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Reviews: Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde - Arming

Reviews: 1

Review by robstl January 3, 2007 (5 of 5 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:
There are a number of things I enjoy about this disc. I think the orchestra plays well, and the multichannel engineering captures this live concert honestly. Though there isn't as good a sense of a listening space as I've heard on other recordings, the imaging of the orchestra itself is quite good, with some instruments captured in startling fashion (for instance, in Das Lied von der Erde, the glockenspiel in the 1st movement, the "pedal tone" trombones at the end of the funeral march in the last movement). The conducting is intelligent without drawing too much attention to itself, and occasionally is exciting. Webern's Six Pieces for Orchestra is a good disc-mate for the Mahler; Webern's not a favorite composer of mine, but one can clearly hear how Mahler's sometimes sparse, chamber orchestration in Das Lied von der Erde influenced Webern.

The soloists in Das Lied von der Erde are good, but I don't find them all that memorable. Part of this may be that the recording doesn't overemphasize the singers. There are a few short passages where the voices are not as easy to hear as I'm used to. I hear a few minor intonation problems from both soloists (again, the honesty of a concert performance). I think the singing has less character and insight than on a number of my favorite recordings on RBCD. On the plus side, Berthold Schmid is one of those tenors that doesn't have to strain audibly to hit his high notes, and Mihoko Fujimura sings the final "ewig"s with great control.

There are a few minor stage noises, nothing too bothersome. There is some breathing heard before certain passages, probably the conductor. There is no applause preserved on the disc after the Webern, vigorous applause after the Mahler. Poor Webern!

I prefer this to the Boulez SA-CD recording of Das Lied von der Erde, but I'm also looking forward to future issues of this great work.

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