Culture watch: A recently discovered ‘Das Lied von der Erde’ recording
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
(Deutsche Grammophon)
This live recording of Mahler’s “Song of the Earth” — with tenor Fritz Wunderlich, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the Vienna Symphony conducted by Josef Krips — comes out of the blue and is out of this world.
A recently discovered document of a concert in Vienna on June 14, 1964, it captures both singers at their considerable primes. Wunderlich’s lyrical energy and Dieskau’s refined plumbing of Mahlerian pathos create tense immediacy.
The no-nonsense Krips (who had become music director of the San Francisco Symphony the year before) determinedly points out startling details in Mahler’s orchestral score with a brutally compelling urgency.
RELATED
More Culture Watch picks from Times writers
— Mark Swed
