Photograph of Gustav Mahler (from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
Given the seven-CD box set of performances conducted by Bruno Walter devoted entirely to compositions by Gustav Mahler released by Sony at the beginning of 2012, the Warner Classics release of only two and a half CDs is, to say the least, skimpy. The other half of the third CD is divided between Anton Bruckner and Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, which will probably raise more than a few eyebrows! That said, the first half of that third CD is irresistible, since it serves up a performance of contralto Kathleen Ferrier singing the Kindertotenlieder followed by four alternative takes, two for each of the two songs in the cycle.
That vocal side of Mahler also fills the first of the three CDs. Almost all of the album is devoted to a performance of the Das Lied von der Erde song cycle with vocal solos by tenor Charles Kullman and contralto Kerstin Thorborg. This followed by an “encore performance” by Thorberg, singing “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” from the five Rückert-Lieder songs.
Having accounted for the first and last CDs, the “middle” is devoted to Mahler’s final completed symphony, the ninth in D major. This is preceded by an “overture of sorts,” the Adagietto (fourth) movement from Mahler’s fifth symphony in C-sharp minor. Those familiar with the symphony know that it is one of Mahler’s stormier undertakings. However, the Adagietto provided the one relief from the storm, scored only for the string section augmented with a harp solo. (Movie goers may recognize the music from Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice film.)
I have to confess that, on the whole, I am more satisfied with Walter after he made the move to New York than I was with his Viennese days. His Sony box set of Mahler’s music accounts for five of the symphonies (1,2, 4, 5, and 9), Das Lied von der Erde, and a selection of earlier songs that predated Das Lied. On the other hand, I suspect that many attentive listeners will be interested in a “compare and contrast” approach to listening to Walter’s Viennese performances and those in New York.
