[Hampson] refines his forces to those of the Wiener Virtuosen...This has the effect of creating a wonderfully fresh imaginative take on the songs...these slimmer forces really put a spring in the music's step...And his choice of tempos...is often inspired...A constantly absorbing recital.

no performer has ever had a more comprehensive knowledge of the manuscript sources...Instrumentally speaking, the results are fabulous...Long-term admirers should not expect the immaculate finish...of the singer's youth. Instead we have a more autumnal brand of vocalisation, one that arguably suits these feisty, individualistic songs of ordinary folk.

The principal revelations are instrumental, with sinewy, acerbic textures steering us into a world closer to German expressionism than post-romanticism.

Mahler’s whole world is here, rendered in a fabulously piercing and tender performance...It’s partly to do with the reduced chamber scoring used by the Vienna soloists, which makes Mahler’s orchestral colours seem unusually vivid. But Hampson is also on superb form, catching the music’s emotional complication as well as its folk-like simplicity.