Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo), Stuart Skelton (tenor), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Simon Rattle
Awards:
-
Presto Editor's Choice, August 2018
What is perhaps most immediately striking is the detail and brilliance of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s playing…[Skelton] makes a fine, handsome sound and offers something special...
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo), Stuart Skelton (tenor), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Simon Rattle
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Editor's Choice, August 2018
What is perhaps most immediately striking is the detail and brilliance of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s playing…[Skelton] makes a fine, handsome sound and offers something special...
About
Conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, this performance of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) was recorded at concerts in Munich's Herkulessaal on January 25 and 26, 2018, and features Magdalena Kožená and Stuart Skelton. The work is subtitled 'A symphony for tenor, alto (or baritone) voice and orchestra'. It examines the border between two different genres: the Lied, in its extended form as a song cycle, and the symphony. The entire work is spanned by a taut arc, culminating – in accordance with the principle of intensification – in a huge final movement lasting as long as all the others together, and entitled Der Abschied (The Farewell). Here, Mahler is continuing the genre of the 'Finale Symphony', and the brightening of C minor to C major is even reminiscent of his usual apotheoses. In this symphony, as in his others, Mahler wanted to 'create a world using all existing technical means'.
Contents and tracklist
- Stuart Skelton (tenor), Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano)
- Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
- Sir Simon Rattle
- Recorded: 25-27 January 2018
- Recording Venue: München, Herkulessaal, Germany
Awards and reviews
-
Presto Editor's ChoiceAugust 2018
November 2018
What is perhaps most immediately striking is the detail and brilliance of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s playing…[Skelton] makes a fine, handsome sound and offers something special in his moving reactions to the poetry. Kožená in her songs offers singing of supreme beauty. In fact, she sings almost too beautifully at times…Not a conventional Lied, perhaps, but a fascinating and beguiling one: highly recommended.
August 2018
The Australian heldentenor is on ringing, impassioned form in the opening drinking-song, riding the hefty orchestration with Siegfried-like blade, but it’s Kožená’s ethereal, luminous Abschied which makes this a must-have for me: her slender, silvery mezzo may lack the timbral depth of a Ferrier or a Ludwig, but yields nothing in the way of intensity.
14th October 2018
Rattle accompanies the light but lustrous mezzo of his wife, Kozena, with the utmost delicacy...Skelton’s heroic voice is an ideal instrument for the more flamboyant tenor songs, singing with bravado, and the Munich players have nothing to fear from comparison with Rattle’s (former) Berliners.
7th September 2018
The playing stirred by Simon Rattle from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra has a radiant beauty and piercing clarity quite beyond the norm. Every instrumental line stands out, from a somersaulting flute to the ominous groans of the bass clarinet: precious gifts in a work featuring so many delicate textures.
