Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

Michael Schade [Tenor], Wiener Philharmoniker [Orchestra], Pierre Boulez [Conductor] Violeta Urmana [Mezzo-Soprano] (Artist), Gustav [Composer] Mahler (Composer), Pierre Boulez (Conductor), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Violeta Urmana (Performer), Michael Schade (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Violeta Urmana, Michael Schade
• Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Pierre Boulez
• Composer: Gustav [Composer] Mahler
• Audio CD (October 21, 2011)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca International
• ASIN: B000056EUM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,572 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Pierre Boulez's ongoing Gustav Mahler cycle pleases those who prefer a lucid, analytical take on these sprawling works, while displeasing those who favor interpretations that match Mahler's wild, all-encompassing attempt to capture the universe in sound. This Lied won't change any minds, but even naysayers will appreciate its strong points, among which mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana is by far the strongest. The voice itself is pliant, warm, expressive, and in the final "Abschied," Mahler's moving farewell to life, Urmana erases memories of most of her recorded predecessors. Tenor Michael Schade's bright, ringing tenor cuts through the orchestra, albeit with a misguided attempt to color and highlight even the words best sung simply. Boulez's attention to detail and the Vienna Philharmonic's masterly playing are other pluses. But the emotional core of the music is missing; Boulez gives us the music but not the emotions it should convey, resulting in a Lied that's alienated from itself. Interesting as this release is, the very different approaches of Walter, Horenstein, Bernstein, and Klemperer have more to say about this music. --Dan Davis

Product Description

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde by Violeta Urmana [Mezzo-Soprano], Michael Schade [Tenor], Wiener Philharmoniker [Orchestra], Pierre Boulez [Conductor]

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Strong Contender in the Mahler Das Lied Competition, March 5, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Audio CD)

Having the opportunity to hear Pierre Boulez illuminate the thick romantic orchestral works such as Gustav Mahler's DAS LIED VON DER ERDE is always a palate-cleanser. While many may find the Boulez approach distant or excessively analytical, I think that may be due to lack of hearing this conductor with these big works in live performance. For this listener Boulez takes nothing away from the sentimental edge of Mahler's works: he simplifies the paths of approach to the big climaxes and in doing so adds credibility to the honesty of Mahler's angst. Another conductor in this same approach is Esa-Pekka Salonen and it is with the latter's Los Angeles Philharmonic that the mysteries of Boulez and Mahler can be most appreciated. (Would that Salonen had the luxury of Violeta Urmana as his soloist in his recording of this cycle: the combination of those three would be well worth re-recording.)

But here Boulez conducts the Vienna Philharmonic with luxurious beauty of tone and ensemble playing. The tenor he has chosen is the rather light weight Michael Shade and while he is unable to erase memories of Wunderlich or Domingo or Patzak, he does ring with authority. The revelation here is the presence of Violeta Urmana. Having heard her with Boulez in the concert version of Act Two of PARSIFAL with the LA Phil was the primary reason for buying this recording. She is stunning and her rendering of 'Der Abschied' is ravishingly sung with an equally breathtaking collaboration with Boulez/Vienna. It alone is worth adding this fine performance of Mahler's nostalgic cycle to your library. Moments like these are rare. Grady Harp, March 2005

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect, September 10, 2003

By 

MartinP "MartinP" (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Audio CD)

Boulez conducting Mahler - this would have been blasphemy a few decades ago, both from the point of view of Boulezian modernists and that of dedicated Mahlerians. But the twain did meet, and though not everybody seems happy with the results, the least that can be said is that Boulez offers refreshingly new perspectives on what is slowly but inevitably becoming somewhat hackneyed repertoire (another thing that would have been unimaginable a few decades ago). As you would expect from one of the twentieth century's foremost composers, Boulez is more interested in Mahler's unique sonorities than in gut-wrenching emotionality. But of course, in Mahler's music the two are intimately linked, and the claim that Boulez's Mahler is unfeeling and cold strikes me as nonsensical. Introspective, maybe, and restrained, to some extent; generally non-interventionist. He sets out to reveal the full complexity of Mahler's scoring rather than highlighting melodies and neglecting hardworking secondary voices. The results of this can be truly stunning, as they are in this well nigh sublime recording of Das Lied. In no other score did Mahler venture as far out into 20th century territories as he does here. Parallel voices each go their own way for bars on end without any clear hierarchy among them; fragments of themes are loosely interjected; rhythms and tonalities clash. And yet the resulting sounds are always gorgeous, the underlying emotions communicated with utmost clarity. Boulez makes you realize all of that, as much as he makes you notice the very close kinship between the fourth movement, "Von der Schönheit", and the third movement of the Third symphony. I had never registered this before and yet now it seems so obvious, again thanks to the transparency of the reading, which reveals a number of staccato semiquaver runs in the violins that have literal parallels in the Third. Boulez is helped tremendously by the superb playing of the VPO (though the vulnerable, plaintive sound of their oboes may not be to everybody's taste), and even more by his excellent singers. Michael Schade succeeds better than almost any of his predecessors I've heard in making the most of his three songs and not paling completely besides the alto, who gets to sing all the more profound pieces and is given rather more 'air-time' to do so. And to be sure, Violeta Urmana is a singer that easily makes others pale beside her. Her achievements yield nothing to those of Ludwig or Baker, and in some ways even surpass them. She has the kind of voice that blends ideally with the orchestral sounds, so that the result is a true symphony rather than a song cycle with orchestral accompaniment. The recording enhances this effect by not placing the solo voices too far forward. In all other respects too the recorded sound is state-of-the-art. In all, this disc offers a deeply enriching experience. Its only imperfection I can think of is the tempo of the second movement, which simply is too fast, not at all 'schleichend' or 'ermüdet'. But the result is still extremely beautiful. This is now definitely my favorite recording of Das Lied, though I will keep cherishing the classic Haitink/King/Baker and the Giulini/Araiza/Fassbaender versions alongside it.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Version of Das Lied, February 8, 2002

By 

D. A Wend (Arlington Heights, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Audio CD)

This is a remarkable recording of Das Lied von der Erde in what is a crowded field. The Vienna Philharmonic is recorded with astonishing clarity; it was like hearing this work for the first time. Pierre Boulez brings a lot of thought to Mahler. The singers may not be familiar names but are well suited to Das Lied. Violeta Urmana is simply wonderful and brings considerable emotion to her songs. One may hold Kathleen Ferrier as the ultimate interpreter of Das Lied but I have found her contralto voice a bit heavy. I think Ms. Urmana, a mezzo-soprano, has an ideal voice and is expressive with the emotionally charged Der Abschied.

Michael Schade is likewise excellent. His voice resembles Julius Patzak, who sang Das Lied with Ferrier under Bruno Walter. One may quibble about the emphasis Mr. Schade gives to some of the vocal lines in Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde but I think he is unmatched in the remaining songs for tenor: Von der Jugend and Der Trunkene im Fruhling.

Altogether, a fabulous CD that lovers of Das Lied von der Erde will not want to be without.