Mahler Songs is a 40-minute studio album on which Gustav Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, his Rückert-Lieder and two of the songs from his Lieder aus "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" are performed by Frederica von Stade and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Andrew Davis. It was released in 1979.
Contents
Recording
The album was recorded using analogue technology on 8, 15 and 16 December 1978 in Abbey Road Studios, London. On 14 December 1978, von Stade, Davis and the London Philharmonic included the Gesellen songs in a concert given in London's Royal Festival Hall.
Cover art
The LP and cassette versions of the album share the same cover, designed by Allen Weinberg, featuring a photograph of von Stade taken by Valérie Clément.
Critical reception
Reviews
J. B. Steane reviewed the album on LP in Gramophone in November 1979, comparing it with recordings of some of Mahler's Lieder sung by Janet Baker, Marilyn Horne, Christa Ludwig and Yvonne Minton. None of the five could be recommended unequivocally, he wrote, but the best of them was Baker's. Her disc was not perfect, but it was emotionally profound, impossible to forget and lovely to listen to. It was true that Ludwig's Berlin Philharmonic played better than Baker's New Philharmonia, but Ludwig's own performance was inferior to Baker's both in beauty of tone and in interpretation. Von Stade's album was slightly disappointing too, although marginally preferable to Horne's.
Mahler had not conceived his Rückert-Lieder as a group, leaving singers in a quandary as to the best order in which to present them. Horne and von Stade both began with "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft", depriving themselves of the opportunity to put the song in a place where it would have "the delicious effect of a window opened to let in air, light and fragrance". They were arguably unwise, too, in their siting of "Um Mitternacht". Horne jammed it up against "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen", maladroitly linking the collection's two deepest songs and so putting the balance of the work as a whole out of kilter. Von Stade sang it before "Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder", thus casting a shadow on what was "perhaps the most charming and light-hearted" of the songs. Ludwig was more judicious. Her choice of opening was "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen". It might seem odd to begin with a piece about renunciation, but by starting with the most beautiful of the Rückert-Lieder, she created the best atmosphere for her performance of the rest of the songs. She put "Liebst du um Schönheit" second, the sunnier "Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder" third and the Arcadian "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" fourth. Leaving "Um Mitternacht" to the very end meant that she avoided the difficulty of deciding what could possibly succeed its "solemnity and broad, powerful climax".
In addition to its intelligent sequencing, Ludwig's disc had the advantage of the excellent accompaniment provided by her Berlin Philharmonic. None of the rival album's orchestras were as good as the Berliners in conveying the "stillness and privacy" of the songs. Herbert von Karajan's "solo instruments interleave against a still background, oboe, horn, flute each raising its voice in turn with the utmost beauty of sound and feeling for the shape of the phrase". Horne had less meticulous support from the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. Andrew Davis's creative conducting elicited luscious playing from the London Philharmonic for von Stade, but Columbia's engineering denied him the same "sense of stillness and space" that Herbert von Karajan, the Berliners and Deutsche Grammophon provided for Ludwig.
Accolade
In the 23rd annual Grammy Awards of 1980, the album was nominated for a Grammy for the Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance.
CD track listing
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen ("Songs of a wayfarer"), composed in 1884–1885, orchestrated and revised in the 1890s; with texts by Gustav Mahler
1 (3:46) "Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht" ("When my sweetheart is married")
2 (4:22) "Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld" ("This morning I went over the field")
3 (3:23) "Ich hab' ein glühend Messer" ("I have a gleaming knife")
4 (5:29) "Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz" ("My sweetheart's two blue eyes")
Lieder aus "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" ("Songs from 'The boy's magic horn'") composed in 1892–1898; with traditional texts collected and edited by Achim von Arnim (1781-1831) and Clemens Brentano (1778-1842)
5 (3:01) "Rheinlegendchen" ("Little Rhein legend")
6 (2:06) "Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?" ("Who thought up this little song?")
Rückert-Lieder ("Songs after Rückert"), composed in 1901–1902; with texts by Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866)
7 (2:17) "Ich atmet' einen linden Duft" ("I breathed a gentle scent")
8 (2:28) "Liebst du um Schönheit" ("If what you love is beauty")
9 (6:07) "Um Mitternacht" ("At midnight")
10 (1:37) "Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder" ("Don't look into my songs")
Personnel
Musicians
Frederica von Stade (b. 1945), mezzo-soprano
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Davis (1944-2024), conductor
Other
Robert Gooch, engineer
Mike Ross-Trevor, engineer
Paul Walter Myers (1932-2015), producer
Release history
Columbia released the album on LP in Europe (catalogue numbers 76828) and the US (catalogue number M-35863) in 1979 and on 1 June 1980 respectively. The LP had an insert with texts and translations, and sleeve notes (in English only) by Lionel Salter. The album was also released on cassette (catalogue numbers 40–76828 in Europe, MT-35863 in the US).
In 2012, Newton Classics issued the album on CD with a 16-page biographical booklet by David Patrick Stearns in their 4-CD collection Frederica von Stade: Duets, Arias, Scenes & Songs (catalogue number 8802125). In 2016, Sony issued the album on CD (in a miniature replica of its original LP sleeve) with a 52-page booklet in their 18-CD collection Frederica von Stade: The Complete Columbia Recital Albums (catalogue number 88875183412).