{"id":16462,"date":"2022-06-08T15:13:32","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T13:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=167691"},"modified":"2022-06-08T15:37:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T13:37:14","slug":"the-best-recordings-of-mahlers-ruckert-lieder","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/the-best-recordings-of-mahlers-ruckert-lieder\/","title":{"rendered":"The best recordings of Mahler\u2019s R\u00fcckert-Lieder"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By BBC Music Magazine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 08 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Th<\/span>e year was 1902 \u2013 and Gustav Mahler<\/a> had just married Alma Schindler<\/a>. A song called \u2018Liebst du um Sch\u00f6nheit\u2019 (\u2018If you love for beauty\u2019) was offered to her during their first lakeside summer together in Austrian Carinthia, where Mahler\u2019s new summer-house had been completed the year before.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Few singers can resist including this poignantly tender song in their performances of the <i>R\u00fcckert-Lieder<\/i>, though all Mahler\u2019s other settings of the verse of the sensuously Romantic German poet Friedrich R\u00fcckert had been written a year before, in that fruitful summer of 1901 which also saw the composition of two movements of the Fifth Symphony. The five <i>R\u00fcckert-Lieder<\/i> (not a cycle, and singers order them as they please) move from the musical incarnation of the scent of spring blossom, to a meditation on withdrawal from the world, to an existential dark midnight of the soul. And each song \u2013 apart from \u2018Liebst du um Sch\u00f6nheit\u2019 \u2013 was orchestrated just one day after its original piano-accompanied version.<\/span><\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/which-is-the-best-mahler-symphony\/"\">Which is the best Mahler Symphony?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/five-essential-works-mahler\/"\">Five essential works by Mahler<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/mahler-unlikely-optimist\/"\">Mahler, the unlikely optimist?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><h2>The best recordings of Mahler\u2019s R\u00fcckert-Lieder<\/h2>\n<h3 class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Janet Baker (mezzo-soprano)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\""p2"\"><strong><span class=\""s1"\">New Philharmonia\/John Barbirolli (1969)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p2"\"><strong><span class=\""s1"\"><i>Warner 566 9812\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">The listener today has two choices to make: do you prefer the five songs sung by a male or female voice? And which do you find more moving: the intimate, in-drawing piano-accompanied version, or the lush and fragrant orchestration? Though currently only available either as a download or as part of a five-CD \u2018Best of\u2026\u2019 set, the mezzo-soprano Janet Baker\u2019s (right) orchestral recording with the New Philharmonia under conductor Sir John Barbirolli has to remain the head-and-shoulders-above recommendation. In 46 years, no singer and conductor have shown such rapt musical empathy in this work, and no soloist, male or female, has captured quite the balance of ardour, fragility, inner anguish and vulnerability as Baker. Her valediction \u2013 she places \u2018Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen\u2019 (\u2018I am lost to the world\u2019) last \u2013 achieves a sense of almost incorporeal spirituality, as she withdraws from the world. Baker\u2019s barely discernible yet affecting control of breath, pacing and dynamic nuance is incomparable. She creates the all-important sensation that a love, and a sense of heightened spirituality such as this, is perhaps just too perfect to last. This performance is balanced perfectly between wide existential horizons and the lyrical intimacy unique to these songs.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\"\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Icon-Dame-Janet-Baker\/dp\/B0016IV2CK\/ref=sr_1_9?tag=classicalm05c-21&ascsubtag=classicalmusic-0"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""sponsored" noopener noreferrer\">Buy from Amazon<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><h3 class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">C<\/span><span class=\""s1"\">hristian Gerhaher (baritone)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><strong><span class=\""s1"\">Gerold Huber (piano) (2009)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><strong><span class=\""s2"\"><i>RCA 88697 567732<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p4"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Top of the list of runners-up comes a male-voice, piano-accompanied version \u2013 arguably closest to the first sounds conceived within Mahler\u2019s imagination. The close partnership between the baritone Christian Gerhaher and his accompanist Gerold Huber reveals that, in the right hands, Mahler\u2019s original piano accompaniments can be every bit as eloquent as the orchestrations. Gerhaher\u2019s responses to German song invariably seek out the melancholy subtext of both word and musical response, and this performance is no exception. His intimate relationship with the taste and tone of each beautifully enunciated word, and his concentration and restraint in revealing the unique chemistry of the fusion of poetic and musical sensibility, is as seductive as ever here.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\""monetizer__price-comparison-container"\" data-position=\""adhoc"\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\""monetizer__price-comparison-title\" monetizer-title=\"\" style=\""background-color:\" color:=\"\"\/> <div id=\""monetizer__deals"\" data-type=\""price-comparison"\" data-config=\"'{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.co.uk\\\/music\\\/player\\\/albums\\\/B002VOYPEK","excludeKeywords":"","geolocation":true,"limit":"4","priceRange":"0.7-1.3","sid":"term-classicalmusic-6-pcs-txt-pos"}'\"\/> <div class=\""monetizer__price-comparison-explanatory-text\" body-copy-extra-small=\"\" editor-content=\"\"\/><\/div> <h3 class=\""p2"\"><strong><span class=\""s1"\">Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><strong><span class=\""s1"\">Berlin Philharmonic\/Karl B\u00f6hm (1964)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><strong><span class=\""s2"\"><i>DG 463 5162 <\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p4"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Here, the doyen of baritones meets the doyen of orchestras. This early Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau performance is my preferred orchestral recording of all those made by the great singer \u2013 sadly, his uniquely intense live Festival Hall performance, piano-accompanied by Karl Engel, is currently unavailable. But this one shows him at the height of his young powers, and more sympathetically conducted than in later versions with either Zubin Mehta or Daniel Barenboim. The projection of words, effortless and instinctive, and the nuancing of each phrase is at its most subtle and intimate. And no one reveals the dark night of the soul more dramatically: Fischer-Dieskau chooses to place \u2018Um Mitternacht\u2019 last, creating an incomparable crescendo of intensity.<\/span><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Mahler:\" lieder=\"\" eines=\"\" fahrenden=\"\" gesellen=\"\" kindertotenlieder=\"\" rueckert=\"\" type=\""text\/html"\" width=\""336"\" height=\""550"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" style=\""max-width:100%"\" src=\""https:\/\/read.amazon.co.uk\/kp\/card?preview=inline&linkCode=kpd&ref_=k4w_oembed_9kRLI3T6xHbroP&asin=B00004SC68&tag=kpembed-20"\"\/>\n<h3 class=\""p2"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Anne Schwanewilms (soprano)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><strong><span class=\""s1"\">Malcolm Martineau (piano) (2014) <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p3"\"><strong><span class=\""s2"\"><i>Onyx 4146 <\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\""p4"\"><span class=\""s2"\">Here is one of the most recent recordings: a performance by female voice, and piano-accompanied. It makes its mark thanks to the uniquely gilded quality of Schwanewilms\u2019s soprano and to the outstandingly sentient and imaginative piano playing of Malcolm Martineau. For moments \u2013 in the first two songs, \u2018Ich atmet\u2019 einen linden Duft\u2019 and \u2018Liebst du um Schonheit\u2019 \u2013 you think you want to hear the music no other way. Schwanewilms and Martineau choose unusually slow tempos, in which constantly shifting lights and colours gleam through effortlessly sustained melodic lines. The way she modulates her voice in the long reaches of \u2018Um Mitternacht\u2019 may not be to everyone\u2019s taste; but the very sense of disturbance and struggle bring a potent new perspective to the song.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Illustration by <span class=\""s1"\">Steve Rawlings<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By BBC Music Magazine Published: Wednesday, 08 June 2022 at 12:00 am The year was 1902 \u2013 and Gustav Mahler had just married Alma Schindler. A song called \u2018Liebst du um Sch\u00f6nheit\u2019 (\u2018If you love for beauty\u2019) was offered to her during their first lakeside summer together in Austrian Carinthia, where Mahler\u2019s new summer-house had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":16463,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/the-best-recordings-of-mahlers-ruckert-lieder-scaled.jpg",2560,1828,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/the-best-recordings-of-mahlers-ruckert-lieder-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/the-best-recordings-of-mahlers-ruckert-lieder-300x214.jpg",300,214,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/the-best-recordings-of-mahlers-ruckert-lieder-768x548.jpg",768,548,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/the-best-recordings-of-mahlers-ruckert-lieder-1024x731.jpg",800,571,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/the-best-recordings-of-mahlers-ruckert-lieder-1536x1097.jpg",1536,1097,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/the-best-recordings-of-mahlers-ruckert-lieder-2048x1463.jpg",2048,1463,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By BBC Music Magazine Published: Wednesday, 08 June 2022 at 12:00 am The year was 1902 \u2013 and Gustav Mahler had just married Alma Schindler. A song called \u2018Liebst du um Sch\u00f6nheit\u2019 (\u2018If you love for beauty\u2019) was offered to her during their first lakeside summer together in Austrian Carinthia, where Mahler\u2019s new summer-house had…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/16462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}