Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; Lieder from Des Knaben Wunderhorn; Rückert-Lieder

COMPOSERS: Mahler
LABELS: Forlane
WORKS: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; Lieder from Des Knaben Wunderhorn; Rückert-Lieder
PERFORMER: Margaret Price (soprano)Thomas Dewey (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: UCD 16744 DDD

Following on from their collaboration for Forlane in a disc of Schumann, Price and Dewey now provide us with a selection of Mahler. In Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Price’s sense of line and limpid tone lend these songs just the right level of abandonment to the sentiments and rhythm of the words as well as the music. From the selection of six songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Price revels in the characterful ‘Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt’ and the fun of ‘Lob des hohen Verstandes’. Her ability to deliver phrases of high-lying notes that sound like a shimmering cascade of golden-toned bells can be heard in ‘Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen’. ‘Urlicht’ is well paced by Dewey and Price and she sings it gloriously. The five Rückert settings show that Price, as well as retaining the creamiest, most luminous top notes in her range – wonderful in ‘Ich atmet’ einen Linden Duft’ – has no need to fake resonance in the low-lying lines of ‘Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder’. Her interpretation of ‘Um Mitternacht’ is possibly intentionally a little bit wild and slightly forced for effect, but her lustrous sound and poignantly shaped phrases in ‘Liebst du um Schönheit’ and ‘Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen’ are splendid. Elise McDougall