COMPOSERS: Mahler
LABELS: Sony
WORKS: Das Lied von der Erde
PERFORMER: Klaus Florian Vogt (tenor), Christian Gerhaher (baritone); Montreal SO/Kent Nagano
CATALOGUE NO: 88697508212
Mahler’s great Das Lied von der Erde is given in the alternative version with tenor and baritone, instead of tenor and contralto. I can’t see, have never seen, why anyone would perform this alternative, except to demonstrate how much finer the contralto version is.
Nor is Nagano’s account especially insightful, though the tenor Klaus Florian Vogt has his appeal – the booklet admits that his voice was overdubbed, presumably because it is too small for him actually to perform the cycle.
Christian Gerhaher treats his text as if he were singing Wolf, with whisperings and stresses quite out of place in this large-scale work. No texts are provided – a major dereliction. Michael Tanner
