RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Gustav MAHLER (1860 - 1911)
Songs with Orchestra
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
1. Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht [4:08]
2. Ging heut’ Morgen übers Feld [4:08]
3. Ich hab’ ein glühend’ Messer [3:12]
4. Die zwei blauen Augen [5:14]
Rückert-Lieder
5. Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft [2:38]
6. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder [1:20]
7. Liebst du um Schönheit [2:40]
8. Um Mitternacht [6:28]
9. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen [6:43]
Selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn
10. Lied des verfolgten im Turm [3:54]
11. Der Tambourg’sell [5:34]
12. Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen [6:54]
13. Revelge [6:24]
14. Urlicht [5:16]
Susan Graham (mezzo) (5-9); Thomas Hampson (baritone) (1-4; 10-14)
San Francisco Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas
rec. live, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 23, 25-26 September 2009 (1-4);
16-20 September 2009 (5-9); 10-13 May 2007 (11-14)
Sung texts with English and German translations enclosed
SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY 821936-0036-2 [64:57]
Michael Tilson Thomas has been hailed for his Mahler symphony cycle. When
he now turns to some of the orchestral songs expectations are bound to be
high. Recorded in the orchestra’s own Symphony Hall in acoustics they
are so familiar with the sound is glowing but in no way over-bright and the
playing is utterly confident. Tempos tend to be on the slow side. Whether
this is down to the conductor’s decision or that of the singers is hard
to know but there is no sense of sagging. Thomas Hampson delivers the songs
allotted to him with an interpretative insight that has deepened through the
years. This places him among a select group of singers whose recordings connoisseurs
will return to for reference in the future.
He has always been a fine interpreter of songs but now in his mid-50s his
long experience has guided him to find even more varied vocal colours and
nuances. His voice has aged, but not in an unpleasant way. It has lost something
of its youthful sheen and acquired a somewhat wider vibrato on sustained notes.
Even so his honeyed pianissimos and biting fortissimos are still there. He
recorded Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with his mentor Leonard Bernstein
at the beginning of his career and that has always been one the most recommendable
versions. Here he comes even closer to the core of the songs. Just listen
to the marvellous end of Ging heut’ Morgen (tr. 2). Ich hab’
ein glühend Messer (tr. 3) has intensity comparable to that of Dietrich
Fischer-Dieskau and I can give no higher praise. The pain is palpable. Actually
his timbre is sometimes is very similar to that of the older singer. Die
zwei blauen Augen, possibly the finest of the songs, is so touching and
reminds me of an even older German baritone, Heinrich Schlusnus.
The Wunderhorn songs are also marvellously alive. Hampson is a distinguished
story-teller in these dark settings of likewise dark poems and throughout
there is an autumnal feeling. It seems that everything Hampson touches at
this stage of his career turns to gold. The conclusion of the recital, and
the crowning glory of the whole programme, Urlicht, is sung with the
vocal equivalent to what Germans call ‘Fingerspitzengefühl’.
We are used to hear it in the penultimate movement of the Second Symphony
there sung by a contralto, but Hampson’s reading makes one forget this
association.
The five Rückert songs are also among Mahler’s most personal creations
- but which songs are not? - and they are sung with deep commitment by Susan
Graham. She doesn’t peer as deep as Hampson, even though her Ich
bin der Welt is sublime. But there is something too generalized about
these readings that ends up making them not quite competitive with the best
mezzo recordings. For me Janet Baker and Brigitte Fassbaender reign supreme.
Still Susan Graham’s efforts are far from negligible and with Hampson’s
superb readings of his songs this is a disc that would have been a candidate
for inclusion among my Recordings of the Year, had it arrived a little earlier.
Göran Forsling
A disc that would have been a candidate for inclusion among my Recordings
of the Year, had it arrived a little earlier.