Search - Sean Rea, Gustav Mahler, Simon Rattle :: Mahler: Das Klagend Lied

One of the gems in Rattle's discography

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/03/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here's a redemptive recording of a work that needs redeeming. Anyone who craves Mahler wants more of him. I fall into that camp but turned late to Das Klagende Lied, his early, problematic riff on grim fairy tales (a bloody genre that Dvorak also picked up in his four late symphonic poems). the composer recognized the sprawling, at times immature nature of his score, and by the end of his life he discarded the first third, Waldmarchen, for the sake of compactness. The young Simon Rattle broke ground in 1985 when he returned to the three-movement version. But the magical mood of his performance fully justifies his choice. Instead of the usual toe-tapping as we wait for the more dramatic, gruesome, adventurous events that come later, this Klagende Lied feels like real Mahler from the first note.



Not only is Rattle "on," but so are his Birmingham orchestra and chorus. They can't outplay Chailly's acclaimed account on Decca, but they are so much more vibrant that this comparatively light-textured feels as if it has more life. Among the soloists, the standouts are the two men, tenor Robert Tear and baritone Sean Rea. The two ladies, Helena Dose and Alfreda Hodgson, sing well but lack the charisma of, say, Brigitte Fassbaender for Chailly. It's Rattle's show, anyway, and it's for his insight and liveliness that I found myself listening to a work I never expected really to like. I will never call Das Klagende Lied a masterpiece, but you have to take your "other" Mahler where you can get it."