Mahler: Das Knaben Wunderhorn (CD)

Also: Symphony No. 3 in D minor; Ablösung in Sommer

Composer Gustav Mahler
Conductor Sir Simon Rattle
Performers
Birgit Remmert
Simon Keenlyside
City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus, Chorus and Symphony Orchestra
Label EMI Classics
Code CDS5566572
Released November 1998
Number of discs 2
ASIN B00000GCAK

Track Listing

1. Symphony No. 3 in D minor (BR)

2. Lieder aus ‘Des Knaben Wunderhorn’ (SK)

3. Ablösung in Sommer (SK)

What the critics say

Reviewed for Gramophone November 1998

“Not every rival offers a coupling these days and it is fascinating to hear Simon Keenlyside in the Wunderhorn songs. As miked, his tone is leaner and drier than you might expect, and Rattle’s characteristically extreme characterization of the orchestral parts prompts him to adopt a more than usually interventionist approach. The selection ends intelligently with the song whose original instrumental substance provides the basis for the Symphony’s third movement.”

James M Keller for Opera News July 1999

“British baritone Simon Keenlyside first attracted attention, earlier this decade, through a recording of Schubert songs. It was an exciting debut: his voice was pure, beautiful and healthily produced… This recording of eight of Mahler’s Wunderhorn songs confirms that the baritone has acquired insight while maintaining his inherent vocal qualities. His is not a particularly sonorous voice, and the lowest notes of the bass staff sometimes display a touch of effortful forcing. In “Wer hat das Liedlein erdacht” his roulades are smooth and fluid, and he captures a sense of rhythmic buoyancy that is not always apparent elsewhere.”