Search - Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Pierre Boulez :: Mahler: Ruckert-Lieder / Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder

Warmly affecting Rueckertlieder beside sympathetic Wesendonc

Pater Ecstaticus | Norway | 10/04/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These earlier recordings of Mahler's 'Fuenf Lieder nach Gedichten von Friedrich Rueckert' by Pierre Boulez (coupled with sympathetic readings of Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder) are here given a warmly affecting performance. I personally must place these at least beside Boulez' latest reading with Violetta Urmana (on Deutsche Grammophon 00289 477 5329), which, however wonderfully phrased and however technically astute, lack some of the warmth which I need more in these songs and which I do indeed find here. Or for a really great performance that maybe tops them all, go to Anne Sofie von Otter with the NDR-Sinfonieorchester led by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, also on Deutsche Grammophon.

I also especially love Yvonne Minton's pleasingly sympathetic timbre, in synch with Pierre Boulez' warmly affectionate conducting (really!). Boulez may have reached a high point of perfection and artistry with Violetta Urmana and the Wiener Philharmoniker, but this recording has its own merits and cannot be passed by.

Das Liebesmahl der Apostel is a large scale but nonetheless insubstantial choral work with orchestral accompaniment, written by Wagner for the special occasion of a large choral festival in Dresden."