Rand Lines

Nigel Wilkinson’s recent review of a Brussels performance of Mahler’s gigantic choral Eighth Symphony stirred up some discussion about the ubiquity of the composer’s purely (or primarily) symphonic music in concert halls today. I’ll chime in to say that I too find the symphonies a chore, excepting the sublime “Adagietto” from Death in Venice — I mean, the Fifth Symphony.

On the other hand, I love Mahler’s solo vocal music, so this week’s Chris’s Cache presents an early May banquet of ten fine singers in eight works. My intention was to select broadcasts that featured important performers who rarely appear in the U.S.: Andrè Schuen, Catriona Morison, Stéphane Degout, Gerhild Romberger, Allan Clayton, Fleur Barron, Samule Hasselhorn, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Marianne Crebassa, and Ying Fang.

Though this week’s installment may seem like a lot, it by no means includes all of Mahler’s vocal works. I’ve omitted the Eighth Symphony entirely as well as the conclusion of the Resurrection. I’m also saving Das Klagende Lied for a future Chris’s Cache.

As far as I’m concerned, the non-symphonic works aren’t programmed as often as they might be. It was a joy in 2017 when Esa-Pekka Salonen took over for James Levine in a series of Met Orchestra concerts at Carnegie Hall where he conducted the Kindertotenlieder, Das Lied von der Erde and Des Knaben Wunderhorn in a single week.

Many of today’s singers perform more in orchestral concerts and recitals than in opera. However, Scottish mezzo-soprano Morison who won the Main Prize at the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World contest will be Fricka when Kiril Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic begin their Ring next spring at the Salzburg Easter Festival. Romberger is Erda in Siegfried in this year’s installment of the HIP Ring that Kent Nagano has been conducting; I was pleased to learn just last week that parterre box will have a reviewer in attendance for Siegfried when it arrives in Dresden in June. Schuen was luxury casting as Donner at La Scala when David McVicar began his Ring in November.

Though absent from the Met next season, Fang will appear with Joyce DiDonato and the Philadelphia Orchestra in Mahler’s Second Symphony at Carnegie Hall. Barron has recently twice performed recitals in NewYork and has further U.S. recitals planned for next season. Clayton and Crebassa were due at the Met this season but the tenor’s Jupiter in Semele has been pushed back while the mezzo pulled out of her scheduled Cherubinos, the role of her Met debut. Degout, missing from the Met for a long while now, will be touring next month with Sabine Devieilhe in an interesting program that pairs excerpts from Thomas’s Hamlet with the Fauré Requiem.

Check out the “Trove Thursday” archive for many other Mahler performance for listening and/or downloading.

Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

 

Andrè Schuen

Deutsche Radio Philharmonie
Conductor: Pietari Inkinen
Congresshalle Saarbrücken
8 September 2024
Broadcast

Mahler: Rückert-Lieder

Catriona Morison

BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Conductor: Thomas Søndergård
Brangwyn Hall, Swansea
19 January 2019
Broadcast

Mahler: Kindertotenlieder

Stéphane Degout

Orchestre de Paris
Conductor: Jukka-Peka Saraste
Paris Philharmonie
4 March 2020
Broadcast

Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Fleur Barron
Samuel Hasselhorn

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Nathalie Stutzmann
Woodruff Arts Center
26 September 2024
Broadcast

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

Gerhild Romberger
Allan Clayton

Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Conductor: Robin Ticciati
Casals Forum, Kronberg im Taunus
21 September 2023
Broadcast

Mahler: Symphony No. 2, “Urlicht”

Wiebke Lehmkuhl

WDR Sinfonieorchester
Conductor: Cristian Macelaru
Kölner Philharmonie Köln
3 November 2023
Broadcast

Mahler: Symphony No. 3,“O Mensch”

Marianne Crebassa

Tiffin Choirs
London Symphony Chorus
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel
Barbican Hall
15 January 2025
Broadcast

Mahler: Symphony No. 4,“Das himmlische Leben”

Ying Fang

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Susanna Mälkki
Orchestra Hall
21 March 2024
Broadcast

Each of these eight Mahler works can be downloaded by clicking on the icon of a cloud with an arrow pointing downward on the audio player above and the resulting mp3 file will appear in your download directory.

Never miss an episode of Chris’s Cache! Subscribe to this podcast via Apple Podcasts or RSS.

Comments