Search - Mahler, Baltsa, Konig :: Double F Forte: Symphony 5 / Das Lied Von Der Erde

The Song of the Earth's Glory

Amadeus 888 | London | 10/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A few words about the "Das Lied von der Erde" (The Song of the Earth): much about this piece of work by Mahler has been covered elsewhere (see other recordings of this work). The only thing I would like to say is that I have listened to the Bernstein/Dieskau, Joachum/Merriman/Haefliger, Walter/Ferrier recordings of the same work (a personal favourite), but for me Tennstedt's version surpasses them all in many individual respects and also as a whole. The orchestra is magnificent, the sound pure and crystal clear and Baltsa's interpretation first class and in many respects equal or even better than the legendary versions of Ferrier or Merriman for example. She bypasses the theatricality that you find in Ferrier or Dieskau, and her pronunciation of German is plain ok, but she turns this to her advantage: not having to 'act' the lyrics, Baltsa delivers a pure, ethereal performance, where you can almost *feel* the poetry even if you don't speak a word of German: "...The dear earth everywhere blossoms in spring and grows green again! Everywhere and eternally the distance shines bright and blue! Eternally... eternally...'..."

"O beauty: O eternal love-and-life-intoxicated world!" This is the Song of the Earth's *Glory*.

Thank you Mr. Tennstedt."

A gripping Mahler Fifth, but the singing in Das Lied is a le

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 08/10/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"EMI has released Klaus Tennstedt's Mahler cycle in a series of bargain two-fers. This one features the Fifth Sym. in a performance that the Gramophone reviewer thought wasclose to self-parody at times. What he meant is that Tennstedt, an intensely romantic conductor, only clicked with music in the moment, when he could unleash every ounce of feeling. His style featured a great deal of dramatic contrast and tempo change. No matter how free Tennstedt might be with the letter of the score, he tried to channel Mahler's spirit as much as Bernstien did.



Becasue it is so personal, some listeners find this a great Mahler Fifth. Yet there's an equally intense recording from Rudolf Schwarz, an equally personal one from Barbirolli, and quite a few that are much better played (Karajan, Abbado, Solti, Levine). For me, the tightrope act works; I was riveted by Tennstedt's passion, although I wish he didn't drag out the Adagietto to nearly 12 min. (it is beautifully phrased, though). The weakest movement is the finale, which plods.



Tennstedt's Das Lied von der Erde became a top choice with the Good CD Guide from Britain for some years, which is quite odd given that the beefy-sounding tenor, Klaus Konig, shouts his way through. Agnes Baltsa is better, but German is foreign to this Greek mezzo, and you get the feeling that the text means nothing to her--she's doing a very good day's work putting the notes across. I wasn't moved for a moment, but instead found myself listening only to Tennstedt. He goes his own way with the magnificent orchestral part, so if you don't mind hearing Das Lied without voices, there are some fascinating things in this reading."