4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Is there a perfect performance of Das lied ?, September 21, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Das Lied Von Der Erdc (Audio CD)
Well...perhaps. These days conductors seem to get no time to really work with an orchestra to iron out every detail.
Horenstein was lucky. The BBC gave him plenty of time to prepare this performance. And the results are all too obvious. The fine BBC Northern, new to this music, lend their contribution a sense of discovery and freshness which more than compensates the occasional lack of string tone for example.
The soloists are totally sympathetic to Horenstein's expansive tempi; and the mezzo, the late Alfreda Hodgkinson is as finer soloist as one could hope to hear.
Why so many interpretations seem to me to miss the point is that Mahler was very clear about the dynamics, balance and tempo relationships in the score. Horenstein is broader than most but never flinches.
The glorious Abschied is terribly difficult music to pull off. But Horenstein achieves the near miracle of total fidelity and attention to balance and dynamics, yet sounds vital and spontaneous throughout. The intensity he sustains with Hodgson is nearly unbearable; and at last we can hear the Abschied in the way I'm convinced mahler intended us too.
There are not many recordings which change your life, but this is one.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sonically Amazing, October 30, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Das Lied Von Der Erdc (Audio CD)
This performance is second to none available for this incredibly difficult work. The solist is perfect, the tempi sublime, and the orchestra seems perfectly in tune with what Horenstein wants. The result is never overbearing and always fraught with the kind of tension that this work requires.
Considering that this recording was taken from "air checks" broadcast years ago, the sonics on this disk are nothing short of stunning. The first movement is sonically somewhat less with regard to overall ambience and sense of the performance space, but the the rest is near-perfect, complete with the occasional creak of a performer's chair. The inner detail, especially within the woodwinds, so important to the texture of this work, is carefully rendered without the annoying "spotlight mike" feel that is never a part of a concert-hall experience.
Speaking as a true Mahler-lover as well as a careful stereo hobbyist, this is the one 'Das Lied' to own.
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