by Derek Lim

There was a time where the entry under Mahler in any music dictionary might have read simply "Gustav Mahler: conductor, composer of nine symphonies and song cycles." Though often recognized as a great conductor, his own music was considered too hysterical, too unapproachable, too schizophrenic. That time has passed. Now he has reached the ranks of the great symphonists and is recognized in his own right as one of the greatest of them all. With Mahler the Austro-German symphonic tradition reached its most profound utterances and its grandest scale.

Left: Painting by Chou Ying (Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644).

Gustav Mahler's last, symphonic German song-cycle Das Lied von der Erde is said to be the apotheosis of his symphonic and lieder cycles. It is a setting of German translations of Chinese poetry, including four by Li Tai Po (701-762). Cast in six movements and scored for "large orchestra, tenor and alto (or baritone)", it is a work of great truth and beauty. The work was premiered by Mahler's protegé and friend, Bruno Walter some years after Mahler had passed away of a viral infection in 1911, at the age of 50.

The same conductor leads the post-war Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in this recording of the work with two of the greatest singers of the age. Kathleen Ferrier (1912-53) was at the time of the recording dying of cancer of the breast. When she sang the final song Der Abschied ("The Farewell"), it was in the full knowledge that soon, she would see the "lovely earth turn green" only once more (she passed away the next year).

But what an adieu! Her performance of the half-an-hour Abschied is fraught with the deepest grief and plunges into the deepest depths of Mahler's psyche. Wonderfully intense and passionate, her reading is certain to move even the stoniest hearts. When for example she sings the words "this world was not kind to me", the central words in the whole work, she really means it. When she sings "du lasst mich lang allein" -- you have left me alone for so long, I can feel the depth of her utter desolation drain through me.

The first time she performed this work with Bruno Walter, Ferrier (right) did not sing the last few notes "ewig" ("forever") as she was in tears. For this "unprofessionalism" she apologised profusely, to which Walter then gallantly replied, "My dear Miss Ferrier, if we were all as professional as you we would all be in tears."

If a performance were as moving today, I'm sure the audience would be stepping out of the concert hall very carefully, to avoid the pools of tears that would have been on the floor. Ferrier missed a single note in this recording, in the fourth movement, but to pick on that would be carping -- the rest of her work demonstrates clearly the empathy she had for singing Mahler.

Ferrier brings a little of her legendary folk-song singing into the playful fourth movement, which speaks of beautiful young girls picking flowers by the river-bank when they are suddenly interrupted by "schöne Knaben" -- pretty boys riding fair horses. For a little of Mahler's tone painting magic, try this movement, where the whole orchestra, timpani and mandolin included are employed to depict the trampling horses. The last stanza where the "fairest of the maidens casts longing looks after the boys" is truly erotic. Whoever said Mahler was boring?

The tenor Julius Patzak was at the time one of the resident singers of the Vienna State Opera. A heroic voice which nevertheless has myriads of shades of characterization, Patzak is, 45 years after he made this recording, still the most engaging tenor cast in the role. Try his very short third movement Von der Jugend ("On Youth"), where he suddenly becomes the haggard, wizened poet pointing towards the pavillion of green and white porcelain in the middle of the little pond, where friends sit down talking and sometimes writing verses.

The first movement, a bitter winter wine song is one of the most challenging of Mahler's music to sing. Imagine a single tenor voice against the full orchestra! He sings the words full of all the meaning they should have -- an autumnal regret tinged with more than a little contempt for the playthings of the world with. When he reaches the hysterical passage where he sees the ape crouching over the grave in the moonlight ("Sieh dort hinab!"), chills will run down your spine. Guaranteed.

Bruno Walter conducting his beloved teacher's work with the fantastic Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which itself used to be under the baton of Mahler, elicits very dedicated playing. The brass is appropriately vicious in the first movement,while the woodwinds are an incredibly committed lot. The obligatto (solo) passages in every movement is well played, but especially in the dense, funereal last movement, which drifts on in a most original way, and where the light is never seen until the last bars.

Someone once said that the prevailing mood of Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde is one of the deepest darkness. Walter captures that very mood here, giving sensitive accompaniment and ravishing phrasing. The VPO makes the earth shudder in the last movement, where the tragedy reaches that of the highest level. Sample the shuddering single note on cellos and basses -- for me, the second tolling of Mahler's funeral bell -- never equaled, possibly except by Jascha Horenstein, another one of the greatest Mahler conductors.

Michael Kennedy says in the notes that this recording is one of the classics of the gramophone. I have to say I agree totally. A more engrossing performance of the work I have not yet found. Never overemphasized, never exaggerated, always full of insights.

As a final note, this 1952 performance is in monoaural (mono) sound since this was made one or two years before stereo sound was introduced. Nevertheless the Decca transfer affords spacious sound that is very easy on the ears. Overloading hardly ever occurs and the whole chamber feel of the work is always present. The singers are well-placed and not swamped by the orchestra.

In conclusion, this is one of the best recordings of the work I have ever heard. For those of you who would like to listen to this wonderful work but who prefer a digital alternative, try Gary Bertini's performance with Marija Lipovsek and Ben Heppner and the Munchen Radio Symphony Orchestra, on Toshiba-EMI.

 

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