is pretty fantastic.

Reading only 'fiction' is fine but you need to stop putting it forward as 'fact' in your posts. Klemperer and Walter' in their conducting styles, in their view of Mahler's symphonies, are part of no school or tradition. They view Mahler's symphonies completely differently. It is lazy to add a degree of authenticity to them because they knew and worked with Mahler. The same way it would be wrong to sell Karajan's Strauss on the fact that he knew Strauss. The quality and the beauty of the performance are all that matters, Haitink, in your view may fall short, but judge him on what he does and not on who he knew.

This is off the subject of the initial post, but I notice that Mahler seems to be taking over the commentary so I can't resist. After several years of obsessing over reviews, buying, re-buying, and listening, I've come up with the following Mahler play list that works for me:

Symphony no. 1 -- Horenstein/LSO

Symphony no. 2 -- Bruno Walter/NY Phil

Symphony no. 3 -- Bernstein/NY Phil

Symphony no. 4 -- Kubelik/Bav. Radio Symphony

Symphony no. 5 -- Gielen/SWR

Symphony no. 6 -- Bernstein/VPO

Symphony no. 7 -- Gielen again

Symphony no. 8 -- Solti/Chicago

Symphony no. 9 -- Gielen yet again

I don't know how many of them I'd nominate as "perfect" -- although I can't imagine anyone doing a better job with #2 than Walter. Horenstein's #1 has occasional slight ensemble problems, but I think he finds all the earth and water and sunlight (and fire and brimstone!) that Mahler put into the score. It's also the first Mahler recording I ever heard, so I'm probably incapable of objectivity about it. Gielen manages to persuade me that the 7th is worth listening to, which is an achievement all on its own.

I replaced my Zander Mahler 5 and Haitink Mahler 9 with Gielen in both, and haven't looked back. Tempos seem just right to me, and I like his lack of sentimentality.

Nowadays, Troyen, nowadays or even recently. Even Thielemann, comparatively speaking, struggles to shine, particularly outside the German-speaking countries. I have lived in Berlin for some years recently and I visit Germany on a good basis. In Berlin, Thielemann was a mere visitor and I don't recall if he conducted the BPO but for a handful of times (between 2004-2009).

Parla

Now that Thielemann is settled in Dresden it will be interesting to see how he develops. I thought the Beethoven symphonies he recorded in Vienna were very fine, but they did not overwhelm me like the greatest performances do.

I completely agree about Gielen being undervalued.  I heard him conduct a couple of times in London and was very impressed.  I should investigate his Mahler, especially the elusive 7th.