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Mahler - Totenfeier, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

£7.74

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Label: Signum

Cat No: SIGCD259

Barcode: 0635212025925

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Release Date: 24th September 2012

Works

Mahler, Gustav

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)
Totenfeier

Artists

Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Conductor

Vladimir Jurowski

Works

Mahler, Gustav

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)
Totenfeier

Artists

Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Conductor

Vladimir Jurowski

About

In this live recording from the Royal Festival Hall the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment shines its musical torch into the realms of some later repertoire, shedding new light on the music of Mahler.

Conducted by Principal Artist Vladimir Jurowski, this CD includes Mahler’s 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' (Songs of a Wayfarer), written in the wake of an unhappy affair with a soprano, and the extraordinarily exciting and powerful 'Totenfeier', Mahler’s first foray into orchestral music, and later reworked into the opening movement of his second symphony.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Totenfeier
2

Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht
3

Ging heut' morgen ubers Feld
4

Ich hab' ein gluhend Messer
5

Die zwei blauen Augen

Europadisc Review

Taken from a live concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall in January this year, this all-Mahler disc has its origins in the events marking the centenary of the composer’s death. Mahler’s music is, of course, frequently preoccupied with the subject of death, and nowhere more so than in the main work here, Totenfeier (funeral rites). This is none other than an early version of the Second Symphony's first movement, and there are still few enough recordings of it as a self-standing piece that make this a very welcome addition to the catalogue.

In fact, Jurowski’s gripping performance is probably the most compelling and persuasive now available. It has the sweep and sense of drive that marked his earlier complete performance of the Symphony (LPO), but with all the added insights offered by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment using their period instruments.

With sinewy yet lyrical strings, plangent but biting woodwind, penetrating brass, and well-defined timpani, this is a performance that exchanges the customary blend of the modern orchestra for a soundscape of sharply-etched contrasts. Textural details often leap out where too often they’re subsumed and glossed over, with the result that the radical modernism of the music is enhanced, while retaining its late-Romantic elements (including some beautifully judged portamenti). The substantial differences in the movement’s central sections are brought into bold relief, but so too are the myriad textural details in the outer sections, where Mahler’s subsequent changes were less far-reaching but just as telling.

The coupling is a marvellously probing account of the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer), sung here by mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly. She performed all of Mahler’s vocal music during the course of 2011, and her true tone and faultless intonation are complemented by a brilliantly sensitive identification with Mahler’s texts, telling a tale of unrequited love in a Schubertian vein. The singing is emotionally engaging, direct and honest, but it is often the accompaniments, by turns ardent, tender and ironic, that really mark these early songs as distinctively Mahlerian. Rarely can the instrumental contribution have been highlighted to such powerful effect, particularly in the more fragile, lightly-scored sections, where the OAE’s soloists excel themselves.

The close but not over-dry recorded sound constantly brings out the magic detail of Mahler’s orchestrations, and these recordings immediately make their mark as being among the most desirable for either work. It’s a shame that room couldn’t also be found for Wagner’s Parsifal prelude from the same concert, but the advantage is that, by keeping this CD a Mahler-only one, Signum are able to offer it at a very competitive lower mid-price (currently even cheaper in our Signum special offer, at just £5.57). The result is a must for Mahlerians everywhere!