I remember vividly a Utah Symphony concert, Abravanel conducting, soloists John Stewart and Maureen Forrester. "Der Abschied" has especially lingered in my mind ever since.
Wunderlich is one of my favorite tenors. I'm not very familiar with these songs, but having Wunderlich as the singer is enough for me to give them a serious listen with this recording.
The stereo Walter was my first Das Lied; got it on LP when it first came out. Helped me get through the angst and turmoil of teenage years. I was so struck by the music that I tried to improve the translation to be more like what I felt the music was expressing.
You are absolutely right, but despite having Klemperer in my collection (Wunderlich ❤) I still listen to Walter/Ferrier/Patzak over and over again. Whenever I hear Ferrier I just can‘t help listening on and on until the music is over. I‘m not from the UK by the way (A)
I would be very sorry not to have heard Kathleen Ferrier and am thankful that recordings allow me to, although she died before I was born. But I can't personally feel her unique interpretative qualities in this particular piece and recording, and if I had to select one record to remember her by, it wouldn't be this one.
I discovered Das Lied von der Erde in my late teens at a live concert (can't remember the performers) and was totally blown away. So I needed to have it on record. And the recording I got was the Klemperer, still on LP in those pre-CD times.
So fun to hear a Mildred Miller shout out. I was at Carnegie Mellon during her tenure there, where she was famous for her brutal frankness. She was known among the voice majors as “Thoroughly Honest Millie”!
I already had the Klemperer but by golly the Bruno Walter/Mildred Miller version is a superb listen. She, in particular, sounds glorious. Thanks for putting me on to it!
The stereo Walter used to get as many recommendations by critics over the years. That said, I'm curious to hear the new remaster of the Klemps which just came out as a Mahler subset of the big Warner box.
The thing that has always struck me about the final movement, “The Farewell “, is that no matter how well the soloist sings the woodwind section always steals the show. It is such brilliant orchestration.
While Eiji Oue's recording won't be a "reference recording" except by way of the label, it's one of my favorite recordings - also highly regarded on Classics Today : )
My first Das Lied was the Walter/Haefliger/Miller one. I bought the Odyssey LP in 1973 when I was still just discovering Mahler. The piece became my favorite of all of Mahler's works, and that's the version I imprinted on so it has always been my preferred version. My only source of information about classical records in those days was my dad's subscription to High Fidelity magazine, and their critics seemed to favor the '50s one as the best of Walter's recordings; glad to see you don't agree with that. And do my eyes deceive me or is Julius Patzak not even mentioned on the cover of that CD?
Oh why must I be so tortured! As in others of my deserted island works, Das Lied presents me with an impossible choice from among two recordings. In this case it's Klemperer or Bernstein/Vienna. When I sit down with the Bernstein to revel in his oft deliciously manic way, especially with the Trinklied, I must then endure the torture of not hearing the greatest tenor ever to sing this work. Btw, you didn't mention it but it seems relevant in the reference sweepstakes: In contrast to the other recordings under consideration, the sound that Legge got from his engineers for the Philharmonia was absolutely reference quality. I find that the other Bernstein performance was only so-so. It's notable that the recording I have is with Christa Ludwig. If you have one with the fantastic Janet Baker, then he must've recorded it twice with Israel. David, a most enjoyable episode!
Oh dear Dave, Klemperer's Das Lied was my introduction to Mahler. I love that record. It is really difficult for me to listen other tenors singing this songs... they all sound so inferior. I am not saying they are bad, but... well, you know. A reference indeed. Cheers!
Oh, yes. Wunderlich is so amazing in his arias… none better. And Ludwig did, what 5 recordings? Klemp, Reiner, Bernstein, Karajan, Kleiber? Plus, the EMI sonics in the 60’s were so vivid… I agree w all your comments about the many other great versions. An embarrassment of riches.
I knew our dear Kaff wouldn't come out of this well but I sort of know at you mean - she's very far from her best (though being terminally ill can't have helped), she never had much in the way of voice training (Roy Henderson was vain and useless) her tone is a bit wavery and the high notes are strained. But I'm old enough to have known people who heard her live and never forgot it; huge, rich, warm and steady - if nothing else her voice is instantly recognisable (in a good way) and uplifting and she must have had something if Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, John Barbirolli, Gerald Moore, Malcolm Sargent and Leopold Stokowski all wanted to share a taxi with her and Benjamin Britten wrote a whole bloody opera with her voice in mind. Isn't it at least possible that at least some of this performance has the capacity to move profoundly?.
Kathleen Ferrier had a unique voice timbre and brought a particular quality of spirituality and humanity to some music - including English folksongs. Blow the Wind Southerly was always famous, but I find O Waly Waly with Britten at the piano finest of all and very moving. But I didn't find her Das Lied grabbed me in the same way, so I can't disagree with Dave's analysis, but I can also see why Bruno Walter wanted to record it with her while they still had the chance, and why some commenters may find profound moments in it. My father recorded a BBC Radio tribute to her on the 10th anniversary of her death in 1963 and there was unanimity among the commentators (who included many of those you mention above) that she had something truly special. "There are some voices that are ... just a voice, but not Kathleen". However, if I was to select one performance or record to remember her by, it wouldn't be this one. Thankfully we have some recordings that capture her in her prime, unlike many famous singers from the past. Another voice which I felt had unique qualities was Ernest Lough, again only just captured in time.
I agree with you that this studio recording , while it has some moving moments, is not Ferrier at her best. There is a live recording from a Carnegie Hall broadcast just a few years earlier which is more representative of her approach to this piece, but bear in mind the recorded sound quality in the first two songs is difficult. Roy Henderson 'vain and useless' where did you get that from please? He was the teacher of several very successful singers - John Shirley Quirk , Norma Procter, Rae Woodland , Sheila Armstrong among others who all sang and travelled extensively. Kathleen Ferrier was a late starter as far as formal singing training goes, but she worked firstly at a local level with Dr J E Hutchison, then with Roy Henderson and also took lessons with Madame Clytie Mundy during her trips to America. She was reknowed for her breathe span especially in the arias from the St Matthew Passion. In my early training years some of the singers she sang with were still with us and involved in teaching. It was interesting to hear their opinions.
An extraordinarily excellent choice of "Reference" Dave. Klemperer's orchestral vision of the work is uncompromising, rougher, and perhaps more realistic to my ears. Some of the more recent recordings over the last 20 years or so sound smoother, more consoling--Klemperer is having none of that. I also adore the last Bruno Walter version (1960 I think). I know a few old geezers like myself that wonder why Reiner's CSO version never received the critical acclaim over the years. I suspect it might be another casualty of the British versus American press wars that was so silly and so pointless, especially on the part of my former country folk in the UK. Thanks for highlighting this recording Dave, especially for the benefit of those so much younger than ourselves. Take care!
I thought you would choose Bernstein / Ludwig / Kollo; I remember that, when I bought my first "Lied" in one of Vienna's now long passed away record shops, the well informed and very passionate owner said that Bernstein / Kollo / Ludwig would be the only reliable version.
I don't know what that means, and despite the dry sonics it's a very good performance (although I said it was Baker when of course you're right). But not the reference. I don't know anyone who has ever thought so.
I think you have to set aside the Walter/Ferrier as a “special case”. Kathleen Ferrier was known by the British public beyond the classical world, and kept her illness quite secret in those days when people didn’t talk about their ailments in public. So her death was a shock and headline news and is always entangled in listening to those old recordings … Decca struggled to capture her voice cleanly too. I think her sister commented on the edginess which of course was not apparent in her actual voice. In life she was apparently down to Earth and very jolly; at odds with the way she is cloaked in tragedy by history. So yes, as a sentimental Brit I am kind to it; when I listen it is for Ferrier but the tenor is dreadful so I leave him out. To listen to the piece ( rather than indulge a Ferrier moment ) then Janet Baker’s rendering is my preference …
My first recordings of "The Song of the Earth" were Bernstein, Solti and Haitink. Maybe I discovered Klemperer too late, but the choice of tempos in the middle movements seemed too slow and sluggish to me after I was familiar with the other recordings. That's why Kelmperer never became one of my favorites. Maybe it's time for a new series: recordings that everyone likes except me.
I did! And the singing is definitely the best on record. Especially Wunderlich is a force of nature. But is singing all that counts in Das Lied? Orchestral playing and sound are also great in the Klemperer recording, and conducting… well it’s typically Klemperer. But there are others doing also a great job. Taking all points into account, Haitink is THE reference recording for me. For Das Lied, almost everyone will name Klemperer as reference recording. Just why? Dave’s historical explanation shed some light on this. Klemperer was able to fill a gap. But does that still justify today that it is considered an undisputed reference recording? Or have we just heard and learned over and over again that Klemperer is the gold standard?
Excellent choice and most certainly the consensus reference although I personally prefer a few others. I find that Haitink and Concertgebouw achieved something spectacular orchestrally in his recording with Janet Baker, but I think - and I’m splitting hairs here - Janet Baker is a little less interesting in Der Abschied than some other recordings (like Forrester, Ludwig, or even Baker herself with Kubelik). It’s still one of my favorite Das Lieds though, I particularly love their incomparable Von der Schonheit. My other favorites are Kubelik (that mandolin trill still sends shivers down my spine) and perhaps my absolute favorite, Reiner with Maureen Forrester, whom I think did Der Abschied better than anyone else ever.
A side issue, but, a couple of years after the Walter stereo version (1960), Haefliger did it again, this time with Nan Merriman and Jochum. It is Jochum's only Mahler recording. Evereyone is in top form and the DG recording is excellent. Despite being remastered and released on the Originals series, it remains largely forgotten. Why, I don't know because it is excellent... a thoughtful and most original interpretation. I would put it up there with the Walter, (1960), Klemperer and Haitink.
Can’t agree more the Ferrier’s performance is substandard god bless her, with Wunderlich everything always is better ; Klemperer is a bit slow but the singers makes the difference always as it’s a singers symphony not the other way around !
I fully agree with your designation of this Klemp/Ludwig/Wunderlich recording as the reference recording. It's also my favorite recording, as I find Ludwig and Wunderlich far superior to Baker and King and that Klemp is much more incisive than Haitink, who, admittedly, has a better orchestra.
Klemperer's eccentricities - especially the slower tempi - seem to prevent many of his otherwise optimally placed recordings from becoming references. There are of course exceptions (Brahms 1), but his Matthew Passion for instance, with that extraordinary cast (Ludwig! Fischer Dieskau! Schwarzkopf!) and the Philharmonia is just too slow for most listeners (I love it, but it's too idiosyncratic to call a reference) . I would nominate Klemperer for the reference Siegfried Idyll, one of the pieces where he is on the quicker side, and where his forward woodwind balances are extremely welcome.
The Bach is not too slow for most listeners. It's been in print and available since the day it was issued, which suggests that "most listeners" don't have a problem with the tempos.
