Mahler Das Lied von der Erde NYPO/Walter 16/4/1960

[Petrushka]

I have just played this recently issued CD http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//ARPCD0512.htm of a 1960 performance given in Carnegie Hall with Bruno Walter and the NYPO and those two DLvdE stalwarts Maureen Forrester and Richard Lewis and it goes straight to the top of my list.

There is a warm immediacy about the sound (over 50 years old!) that just gently envelops you and there is some astonishingly beautiful playing here especially from the first horn and first oboe. Forrester and Lewis often performed this work together but both seem truly inspired on this occasion by Walter's presence on the podium. The only downsides for some would be the audience noise retained between movements and applause at the end as well as a few stray coughs. For me it adds to the sense of a unique occasion.

I was deeply moved by this beautiful and engrossing performance and want to recommend it to all. No matter what version you have (and I have 5 others by Walter alone) the modest outlay required for this one will be more than money well spent.

Hear it and marvel.

[umslopogaas]

Petruska, how does that Walter version compare with his recording on CBS and Philips, with Mildred Miller, Ernst Hafliger and the NYPO (presumably originally issued on american CBS and then issued by Philips in the UK under a licencing arrangement?) I have both issues, on LP.

Do you rate it more highly than the HMV version by Klemperer, with Christa Ludwig and Fritz Wunderlich? I've got that one, it is the one most of the critics seem to rate most highly. Interestingly, it features the New Philharmonia and the Philharmonia orchestras, but the notes dont tell you which orchestra plays which bit. This presumably reflects the fact that Walter Legge tried to close the original Philharmonia down, but the players mutinied and, I believe with Klemperer's support, reformed as the New Philharmonia. I've been searching Lebrecht for more info, but cant find a reference: can anyone confirm this?

I've also got LP versions conducted by Bernstein (Decca), Jochum (DG) and Ormancy (english CBS), but they dont stick in the memory.

[HighlandDougie]

According to Michael Kennedy's notes in the GROC reissue of the Klemperer, Fritz Wunderlich recorded his songs on 7/8 November 1964 with the Philharmonia, Ludwig having already taken part in the first sessions between 19 and 22 February of that same year. Shortly after the Wunderlich sessions, Walter Legge, to quote Kennedy, "attempted to disband it in (more or less) a fit of pique. The players themselves then reconstituted the orchestra as the New Philharmonia...". Further sessions were held with Ludwig from 6 to 9 July 1966 when the recording of the work was finished. Wunderlich died in an accident in September 1966. Although Ludwig and Wunderlich had appeared together in performance, they recorded DLvdE entirely separately. It would be interesting to know which song(s) Ludwig recorded in 1964 and then in 1966.

Despite my vow in another post not to buy any more Mahler, Petrushka's eloquent endorsement of the 1960 Walter performance has me reaching for the credit card.

[Bryn]

No matter what version you have (and I have 5 others by Walter alone) the modest outlay required for this one will be more than money well spent.

Especially if it's only the £4.99 including p&p that hmv.com are asking. Duly ordered.

[Chris Newman]

I have a beautiful CD of Maureen Forrester and Heinz Rehfuss singing Das Knaben Wunderhorn with the Vienna Festival Orchestra (VPO moonlighting?) under Prohaska. Previously since my teens in the sixties I had it on LP. The sleeve note describes Forrester as the greatest discovery in Canada since the Klondike. That is no exaggeration: she is gorgeously expressive. I heard Lewis deputise for Gedda on Klemperer's 80th Birthday. Forrester and Lewis recorded Das Lied von der Erde together for Fritz Reiner, Bruno Walter and George Szell!! Lewis also recorded it for Ormandy. I should think any of these versions would go to the top of the pile along with Haitink, Klemperer and Horenstein.

If you do not know Forrester's voice it is as rich and expressive as Baker, Ferrier and Hodgson but just that tad more feminine. Lewis has metal in his voice and like Wunderlich a little touch of Italian timbre, that subtle turning of a vowel to an even brighter sound.

[Petrushka]

I have to admit that I wasn't really expecting very much from this CD when I bought it. There are no notes, texts or translations as is usual with Archipel and I thought that the, presumably, radio sound from 1960 would be mediocre at best. All my slim expectations were utterly confounded.

I'm not sure you can compare this with Klemperer's EMI account. Walter live in 1960 gives us a single performance warts and all. He has all the advantages and disadvantages that that implies. Personally, I find OK's second movement stodgy and earthbound while Ferrier's 1952 disc is one I've never really taken to. Chris Newman exactly describes Forrester's and Lewis's voices in #5 as they sound on this CD. For me this is a real performance not one stitched together over a period of months or even years when the singers never meet. The New York Philharmonic play like angels for Walter. Some may find the harp a little closely balanced until you realise time and again what an important contribution it makes and then it feels right. The principal horn (especially) and the principal oboe are superb while the strings sing like Walter will surely have asked them to.

Having laid into Gergiev's Mahler 5 last week, here is a disc recorded 51 years ago that sounds full, detailed and immediate. Archipel label this as among their 'desert island' collection. I think I can safely say it's one of mine, too.

[Alison]

Yes, I have reached for the (debit) card too.

[Barbirollians]

Sounds very interesting - if I recollect correctly Forrester sang the Urlicht ( beautifully) in Walter's Columbia SO Resurrection too .

I am a massive fan of the Ferrier recording - still unsurpassed for me .