BaL 11.06.11 - Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30 a.m. Richard Wigmore with a personal recommendation from the available recordings of Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Available Versions:

Sarah Connolly & Dietrich Henschel, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, Philippe Herreweghe
Thomas Hampson, Wiener Virtuosen
Magdalena Kožená, Christian Gerhaher,Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, London Symphony Orchestra, George Szell
Lorna Sydney, Alfred Poell, Wiener Staatsopernorchester, Felix Prohaska
Christiane Oelze, Michael Volle, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Markus Stenz
Barbara Bonney, Matthias Goerne, Sara Fulgoni, Gösta Winbergh,
Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly
Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Quasthoff, Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado
Thomas Hampson, Lucia Popp & Walton Groenroos, Wiener Philharmoniker, Leonard Bernstein (DVD)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Wolfgang Sawallisch
Jard van Nes, John Bröcheler, Het Gelders Orkest, Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra, Roberto Benzi
Evelyn Lear, Thomas Stewart, Richard Kraus, Anton Kersjes, Ralf Weikert



Diana Damrau, Iván Paley, Stephan Matthias Lademann (piano)
Stephan Genz, Roger Vignoles (piano)
Christianne Stotijn, Julius Drake (piano)
Margaret Price, Thomas Dewey (piano)
Thomas Hampson, Geoffrey Parsons (piano)

[vinteuil]

Alpensinfonie - many thanks as always for the listing.

I have the Schwarzkopf/Fischer-Dieskau/Szell, and also Popp/Weikl/Tennstedt, the latter in the EMI Mahler Lieder box.

very much looking forward to hearing this - esp for the Goerne and Quasthoff, and also to hear the versions with piano, which I don't think I have...

[makropulos]

Yes, thanks for the list.
Among others that are available from amazon marketplace sellers (though probably not "officially" in the catalogue), I've a very soft spot for Ann Murray, Thomas Allen and Charles Mackerras on Virgin Classics.

[umslopogaas]

Eine Alpensinfonie, you've listed a version by Lorna Sydney and Leopold Ludwig, with the Vienna State Opera O. conducted by Felix Prohaska. I have what I assume is this version on the original 2 LP set, in mono on the Nixa label. Code VLP 412-1 and 412-2, undated but from somewhere in the early fifties, judging by the austere sleeve design. However, the baritone is Alfred Poell and there is no mention of Leopold Ludwig. Is there some confusion here, or are there two different versions by Prohaska? It would be rather odd to have two conductors in the same work, assuming Ludwig was the conductor (as I have always taken to be his role) rather than singer? Or maybe he was a singer as well?

[Chris Newman]

A shame that two of my favourites are "out of pressing" (is that the equivalent of out of print?):

Janet Baker, Geraint Evans, LPO, Wyn Morris.
Maureen Forrester, Thomas Stewart, VSOO, Felix Prohaska.*

The first recording is especially welcome for Dame Janet's youthful voice and Roland Hermann's supple Songs of a Wayfaring Lad. Poor Sir Geraint as so often never sounds as sweet with a microphone as he did in the flesh. It can be found second hand.

The Prohaska is divine. No problems with Stewart who often sang (and recorded the songs) with his wife, Evelyn Lear. Maureen Forrester can often be mistaken for Janet Baker.

*I stand corrected: It was Heinz Rehfuss NOT Thomas Stewart and the orchestra was the Vienna Festival Orchestra (a fictitious name in those days).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Eine Alpensinfonie, you've listed a version by Lorna Sydney and Leopold Ludwig, with the Vienna State Opera O. conducted by Felix Prohaska. I have what I assume is this version on the original 2 LP set, in mono on the Nixa label. Code VLP 412-1 and 412-2, undated but from somewhere in the early fifties, judging by the austere sleeve design. However, the baritone is Alfred Poell and there is no mention of Leopold Ludwig.

Many thanks for clearing this one up, umslopogaas. I was confused by this and made my "best guess" (which was almost correct ). But now I've amended the list.

[umslopogaas]

Thanks Eine Alpensinfonie. In the interim I've done a bit of googling on Prohaska, whom I've otherwise never come across, and it gets more and more complicated. He seems to have recorded Des Knaben Wunderhorn three times:

Lorna Sydney/Alfred Poell, VSOO (2 lp set on Nixa, mono)
Maureen Forrester/Heinz Rehfuss, Vienna Festival O (mono lp)
Maureen Forrester/Thomas Stewart, VSOO

The first two are listed on Google (I've got the first one) and the third by post 5 (Chris Newman) and yourself. Prohaska died somewhen in the 1980s, so he may well have been allowed to remake it in stereo (is that the case for the third recording?) but its odd that he made two mono versions.

[Chris Newman]

Eine Alpensinfonie and umslopogaas,
Grovel, grovel!! I must add my apologies for adding complications to the list. I wrote about the Maureen Forrester/Prohaska recording from memory rather than looking on my shelf upstairs.

umslopogaas is absolutely correct it was Heinz Rehfuss not Thomas Stewart who sang the baritone songs. I remembered it was an American baritone (Rehfuss adopted US citizenship) and got the wrong one though thinking about it Stewart and Rehfuss sounded similar and had like repertoire. Also my memory failed to note the orchestra: the Vienna Festival Orchestra was one of the names Vanguard used for one of the better known Vienna orchestras. Does anyone know if it was really the VSOO or the Volksoper? I have corrected my earlier message.
I'd better crawl back in my box.

[BBMmk2]

Sounds like a really good BaL next week.I will have to listen to that on the 'LA' facility though, I as I will be out that day!!

[Petrushka]

Surprised by the absence of the recording from Leonard Bernstein and the Concertgebouw with Lucia Popp and Andreas Schmidt on DG. This is a winner of a disc if ever there was one!

[LeMartinPecheur]

Thanks Eine Alpensinfonie. In the interim I've done a bit of googling on Prohaska, whom I've otherwise never come across, and it gets more and more complicated. He seems to have recorded Des Knaben Wunderhorn three times:

Lorna Sydney/Alfred Poell, VSOO (2 lp set on Nixa, mono)
Maureen Forrester/Heinz Rehfuss, Vienna Festival O (mono lp)
Maureen Forrester/Thomas Stewart, VSOO

The first two are listed on Google (I've got the first one) and the third by post 5 (Chris Newman) and yourself. Prohaska died somewhen in the 1980s, so he may well have been allowed to remake it in stereo (is that the case for the third recording?) but its odd that he made two mono versions.

Umslopogaas: are you sure the Forrester, Rehfuss/VFSO recording is mono? I have it on cassette and it says (P)1968. There's nothing on the cassette to say whether it's mono or stereo but 1968, if correct, suggests it's stereo doesn't it? My Vanguard cassette is fairly recent in that it proclaims 'Digitally remastered, also available on CD', and this again seems more likely if it's stereo.

If all else fails I could try listening to the cassette of course, but that would be too simple...

[reinerfan]

Umslopogaas: are you sure the Forrester, Rehfuss/VFSO recording is mono? I have it on cassette and it says (P)1968. There's nothing on the cassette to say whether it's mono or stereo but 1968, if correct, suggests it's stereo doesn't it? My Vanguard cassette is fairly recent in that it proclaims 'Digitally remastered, also available on CD', and this again seems more likely if it's stereo.

If all else fails I could try listening to the cassette of course, but that would be too simple...

I have the Vanguard CD which is in stereo and was recorded on May 27th. to June 1st. 1963. The recording quality, as with most Vanguard recordings is excellent and knocks spots off the quality of my Schwarzkopf/Fischer-Dieskau and Baker/Evans CDs. I only wish that the technical quality of most modern recordings of similar repertoire was as good. Incidentally, the musical performance seems fine to me and compares well with the other 2 CDs.

[verismissimo]

I'm currently doing a spot of research on Lorna Sydney. Thanks to those you have referred to her Knaben Wunderhorn recording with Prohaska.

Anyone have any useful info on her - like her birth date (1910? 1912?)? And is she still with us?

[verismissimo]

This I've seen on Lorna: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Sydney-Lorna.htm

[gurnemanz]

Considering how much I love these songs (singing along, I will admit) I'm surprised that I contented myself for so long with just one recording (D F-D, Schwarzkopf, Szell) on LP then CD. A few years ago I got the piano version with Christa Ludwig, Walter Berry and Bernstein which, unlike some poeple, I really enjoy. I rather fancy von Otter and Quasthoff with Claudio Abbado but have never got around to buying it. Instead, I recently bought the Hampson chamber orchestra CD which I like very much.

We heard Sarah Connolly and Goerne at the RFH a few weeks ago (only three songs each) and I would be very interested in the Goerne versions mentioned above. I am definitely in the market for whatever the reviewer comes up with.