Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde / Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
After more than three decades, this remains the Lied of choice if you prefer Mahler's sanctioned baritone alternative in the alto songs. Bernstein's the hero of this intense, powerful reading. The Vienna orchestra, once led by Mahler himself, plays it to the hilt with expressive wind solos, deep, warm strings, and a searing response to Bernstein's (and Mahler's) emotional demands. King copes manfully with the cruelly difficult tenor songs, but Fischer-Dieskau is wonderful in the alto-baritone songs, singing with a great lieder specialist's textual nuance and vocal splendor. I've been imprinted with the versions featuring Ferrier with Walter and Ludwig with Klemperer but would not want to be without this great recording. --Dan Davis

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde / Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Music, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gustav Mahler, Leonard Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker, James King, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Orchestral & Symphonic, Romantic Symphony, Symphonic

Average customer rating:

A geometric intersection between Vienna and China...

the one poem that you will bring with to the tomb

Expressionist Das Lied von der Erde.

A chinese man's review

Too much Bernstein, not enough Mahler

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde / Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Tracks:

The Song of Earth: 1. Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde
The Song of Earth: 2. Der Einsame im Herbst
The Song of Earth: 3. Von der Jugend
The Song of Earth: 4. Von der Schit
The Song of Earth: 5. Der Trunkene im Fr
The Song of Earth: 6. Der Abschied

Amazon.com essential recording

After more than three decades, this remains the Lied of choice if you prefer Mahler's sanctioned baritone alternative in the alto songs. Bernstein's the hero of this intense, powerful reading. The Vienna orchestra, once led by Mahler himself, plays it to the hilt with expressive wind solos, deep, warm strings, and a searing response to Bernstein's (and Mahler's) emotional demands. King copes manfully with the cruelly difficult tenor songs, but Fischer-Dieskau is wonderful in the alto-baritone songs, singing with a great lieder specialist's textual nuance and vocal splendor. I've been imprinted with the versions featuring Ferrier with Walter and Ludwig with Klemperer but would not want to be without this great recording. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

A geometric intersection between Vienna and China..........2007-04-21

Gustav Mahler was a very interesting composer from Vienna who wrote very, very long symphonies in the grand post-Romantic fashion. Although highly influenced by Wagner, Mahler retains a distinctly Viennese character. Active around the same time as Sigmund Freud (also Viennese), who was theorizing on the roots of anxiety; Mahler explored his own neurosis through his music. Each symphony looks for answers in different ways; "Song of Earth" turns to Chinese poetry and philosophy.

I like "Song of the Earth" as a geometric intersection between Vienna and China: Two vastly different cultures. Mahler also adds some exotic flavor in some of the movements which hint at Asian music. It is quite a remarkable piece, maybe better than any of Mahler's other symphonies in that it seems to be more consistent and connected than the other symphonies which can ramble on in parts.

Unlike all other Mahler symphonies, there are parts for the voice throughout; either tenor and alto, or alternately tenor and baritone. This is one of the few recordings of note that feature tenor and baritone and both soloists are quite remarkable as are Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Phil. Orch. Bernstein was known for rediscovering Mahler and in the 1960s he was the first conductor to record a complete cycle of the Mahler symphonies.

Bernstein's "Song of the Earth" is rich and passionate.

Comparisons: Bruno Walter; O. Klemperer/Wunderlich/C. Ludwig

the one poem that you will bring with to the tomb .......2007-04-17

maybe Das Lied Von Der Erde is the last station mahlerian travellers stay at. i do. i met so many poets at there. they gave me a deeper comfort. they were klemperer, horenstein, herreweghe, giulini, walter, keilberth who showed me the views mahler wanted to take your arms and introduce. but i must say bernstein and dieskau sang and gave the most utmost superb performance. i could not imagine more. i could not go further. it is a rare(barinton sings) and in the bottom all musicians do believe, do feel, do trust as if they were in the garden of eden. they seem to know when to sing, when to lament, when to contemplate. bernstein poured all the heart and mind in to the score. you can notice blazes and glares. more than anything else, dieskau will take you so far away you've never been to. i can smell, feel, and touch it. a poem, a journey, a book you always want to live with.

Expressionist Das Lied von der Erde........2005-11-03

Here we have the most expressionist recording of Das Lied von der Erde I know, and I know about 20 recordings (Klemperer, Giulini, Haitink, Jochum, Rattle, Walter, etc), not too much, but enough to compare it with some other conductors and styles.

First of all it's important to forget the poor Decca recording, with lot of noise and not very well balanced. Anyway, if you can go to what the interpretation is, you will find a jewel of Mahler's music.

Leonard Bernstein is recorded here in his first years playing with the wiener orchestra and the good feeling between both can be felt since the very beginning of the work, from that breathtaking Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde that Bernstein understand like a terrible tale, like a touch of attention to the not prepared listeners. The power, the intensity of the orchestra's playing is really outstanding and James King singing is the ideal complement as he is too full of energy and mahlerian style. He's one of the most convincing singers in this complex first song, together with Wunderlich (EMI, with Klemperer), who sings really wonderful too.

The Bariton songs (No.2, 4 & 6) are sung by the greatest Mahler singer of all time, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who join his outstanding voice with a very natural and mature understanding of the scores, something he really feel like no other, as you can listen in the final Abschied, where you can think he's singing his own farewell, like Ferrier did, but, in my opinion, with a much more technical singing in this recording. The dynamics, the emotions, the tempi... are so great described by Dieskau that it really seems the work was composed for him.

The orchestra playing is not the typical from the late Wiener Philharmoniker we know, much more classical and "distant", as we can watch and listen in the new DVD releases of Mahler & Bernstein (DG). In this `60s recording the Wiener play in a state of hypnotism, following Bernstein baton and his vision of the work, a vision that will not change too much in the next years, and that brings this music full of emotion, power and lyrics, but a lyric from an expressionist point of view, very human and very devastated by the idea of departing, of the farewell. Anyway, Das Lied von der Erde is not a unique song, one feeling; it's a work of six very different pictures, every one a corner of the human soul and existence. Bernstein understand this multiple feelings very well and we can find how charm is his conducting sometimes, how wild others, how sad, how he aspires eternity at the end... The basses from the Wiener, the metals, the strings, woodwinds... give them best in this recording, not so refined like we can listen in the Giulini recording with Berlin (DG), for example, probably the most perfect from the technical point of view. This very little lost of perfection in some passages is because of the very fiery playing of the orchestra and the very deep emotion of the recording, one of the mahlerian monuments of all times.

As I wrote, the recording is not good, and it's curios that this same recording is released in a Deutsche Grammophon box (together with the rest of Mahler's symphonies and songs conducted by Bernstein) with a much more better and clean sound.

A must have, in my opinion with Klemperer (Philharmonia, EMI) and Giulini (Berlin, DG).

A chinese man's review.......2005-10-25

Mahler was inspired by Chinese poems and then here they are Das Lied von der Erde, the Song of the earth. Although my efforts of finding out the original Chinese poems was a failure, I do sense the achievements the Mahler had made to interpret the spirit of those Chinese poetry and the philosophy behind them.

Talking about the performance, this is the best I've ever had.

Too much Bernstein, not enough Mahler.......2005-09-24

I own every Bernstein Mahler recording but place this one pretty far down on the list. The Vienna Phil. plays gorgeously, and the engineers capture everything in super-bright, detailed sonics. I can remember what a blockbuster this produciton was in its day. But Bernstein underlines with heavy ink, barely letting a single bar of the music speak for itself. James King is a bluff tenor soloist, sounding too burly and not sensitive enough to the text. Fischer-Dieskau tries to outdo Bernstein by dramatizing every syllable with leaned-on emphasis but showing no natural lyricism or poetic surrender to Mahler's line.

If you want the baritone version of this masterpiece, there is an excellent reading from Salonen on Sony with Bo Skovhus outsinging F-D by miles. An earlier, less exagerrated reading under Kletzki shows F-D off in better form for his many fans.

Overall, a disappointment from a great Mahlerian.

Mahler III: Complete Recordings on DeUtsche Grammophon 3

Average customer rating:

Very Good To Disappointing Mahler From Bernstein
The last third of Mahler's career, mostly in great performances
Controversial and thrilling

Mahler III: Complete Recordings on DeUtsche Grammophon 3

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000ASAENA
Release Date: 2005-11-08

Customer Reviews:

Very Good To Disappointing Mahler From Bernstein.......2007-07-03

Deutsche Grammophon concludes its Mahler Bernstein Collection Edition box sets with this collection comprising Bernstein's performances of the Mahler 8th, 9th and 10th (Adagio) symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde. Only one of these recordings is indeed truly memorable; his emotionally riveting account of the 9th Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. However, I am inclined to agree with his earlier recording of this symphony with the Berliner Philharmoniker - that Deutsche Grammophon released as a posthumous tribute - is more insightful and remains one of the finest accounts ever committed to disk. Bernstein didn't live to record digitally the 8th Symphony, so Deutsche Grammophon "completed" his cycle by using a 1974 recording of it with him conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker at the Salzburg Festival. Although it is a fine recording in its own right, I concur with others who regard his CBS Masterworks (Sony) recording made in the mid 1960s with the London Symphony Orchestra as the more exciting, better interpretation from Bernstein. Deutsche Grammophon also "borrows" from its Universal sibling Decca to round out Bernstein's Mahler cycle with a recording released originally on Decca featuring James King and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the soloists in a good interpretation of Das Lied von der Erde; but it is an interpretation that isn't as intriguing as any I've heard, for example, from the likes of Boulez and Haitink. Those who are fans of Leonard Bernstein and his interpretations of Mahler's scores will most likely still want to add this box set to their collections; others may find more intriguing recordings from the likes of Abbado, Boulez, Chailly, and Haitink.

The last third of Mahler's career, mostly in great performances.......2006-06-28

It pains me to withhold a star from Bernstein's otherwise magnificent Mahler cycle for DG. In this, the last third of the composer's output, Bernstein fully rises to the genius of Sym. #9 and the Adagio from Sym. #10. He resisted the temptation to record any completion of the Tenth, feeling that Mahler was unfairly represented by sketches that weren't orchestrated or fully finished even in piano score. But the Adagio was finished, and as a farewell to earthly life, it's one of the most moving testaments left by an artist. Bernstein's live Vienna reading from 1974 (he died before making a commercial recording for DG) is one of the greatest.

Likewise Bernstein's Ninth, which has slowed down from his first conception. The Adagio finale, at 29+ min., is extremely drawn out. By comparison, Boulez takes only 21 min. and Abbado 25 min., both on DG. But the Concertgebouw is fully atttuned to the intense expressivity that Bernstein wanted, and this is a reading for the ages, surpassed only by his live 1979 account with the Berlin Phil., never commercially recorded but released by DG as a posthumous tribute to the conductor.

Bernstein didn't live to made a commercial version of the Symphony of a Thousand, either, which is a great shame given that his Eighth on Sony, done with the London Sym., was a great event. DG acquired the rights to a live Eighth from 1975 with the Vienna Phil. at the Salzburg Festival. The sounics are mid-fi at best, but one can hear all the ardor and authority of Bernstein's vision.

For me, the real thorn is this Das Lied von der Erde. When it was first released on Decca, the recording sounded great as pure sound, but critics were divided about the singers. James King had the right heroic tenor but showed little imagination. Fischer-Dieskau, singing the baritone version of the score rather than the usual mezzo-soprano, gave his all, and if you admire him, his constant underlining of phrases, vocal mannerisms, and lack of lyricism won't bother you. They bother me, to the point where I rush to hear Kathleen Ferrier or Christa Ludwig, just to get F-D's voice out of my head. Unfortunately for Bernstien, his other version for Sony wasn't a complete success, either. It featured the underwhelming Israel Phil, and although Christa Ludwig is inspired, the tenor singing from Rene Kollo sounds strained and inadequte. (Both singers teamed up again for a far more successful Das Lied under Karajan with the Berlin Phil.)

In sum, this is the one installment of Bernstein's cycle that I wouldn't automatically purchase. He has a better Eighth and Ninth Sym., and other conductors have made much better Das Lieds.

Controversial and thrilling.......2006-03-15

This set of the last Mahler works isn't as consistent as the previous two volumes in this edition (which is the same as the complete Mahler-Bernstein set DG released in the eighties and nineties), but all the same, it has a lot going for it. Das Lied von der Erde surely belongs to the top list of current recordings and the Concertgebouw Ninth, which may or may not clash with what's considered 'good taste', is played with conviction and ends quite poignantly (albeit controversial?).

The Adagio from the Tenth is marred by dry sonics and unsoulful playing from the Vienna Philharmonic and the live rendition of the Eigth with the same orchestra recorded at the '75 Salzburg Festival disappoints due to poor orchestral balances and a recording quality that's really below par. But despite all it's liabilities, there are moments that truly capture the spirit of Mahler's most intimate work and the final moments truly reach for the heavens.

All in all, a very mixed bag, but certainly worth having.