Many of those who read MusicWeb International reviews will
be, like the reviewers themselves, serious, even obsessive collectors.
There are fourteen recorded performances of Das Lied von
der Erde on my shelves, probably a modest number compared
to some. The present performance, coming in at number fifteen,
prompts the following thought: how many times in a year will
I sit down and listen to Das Lied? Surely no one puts
it on as background music? And how likely am I to choose this
one next time, rather than Kletzki, Bernstein, Kubelik, Klemperer,
Boulez or Gielen?
The title of the first song translates as “The Drinking Song
of the Earth’s Sorrow”. The short orchestral introduction is
very well done, but as the song progressed I felt that the basic
pulse was too slow, robbing the music of some of its life. And
though the basic message is a dark one, it is a drinking song
after all, and there didn’t seem much of the tavern at this
tempo. So I was surprised to find that most other performances
take about the same time over this song, with only Klemperer,
of all people, shaving just short of a minute off Graf’s timing
of 8:41, proof that there’s more to it than tempo. The music
seems strangely becalmed though, at several points, which it
surely shouldn’t. I did warm to the singer, however. Gregory
Kunde’s high notes ring out, and with a fair range of tone colour,
bearing in mind the struggle he has to make himself heard above
the orchestra. I found myself admiring him even more in the
third song, where he phrases with more legato than is
often the case. His account of the song is unusually relaxed
and smilingly insouciant. The tempo seems just right too, as
it also does in the fifth song, with the singer particularly
attentive to those passages where birds are evoked, though with
power enough on all those top As. There are tenors who find
a bit more poetry here and there, and others who master the
score’s demands with less vocal strain – Wunderlich, say, for
the former; Siegfried Jerusalem for the latter. Although I find
the opening song rather cool-headed, these accounts are as satisfying
as many I have heard.
The mezzo songs are less successful. It’s not just that Jane
Henschel rides roughshod over many piano and pianissimo
markings – Kathleen Ferrier does the same – it is more that
the voice is just not suited to this repertoire. The climax
of the second song brings some glorious singing, but it might
be Wagner, not Mahler. In the quieter passages one is always
conscious of a singer aiming to “fill the house” and losing,
thereby, much of the subtle detail of the score. She is not
helped by a forward recorded balance, more forward, so it seems,
than the tenor. In the difficult, low-lying faster passage in
the fourth song this only serves to make her inevitable gabbling
– I know of no singer who succeeds totally here – even more
evident. There is a marked vibrato too, especially when singing
above mezzo-forte. Above all, the singing lacks that
inward quality – innigkeit – that the work demands. She
is up against some formidable names – Baker, Ludwig, Fassbaender
– and it is significant that the most successful of these are
all outstanding Lieder singers. Sadly, Henschel just doesn’t
get deep enough into the text, and fine though much of the singing
is in “Der Abschied”, the end of the work leaves one dry-eyed.
What a shame that one of the key moments, at the words “Ich
suche Ruhe für mein einsam Herz” [23:55] should be ruined by
this live performance’s sole instance of sour tuning.
My colleague Ralph Moore was pretty dismissive of this performance
some weeks ago, and while I clearly enjoyed it a lot more than
he did, I still wouldn’t recommend it unconditionally. I can
find no fault with the orchestral playing; many of the wind
solos are played with great character, and the overall tone
is rich and full, even if it doesn’t sound like the Vienna Philharmonic.
I like Hans Graf’s pacing of the work too, with the exception
of the first song as detailed above. The recording is very clear,
especially for a live performance. I was struck by dissonances
and details in the orchestral parts that I hadn’t heard before,
proof that the conductor and the sound engineers have gone about
their business in a serious and capable manner. Keith Anderson’s
insert note is very fine. As with most Naxos vocal releases,
you have to go the website if you want to follow the words.
A word or two about other performances. Jascha Horenstein’s
performance on BBC Legends is proof that you don’t need the
biggest international names or an orchestra of world class to
turn in a superlative performance of this work. Note, too, that
at an even slower basic tempo, the first song can be at once
sorrowful, impulsive and headily inebriated. Janet Baker, with
Haitink (Philips) and even more so with Kubelik (Audite) is
incomparable. I find Walter’s command of Mahlerian pacing and
rubato more masterly on CBS in 1960 with Mildred Miller
than in 1952 on Decca with Kathleen Ferrier. The performance
conducted by Boulez (DG) is a revelation, and not only because
one didn’t imagine Boulez capable of it. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau,
with Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic (Decca) give the
most moving reading of “Der Abschied” that I know. As for this
Naxos disc, I’ll be listening to it again, especially for the
tenor, whose singing is individual enough to bring something
new to many passages. Das Lied can stand many different
approaches, and it’s probably Klemperer from 1967 on EMI, with
Wunderlich and Ludwig, that I’d want with me if ever I found
myself marooned on that desert island.
William Hedley
See also reviews by Ralph
Moore and Dan
Morgan (January 2012 Bargain of the Month)
Jane Henschel (mezzo); Gregory Kunde (tenor) 