Search - Thomas Hampson, Gustav Mahler, Michael Tilson Thomas :: Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde [Hybrid SACD]

Top Drawer Song of the Earth

DavidRoss | Woodland, CA United States | 12/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although I generally regard brevity as a virtue, I love Mahler's music nonetheless, and Das Lied von der Erde is my favorite among his works. And though I've loved each installment of Michael Tilson Thomas's deservedly praised Mahler symphony cycle, I was disappointed when I learned that Thomas Hampson would be performing the songs more commonly sung by a mezzo-soprano in the MTT/SFS DLVDE recording--not that I've anything against Mr. Hampson (loved his performance as Figaro in San Francisco Opera's Barber of Seville a few years back, in fact!), simply that I've always preferred the mezzo. I doubted that Hampson could hold a candle to some of the extraordinary women who have shone in this repertoire, like Christa Ludwig for Klemperer Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, or the sultry Violeta Urmana whose performance in Boulez's recording helps make that a DLVDE to treasure Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde - Violeta Urmana / Michael Schade / Wiener Philharmoniker / Pierre Boulez. Consequently, when this issue was finally released, I did not rush out to buy it, but waited first to hear it via an on-line music service.



I listened to the complete recording via those lossy streaming files. Immediately afterwards, I listened to it again. Then I rushed out to purchase the recording at the nearest Brick & Mortar store that still carries classical CDs, after which I listened to it again, and again, and again. (I cannot recall the last time I was so thoroughly seduced by a recording.) Hampson makes the most compelling case for a baritone in this work I've ever heard, better even than Fischer Dieskau for Bernstein Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde / Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. And Tilson Thomas and his orchestra simply blow every other recording that I know out of the water. Under his baton, this under-appreciated virtuoso orchestra captures the languid, world-weary sensuality of this music to perfection. As another reviewer here has stated, "There's no limit to how expressive the instrumental solos should be in this music." Fortunately, the San Francisco Symphony is full of first-rate woodwind and brass players who are up to the task, none less than the gifted Bill Bennett, whose oboe floats through the richly colored orchestral soundscape on wings of effortlessly unaffected ennui (and with purity of tone to die for!).



In short, to quote that same reviewer again, "For me, this is Mahler's ultimate masterpiece, and I want the widest range of mood and feeling." Tilson Thomas DOES provide that, in spades, with shadings of tone and tempo and expression that fully convey the expansiveness and subtlety of Mahler's greatest marriage of symphony and song. In a cycle replete with outstanding recordings of Mahler's symphonies, this might just be the best. I'm in complete agreement with Fanfare Magazine's Andrew Quint, whose review hardly overstated the case for it when he said, "Michael Tilson Thomas's Das Lied von der Erde is surely one of the greatest Mahler performances in recorded history and, though we've yet to hear the mighty Eighth, it's likely to be the crowning jewel of a series that has already produced several indispensable renditions, and no duds."



Postscript: Don't be put off by yet another Amazon reviewer's complaint about a beeping watch. It might have been audible to him during one of the performances from which this recording was made, but it is not audible to me when playing the CD (though I admit that my high frequency hearing is shot!)."

Breathtaking

Robert M. Burns | San Francisco | 07/16/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mahler! What can one say about this extraordinary artist? "Das Lied von der Erde" is just at the absolute end of emotional and intellectual capacity for the expressing of the inexpressible. The "Abscheid", with its final "Ewig!" never fails to tear me apart. I'm usually rendered almost to tears. (This entire work, along with the final two Adagios of the 9th Symphony are killers for me.)



As for the SFS and Maestro Thomas, along with Mssrs. Hampson and Skelton, the performance was first class. Mr. Hampson, whom I have admired equally with Dietrich Fischer-Diskau as being at the top of the heap was even more convincing than Christa Ludwig for Bernstein, in my estimation, but that's just a personal preference. That is not to take away a scintilla of perfection in Ludwig's performances. Mr. Skelton was wonderful in every respect, particularly since Mahler is so demanding of the high voice in this work.



I agonized as to whether buy Lennie's NYP recording with Ludwig, which many consider as good as it gets (other than *perhaps* Walter and the Vienna in the early 60's) or the SFS/Thomas recording. Frankly, I chose the San Francisco Symphony because I'm unabashedly in love with that orchestra. I grew up in San Francisco with it. The SFS is my first connection with serious music. (I go back as far as Enrique Jorda!)



In any event, I was not disappointed. Tilson-Thomas has brought that orchestra to the highest, world-class level. The players are incredible. And what he does with the great German/Viennese symphonists is to make this ensemble proud. Bravo.



Buy this offering without trepidation!"