Erwin Stein's reduction, for solo string quintet (including double bass), flute doubling piccolo, oboe doubling cor anglais, clarinet doubling bass clarinet, piano, harmonium and percussion, was prepared at a time when even the members of Arnold Schoenberg's immediate circle had limited access to the real thing. Even today, some find the transcription focuses the mind wonderfully on the music's contrapuntal essence, others that it is intrinsically a period piece, more redolent of the palm court. Suffice to say that Douglas Boyd and his group offer a performance that is unfailingly fresh and alert.
Andrew Keener's production is the crispest, most immediate the score has received on disc.
Out goes evocative distancing. In comes the tangible wheeze of the harmonium, the respiration of sundry woodwind players and the lowlevel vocalising of Boyd himself.
Douglas Boyd's Mahler may feel overly straightforward but he knows the territory, having directed Schoenberg's reduction of Das Lied as well as Mahler's own string quartet arrangements in Manchester. He has further aces up his sleeve: the helpful booklet-notes by Philip Borg Wheeler, the participation of Kate Royal, freshvoiced soprano winner of the 2004 Kathleen Ferrier competition and, on CD, the highly competitive price.