Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, performed by Qiulin Zhang (contralto) and Luca Lombardo (tenor), alongside musicians of the Orchestra de l’Opera de Marseille directed by Victorien Vanoosten.

Das Lied von der Erde (“The Song of the Earth”) is a composition for two voices and orchestra written by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler between 1908 and 1909. Described as a symphony when published, it comprises six songs for two singers who alternate movements. Mahler specified the two singers should be a tenor and an alto, or else a tenor and a baritone if an alto is not available. Mahler composed this work following the most painful period in his life, and the songs address themes such as those of living, parting and salvation.

Educated in China and at the Toulouse Conservatory in France, award winning contralto Qiulin Zhang is widely known around the world’s opera houses for the rare quality of her voice and charisma on stage, allowing her to interpret such varied roles as Maddalena in Rigoletto, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Erda in Der Ring des Nibelungen, and the great German Lieder repertoire of Brahms, Schubert and Mahler, the latter represented on this disc with Das Lied von der Erde.

Luca Lombardo is an Israeli national born in France, the tenor is widely known across the leading opera houses of the world for his performances in such operas as Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach), in which he has sung the title role over 100 times, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (Puccini), the title role in Werther (Massenet), Faust (Gounod), Luisa Miller, Don Carlo (Verdi), Andrea Chenier (Giordano), the Prince in Rusalka (Dvorak), Don Jose in Carmen (Bizet), Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni), Manrico in Il Trovatore, Adorno in Simon Boccanegra (Verdi) and many others. He performs regularly at the opera houses of Paris, Nice, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Lyon, Toronto, Monte Carlo, Geneva, Glyndebourne, Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Liege, Orange and many others.