MAHLER: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; Ruckert Lieder; 5 Lieder from Das Knaben Wunderhorn; 3 Lieder und Gesange – Angelika Kirchschlager, mezzo-soprano/ Helmut Deutsch, piano – Quinton 1001, 58:34 [Distr. by Allegro] ****:
According to the notes on this disc, this is Kirchschlager’s second Mahler recording. I can’t find the first—maybe some intrepid reader will be able to help me out here. She did have a debut recording on Sony that had a lot of different composers—including Mahler—and she put down some more of the Lieder und Gesange there. Kirchschlager’s voice has concentrated mainly on Mozart and Strauss, and having never heard her Mahler I was somewhat curious and even somewhat worried as her instrument is not one that I would think is naturally inclined to Mahler. I needn’t have worried—she negotiates all of Mahler’s comprehensive interpretative demands with considerable ease.
It’s a great program, and one that any diehard Mahler fans or novice will be immediately attracted to. Kirchschlager maneuvers though this music with unassailable ease and an engrossing familiarity. Especially nice are the vocal flexibilities that she brings to the composer’s middle period Ruckert Lieder. Hers is not a heavy mezzo at all, and she is equally to responsive to Handel and well, and brings little of that lightweight dexterity to these performances also. Mr. Deutsch is his usual elastic and attentive self, and provides apt accompaniment. Sound is clear and perfectly balanced. A fine release that is easily recommended.
— Steven Ritter
Sir Thomas Beecham conducts Rimsky Korsakov, Saint-Saëns – SOMM
Three mid-century concerts
