Customer Reviews

Mahler: Das klagende Lied [Hybrid SACD]

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MTT decided not to remake Das Klagende Lied for his complete Mahler cycle with the San Francisco Sym. Instead, his RCA release from 1997 was licensed back to the orchestra's house label and remastered in SACD sound.

Without a multi-channel audio system I can't comment on the new presentation, but here's a review of the performance as originally released--

Although Mahler enthusiasts enjoy it, the youthful Klagende Lied hasn't found a concert audience--or much of one at Amazon, to judge by the lack of reviews for this CD. Tilson Thomas made it in 1997 when he was a PR darling in San Francisco, and it was a brave choice. His reading of the original three movements is crisply played and features a good deal of excitement, but it's all revved up on the surface. We get little sense of fantasy and mystery, which are crucial.

Also, despite the lovely singing of a youthful Michelle DeYoung, the other soloists are variable--Leiferkus sings clotted German with a Slavic timbre, and the tenor, Thomas Moser, sounds strained and baritonal. This was the first Klagende Lied I ever heard, and I'm grateful to have moved on to more convincing versions, such as Boulez's 1970 recording on Sony.