- Two pieces from the high peaks of Mahler performance that Abbado built up during his time with the Berlin Philharmonic, recorded live.
- The first in the heat of the Berlin Philharmonic's inaugural concert.
- Symphony No. 1 was recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonic subscription on 16 and 17 December 1989.
- The concert was Abbado's first subscription concert as Artistic Director of the Berlin Philharmonic, and attracted international attention partly because it was his first as Artistic Director after Karajan's 'long reign' of over 30 years. Although they share Abbado's interpretation of Mahler's complex score, which he constructs as a fluid and precise sonic body and presents in an extremely dynamic, tense and powerful way, the detailed reading of the score is deeper and freer than in the clean and static performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which reminded one of playing in a sterile room. The score is more profound and freer in its detailed readings.
- The overwhelming enthusiasm that swirls through the entire work probably reflects the atmosphere of the concert.
- The grand scale of the Third captured in its vast dynamic range.
- Symphony No. 3 was performed at London's Royal Festival Hall in October/November 1999, ten years after No. 1, during an 11-city tour of Europe and the USA to mark the 50th anniversary of German democracy.
- Mahler's symphony is a celebration of nature, and he has brought out a truly lush sound from this symphony, with more suppleness and fluidity than in the old 1980 recording with the Vienna Philharmonic, which is truly natural and warm.
- The overall tempo has also increased by about eight minutes, from 102 to 94 minutes.
- Super Audio CD hybridisation in its best possible condition.
- Both tracks have been fully remastered for the first time since their release.
- In particular, for the DSD mastering, the newly constructed 'Esoteric Mastering' was used.
- Carefully tuned ESOTERIC top-of-the-range equipment Master Sound Discrete DAC and Master Sound Discrete Clock were used.
- The generous use of MEXCEL cables enabled us to transfer all the information from the original master to disc.