[ Harmonia Mundi / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 23 October 2020
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For her first solo recital on harmonia mundi, Christiane Karg, alongside her faithful partner Malcolm Martineau, presents an incursion into the most intimate aspect of Mahler's music: the songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn take us to the heart of the composer's creative process, as do the songs from his youth and the later Rückert-Lieder.
Two of these pieces (including the famous Das himmlische Leben from Symphony no.4) are accompanied by… Mahler himself, thanks to the achievement of the incredible Welte-Mignon piano rolls which, at the very start of the Twentieth Century, captured his playing far better than any other recording device of the period could.
"Karg's artistry, distinguished by natural intelligence and vivid sense of communication, is an ideal complement to Martineau's. Her voice is beautiful, more velvety than diamantine, and, with her supremely sensitive partner, she never has need to push it...This is lieder performance of wonderful freshness and intelligence; a delightful album, highly recommended." Gramophone Editor's Choice Nov 2020
"Karg's clear, bright soprano is better suited to the more pictorial Wunderhorn settings than to some of the more inward-looking Rückert songs, but her singing is always acutely sensitive, and she ends the disc with a fascinating novelty, two songs in which she is "accompanied" by Mahler himself." The Guardian
"There are no rarities here, but the sequence is thoughtful...And the performance of this recital is magnificent, painting each miniature landscape in generous, vivid detail...The voice sounds fresh and brilliant, each word charged with meaning. Malcolm Martineau is at his imaginative best, his boundless colouristic range matching or thought-provoking... A treat from start to finish."
BBC Music - Choral & Song Choice. January 2021
Rheinlegendchen (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
Wer hat dies' Liedlein Erdacht? (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
Hans und Grete (Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit)
Ablösung im Sommer (Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit)
Scheiden und Meiden (Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit)
Verlorne Müh' (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
Das irdische Leben (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
Rückert-Lieder
Erinnerung (Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit)
Phantasie aus Don Juan (Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit)
Nicht wiedersehen (Lieder und Gesänge aus der ugendzeit)
Ich ging mit Lust (Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit)
Symphony No. 4 in G major: Wir geniessen den himmlischen Leben