One is spoilt for choice when it comes to Walter’s
pioneering Mahler recordings of 1936 and 1938. Both Pearl (Gemm CD 9413)
and this Naxos disc share the same programme, whilst Dutton CDEA 5014
and Music and Arts CD 749 substitute Kullmann’s English language Ich
atmet’ einem linden duft (a fine performance, Sargent conducting,
from the well-known Columbia History of Music series) in place of Thorborg’s
Viennese recording from the Ruckert Lieder, of which more below.
Walter had conducted the premiere of Das Lied von
der Erde in 1911 and famously recorded it three times – for Decca
in 1951 and CBS in 1960. This 1936 live recording always suffered from
a slightly confined and boxy acoustic and there are some accidental
orchestral slips along the way – violins in Das Trinklied vom Jammer
der Erde and horns in Der Einsame in Herbst. The
distractions are minor however and Thorborg proves a musician of exceptional
interiority of conception, serious without sentimentality; her Abschied
is one of spiritual engagement of the profoundest kind without ever
seeking to bloat the music beyond its natural bounds. Kullmann is fresh
voiced and ardent, a communicative and extrovert artist whilst Walter
indulges some noticeable rhythmic licence in a way that became progressively
less palpable as he aged. One can also hear his excitable groans and
foot stamps at various choice moments.
The Adagietto, recorded in 1938, clocks in at 8’10
and is an urgent, passionately alive performance which differs markedly
from his subsequent performance of the Symphony, an obvious historical
corrective to dubious indulgence, and one in which seamless rubato is
to the fore. Thorborg’s way with Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
is truly beautiful. This is singing of concentrated gravity breathtaking
to hear. As I said these classic performances are widely available.
This Naxos disc however, continues the consistently high standard of
their Historical series and has cogent and helpful notes from Richard
Whitehouse.
Jonathan Woolf
Kerstin Thorborg, contralto