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Mahler: The Complete Works
Release Date: 06/29/2010
Label: Emi Classics Catalog #: 08985 Spars Code: DDD
Composer: Gustav Mahler
Performer: Robert Tear, Helena Döse, Sean Rea, Alfreda Hodgson, ...
Conductor: Simon Rattle, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Carlo Maria Giulini, Otto Klemperer, ...
Orchestra/Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, Domus Piano Quartet, ...
Number of Discs: 16
Recorded in: Mono & Stereo
Length: 18 Hours 57 Mins.
Works on This Recording
1. Das klagende Lied by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Robert Tear (Tenor), Helena Döse (Soprano), Sean Rea (Baritone),
Alfreda Hodgson (Alto)
Conductor: Simon Rattle
Orchestra/Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus
Period: Romantic
Written: 1880/1899; Austria
2. Quartet for Piano and Strings in A minor by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Timothy Boulton (Viola), Susan Tomes (Piano), Krysia Osostowicz (Violin),
Richard Lester (Cello)
Orchestra/Ensemble: Domus Piano Quartet
Period: Romantic
Written: ?1876-78; Vienna, Austria
3. Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Baritone)
Conductor: Wilhelm Furtwängler
Orchestra/Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1883-1896; Germany
4. Symphony no 1 in D major "Titan" by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini
Orchestra/Ensemble: Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888/1896
5. Symphony no 2 in C minor "Resurrection" by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Hilde Rössl-Majdan (Mezzo Soprano), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Soprano)
Conductor: Otto Klemperer
Orchestra/Ensemble: Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia Chorus
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888/1896; Germany
6. Songs (3) by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Ian Bostridge (Tenor), Antonio Pappano (Piano)
Period: Romantic
7. Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Alice Coote (Mezzo Soprano), Irwin Gage (Piano), Brigitte Fassbaender (Mezzo Soprano),
Roger Vignoles (Piano), Katarina Karnéus (Mezzo Soprano), Gerald Moore (Piano),
Christa Ludwig (Mezzo Soprano), Julius Drake (Piano), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Baritone),
Daniel Barenboim (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: by 1892; Austria
8. Symphony no 3 in D minor by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Birgit Remmert (Alto)
Conductor: Simon Rattle
Orchestra/Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Youth Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus Women
Period: Romantic
Written: 1893-1896; Hamburg, Germany
9. Symphony no 1 in D major "Titan": Blumine by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Paavo Järvi
Orchestra/Ensemble: Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1884-1888; Leipzig, Germany
10. Symphony no 4 in G major by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Margaret Price (Soprano)
Conductor: Jascha Horenstein
Orchestra/Ensemble: London Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1892-1900; Vienna, Austria
11. Symphony no 5 in C sharp minor by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Klaus Tennstedt
Orchestra/Ensemble: London Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1901-1902; Vienna, Austria
12. Kindertotenlieder by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Kathleen Ferrier (Alto)
Conductor: Bruno Walter
Orchestra/Ensemble: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1901-1904; Vienna, Austria
13. Rückert Lieder (5) by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Dame Janet Baker (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Sir John Barbirolli
Orchestra/Ensemble: New Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1901-1902; Vienna, Austria
14. Symphony no 6 in A minor "Tragic" by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Sir John Barbirolli
Orchestra/Ensemble: New Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1904/1906; Austria
15. Symphony no 7 in E minor by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Simon Rattle
Orchestra/Ensemble: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1904-1905; Vienna, Austria
16. Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Soprano), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Baritone)
Conductor: George Szell
Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1892-1898; Hamburg, Germany
17. Symphony no 8 in E flat major "Symphony of A Thousand" by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Hans Sotin (Bass), Richard Versalle (Tenor), Nadine Denize (Mezzo Soprano),
Felicity Lott (Soprano), Edith Wiens (Soprano), Trudeliese Schmidt (Mezzo Soprano),
Elizabeth Connell (Soprano), Jorma Hynninen (Baritone)
Conductor: Klaus Tennstedt
Orchestra/Ensemble: London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Chorus, Tiffin School Boys Chorus
Period: Romantic
Written: 1906; Vienna, Austria
18. Das Lied von der Erde by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Fritz Wunderlich (Tenor), Christa Ludwig (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Otto Klemperer
Orchestra/Ensemble: New Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1908-1909; Vienna, Austria
19. Symphony no 9 in D major by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Sir John Barbirolli
Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1908-1909; Austria
20. Symphony no 10 in F sharp minor/major by Gustav Mahler
Conductor: Simon Rattle
Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1910; Austria
Notes: Version: Deryck Cooke in collaboration with Berthold Goldschmidt, Colin Matthews and David Matthews.
21. Rückert Lieder (5) by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Thomas Hampson (Baritone), Wolfram Rieger (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1901-1902; Vienna, Austria
22. Rückert Lieder (5): no 3, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen by Gustav Mahler
Performer: Dame Janet Baker (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Sir John Barbirolli
Orchestra/Ensemble: Hallé Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1901-1902; Vienna, Austria
Notes and Editorial Reviews
This set is a real treat, and an unmissable bargain.
This set is a real treat, and an unmissable bargain to boot. Having already released both Rattle's and Tennstedt's Mahler cycles at budget price, EMI have gone even further to commemorate the Mahler anniversary by raiding the archives and providing what is, effectively, a treasure trove of the finest Mahler conductors and singers on their books. We have highlights from Rattle and Tennstedt but also remarkable contributions from Klemperer, Barbirolli, Horenstein, Szell and even Furtwängler. Add in the super bargain price (less than £3 per disc) and this set is irresistible, even before you consider the superlative quality of what is on offer.
Simon Rattle's Mahler series turned a lot of heads as it was being released and we are treated to three highlights here. His Third is a reading of strength and authority - just listen to the awesome power of the opening movement - combined with moments of great tenderness and lyrical beauty. It was also something of a game-changer in interpretations of the Nietzsche movement, playing the oboe calls as glissandi rather than distinct notes, something nearly all subsequent recordings have observed. The singing of Birgit Remmert is heartfelt and intense, while the chorus brim with life in the fifth movement. The finale moves to an incandescent climax meditating on the love of God, though the sudden accelerando will put some off. Unusually the conductor chose his live recording of the Seventh over his studio version for release. In my view the acoustic of the Snape Maltings doesn't flatter the CBSO but the clarity of the reading, even in the finale, is beyond doubt. The texture and palette of both Nachtmusik movements is delectable. The Tenth is Rattle's later, Berlin version, by common consent the finest reading of this work available, and certainly superior to Rattle's own Bournemouth recording. The playing of the Berlin strings, for one thing, is on a much higher level than Bournemouth's. Rattle carries a searing vision that is lacking from Chailly's account. Rattle's contributions form the backbone of this compilation and it merely underlines one's awareness of this conductor's strength as a Mahlerian.
Tennstedt's set is EMI's other staple in this repertoire, though for the Fifth EMI have wisely chosen his live version of 1988, a vast improvement on his heavy, lethargic studio recording. The first movement unfolds with sure pacing and superb playing while the vehemence of the second movement is tempered with surprising lightness of rhythm so that parts of the movement sound like a demonic dance of death. The conductor undermines the scherzo's exuberance with a touch of sarcasm at the outset and the Adagietto is intense and hushed - literally so: I had to adjust the volume at the outset and was then taken aback at the big climax. The finale scampers along with vigour, the re-emergence of the brass chorale the obvious culmination, and the audience erupt into deserved applause at the end. Others have waxed lyrical about the virtues of Tennstedt's Eighth but I've never been one of them. I love to immerse myself in the overt theatricality of Solti and the closing bars of Tennstedt's version sound underplayed and weak to my ears. Listening to it again, however, I was struck anew by just how musical a version this is: where Solti took the score by storm Tennstedt looked for hidden depths and microscopic detail, helped by a team of soloists who revel in every note and an engineering team that do their best to expose every facet. The payoff of the final bars isn't quite enough to satisfy me, but taken holistically this remains a highly satisfying performance.
Klemperer's Mahler performances have everywhere the distinctive imprimatur of authority, considering his direct link with the composer. His Resurrection is one of his finest performances, surprisingly fleet of foot, but only in the Urlicht does it feel rushed. The ensemble is not always ideally together but the listener is never in any doubt that a master is at the helm. The first movement crackles with intensity, driven by stabs of energy that stick out of the texture. The second movement exudes poise and, yes, charm, with a wonderful string sound, and Klemperer even finds wit and humour in the Scherzo. The finale carries immense power in the approach to the throne of God and the chorus sing magnificently from their barely audible entry to the blazing climax, though Schwarzkopf's contribution to the solo singing is noticeably more characterful than Rössl-Majdan's. Klemperer's Das Lied von der Erde did a lot to open up the whole interpretative spectrum of this work, contrasting Bruno Walter's introspection with this conductor's harder-edged drive. The conductor does indeed take us on an intense journey into the soul, but his soloists are what sets this account apart as extra-specially great. Wunderlich's molten tenor glows in this music, summoning grandeur and intensity for the first movement but finding a comic touch for The Drunkard in Spring. Christa Ludwig is at her absolute peak here. Only Ferrier and Fassbaender could challenge her supremacy in this music, parts of the Farewell becoming almost unbearably intense, and the final few minutes summon up the best from both conductor and singer. The remastered sound is very good too, allowing me to give this Lied the highest recommendation.
EMI have also done a great job of raiding the archives for this set and unearthing some high quality novelties. Horenstein's Fourth is as recommendable a version as you are likely to find. Throughout he captures just the right mix of the innocent and the sinister, most notably in the joky but devilish scherzo which leaps along with a sneer on its face. The first movement is light-hearted with just the right element of Schwung and the third is soft and intense until the “heaven's gates” climax where the full force of the orchestra is unleashed. Dame Margaret Price sounds very adult in the finale, no hint of childishness, but her voice is still very beautiful and both soloist and conductor have the measure and pace of this movement entirely.
Barbirolli's Ninth is at the head of many recordings of this symphony to come from Berlin, and it was the recording with which I first got to know this work. Listening to it again after many years it has lost none of its power. The hand of a master shapes the unfolding of the great Andante comodo, though the ultimate climax is not quite as total as you can hear elsewhere. The Ländler comes across initially as highly comic but this expression curdles into a sinister leer as the movement progresses. The Rondo Burleske has had few performances on disc that are just so well played, while the sheer warmth of the string sound in the great theme of the finale will take your breath away. The closing pages are especially heartbreaking, the conductor conveying wonderfully the sense of a life ebbing slowly away. This is a performance to cherish. The same can't be said for Barbirolli's Sixth, however. He has an awesome grip of the vast scale of the finale - listen for the way the music intensifies after each hammer-blow - and the slow movement (positioned second) sounds very beautiful. However the first movement and scherzo are much too slow and lumpen with no energico about them at all. This drains the music of its power and makes it unrecommendable, not helped by the persistent grunts the microphones pick up from the podium. Barbirolli also ignores the first movement exposition repeat.
The only out-and-out disappointment among the symphonies, however, is Giulini's heavy First which is much too controlled, lacking drama and passion. The conductor is too measured and aristocratic in this music and is unwilling to let the players off the leash so that the big climaxes are curiously underplayed. The finale, in particular, lacks energy so that there is little sense of a developing journey, though Giulini shows surprising affinity for the klezmer elements of the third movement.
Elsewhere Rattle's Klagende Lied has had to contend with stiff competition from Chailly on Decca, but in Rattle's hands we hear the cantata as not only a pre-echo of the mature composer but as a fairly astonishing work in itself: what ordinary student could produce such marvellous orchestral sonorities? Chorus and soloists are excellent, with an especially noteworthy contribution from Robert Tear.
For the other song cycles EMI offer us tremendous variety and quality. The early Lieder und Gesänge are extremely well sung, with humour and wit sitting alongside heartfelt passion. The set includes three songs specially recorded for this set by Antonio Pappano and Ian Bostridge, and when you see that the other songs include the likes of Christa Ludwig, Katarina Karnéus (especially beautiful) and Brigitte Fassbaender you know that you are in safe hands. Elsewhere Furtwängler directs a predictably weighty account of the Gesellen lieder with the young Fischer-Dieskau wringing every ounce of meaning out of the words, conveying white-hot intensity in the third song and a poignant sense of loss in the finale. Szell's 1968 account of the Wunderhorn songs is still the finest you will hear anywhere. The singing is above praise and the vocal acting is so compelling that each song feels like a miniature opera. And what a treat to have Kathleen Ferrier's untouchable account of the Kindertotenlieder! When it was recorded in 1949 this performance set standards that every other recording of the cycle has sought to live up to and the dark intensity of Ferrier's voice is perfectly suited to this music. Ferrier's natural successor, however, was surely Dame Janet Baker, and her 1969 account of the Rückert-Lieder acts as a wonderful counter-balance to Ferrier, coming immediately after the Kindertotenlieder on the same disc. It is with the Rückert-Lieder that EMI choose to end the whole set: we get Thomas Hampson's (slightly pallid) account of the piano version and then - a collector's treat, this - seven contrasting accounts of the final song, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, in a huge range of interpretations and accompaniments which only serve to highlight the wonderful mood of this song. I leave it to the listener to decide which account is the finest: it's a difficult choice.
Full credit to EMI for commemorating the composer's anniversary in this way: they have appealed to both newcomers and established collectors by providing the complete works at a super bargain price and have given us a cook's tour of great Mahler conducting at the same time. Full texts and translations are provided as a PDF on the final CD. For what it's worth, I think that this set trumps the similar offer of the complete works from DG: the DG is also full of quality but EMI have been more imaginative in choosing their performances and the overall standard is higher here. Snap up this outstanding bargain while it is available: it may not be around for long.
-- Simon Thompson, MusicWeb International
Review by Blair Sanderson [-]
For Gustav Mahler's 150th birthday, EMI has assembled a 16-disc box set of his complete works, including not only the ten symphonies, Das Lied von der Erde, and the song cycles, but also the early cantata, Das klagende Lied, and the extant movement from the Piano Quartet in A minor, two works which arguably can be called Mahler rarities. Having all these pieces together in one large collection is undeniably a great convenience, and many will consider buying this set not only for that reason, but also for the historic nature of the recordings. The roster of conductors features such legends as Sir John Barbirolli, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, George Szell, and Jascha Horenstein, along with later Mahlerians, Klaus Tennstedt, Sir Simon Rattle, and Carlo Maria Giulini, all of whom left remarkable recordings that still are essential listening. The familiar problem of purchasing a Mahler box set is complicated by the presence of so many artists: one usually expects a set to be one conductor's cycle, which would be desirable to anyone who admires that maestro's interpretations. Otherwise, acquiring separate recordings by different artists is the sensible way to go. But the choosing already has been done for listeners here, so one is either obligated to go with EMI's picks or find some other option. The significance of these recordings, the mix of ADD and DDD recordings, and the performance dates, ranging from 1952 to 2010, make this item well-suited for a music library or a specialist's collection, so it is recommended for any who are fully acquainted with Mahler's work. Newcomers, however, may want to explore contemporary, all-digital recordings before committing to such a hefty compendium.
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In the last half of the 20th century Gustav Mahler came to hold a dominant position in the consciousness of musicians and audiences. Though he died in 1911, he captures the anxieties and aspirations of the modern age in symphonies and songs which, while utterly personal in expression, strike a universal chord. These critically acclaimed recordings, made between 1949 and 2010, feature some of the greatest Mahler conductors, singers and orchestras. With three songs newly recorded by Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano, this set offers a complete portrait of a man who speaks to us now as urgently as he has ever done.
Gustav Mahler was born on 7th July 1860 in Kalischt (now Kalište), a small village in the Royal Province of Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire, the second child of a Jewish family; seven of their fourteen children died in infancy. His childhood was spent in the local town of Iglau (now Jihlava) where the family had moved not long after his birth. Noticing his talent early his parent arranged piano lessons when he was six. It cannot be said that his was a happy childhood as his father, who had persuaded his parents-in-law to force their daughter to marry him, vented his anger against her for all the actual and perceived wrongs done during his attempts to improve his life.
Mahler later summed up his family's plight thus: I am thrice homeless, as a native of Bohemia in Austria, as an Austrian among Germans, and as a Jew throughout all the world. Everywhere an intruder, never welcomed.
At 15 Mahler was admitted to the Vienna Conservatoire to study harmony and composition as well as piano; three years later Mahler attended Anton Bruckner's lectures at Vienna University. It was during this period that the two works which survive from his teenage compositions were written: The movement for Piano Quartet (1876?-1878?) and Das klagende Lied which was submitted for a competition in 1880 where the jury was led by Brahms, but failed to win a prize. Over the next few years he revised the latter work and wrote a number of songs but he was obtaining more work as a conductor and at successively larger opera houses. In Leipzig he made such a success with parts of Der Ring des Nibelungen when Arthur Nikisch fell ill that both critics and public alike sang his praises. He became music director of the opera in Budapest for three years in 1888, the following year the city hosted the premiere of his first symphony, then in five movements. Hamburg was next to secure his services from 1891 to 1897 during which time he revised the first, wrote the second and sketched the third symphony. These three together with the fourth are sometimes referred to as the “Wunderhorn” symphonies owing to their use of or containing influences of the songs which appear in Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn).
He was then offered the most prestigious post in music in the Austrian Empire, that of Director of the Vienna State Opera. Mahler, who had never been a devout Jew, converted to Roman Catholicism in preparation for the appointment. He had sung in a Catholic choir as a boy and would set the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus as the first part of his eighth symphony.
In March 1902 he had married Alma Schindler, twenty years his younger, and she gave birth to two daughters. His work at this time was spent on three symphonies and songs set to poems by Friedrich Rückert. It was alas all too prophetic to compose songs on deaths of children, Kindertotenlieder, when you have two young children as his first daughter died of diphtheria at the age of four – thought to be represented by the first of two hammer-blows in the last movement of his sixth and most bleakly tragic symphony. The songs are bound up musically with these symphonies especially the fifth which contains the famous Adagietto. The second hammer-blow is thought to refer either the diagnosis of his heart disease or his resignation from the opera caused by obstinacy in artistic matters leading to increasingly nasty anti-semitic attacks; there was a third – for his own death? – but this was removed in the revisions. He needed to get away from Europe and luckily a generous offer from the Metropolitan Opera gave him the 1908 season in America, but then he was replaced by Toscanini. Back in Europe his marriage was collapsing owing to Alma's infidelity. These were the days of the completion of Das Lied von der Erde and the ninth symphony but such was Mahler's fixation of the ninth (Beethoven's last symphony – also for Bruckner and Dvorák) that he regarded Das Lied as a symphony with voices and therefore the next one would be the tenth! He began yet another one but left it incomplete and performing versions have been written by various composers.
Some people criticise Mahler for being so preoccupied by death but, in reality, he was really full of life. His symphonies should, he said, “take in the whole world”. It cannot be denied that the music he wrote for the “final departure” is so achingly beautiful and heartfelt that one should just listen and be moved, hopefully, to tears as he no doubt was as he penned the final notes. According to Alma his last word was “Mozartl” (a diminutive, corresponding to ‘dear little Mozart'); he is buried in Grinzing Cemetery outside Vienna.
Mahler's influences on subsequent generations have been extensive and wide – Zemlinsky, Schönberg, Berg and Webern in Austria, Shostakovitch in Russia, Britten in Britain and Copland in America are just a few to acknowledge their debt. He also spread beyond the limits of classical music with Paul McCartney writing “I have always adored Mahler, and Mahler was a major influence on the music of The Beatles. John and me used to sit and do the Kindertotenlieder and Wunderhorn for hours, we'd take turns singing and playing the piano. We thought Mahler was great.”
Produktinfo
Der »Komponist der Tausend« – Mahlers Gesamtwerk zum 150. Geburtstag
»Sinfonie heißt eben: mit allen Mitteln der vorhandenen Technik eine Welt aufbauen.« Diese Worte Gustav Mahlers umschreiben den gewaltigen Anspruch, den er an seine Musik stellte: Seine Sinfonien sind Klangwelten mit Naturbildern im Cinemascope-Format, apokalyptischen Szenerien, Stadien verträumter Entrücktheit und Seelendramen. Zum 150. Geburtstag erscheint nun bei EMI Classics eine Mahler-Gesamtaufnahme mit legendären Einspielungen auf 16 CDs.
