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Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars
3 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
the best since Ludwig/Berry/Bernstein/N.Y. Phil.
4 Sep 2010
By B. Guerrero
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
That might be putting it a bit thick since the Chailly "DKW" is pretty darn good also. But this is now my favorite one because the sound quality and conducting are so excellent. Every song sounds totally animated, but without getting exaggerated via the tempi. For example, "Revelge" doesn't sound like a runaway train; the way it almost does on the Bernstein. The two soloists are outstanding as well: Christiane Oelze and Michael Volle. In fact, I hope Volle shows up later on, when Stenz gets around to doing Mahler 8 (or any other Mahler song cycles that employ a baritone).
Everybody seems to do the "DKW" songs in a completely different order, and Stenz does a good job of mixing the lineup of lighter vs. more serious songs. For example, after starting with three lighter numbers, Stenz gives us an outstanding "Wo die schonen Trompeten blasen", followed by the dark "der Tambourgesell". "Revelge" - the most powerful soldiering song in the entire cycle - comes near the end, followed by the equally dark, "das Irdische Leben". It was a brilliant stroke to conclude the disc with an outstanding performance of "das himmlische Leben" - the song that Mahler would later conclude his fourth symphony with. Amazon gives you plenty of excerpts above, so check them out. I love this disc, because "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" acts as an important thematic nursery for Mahler's first five symphonies. And while no Wunderhorn material shows up in Mahler 8, much of Part II feels and sounds like a throw-back to Mahler's earlier "Wunderhorn" style. Klaus Tennstedt pointed that out years ago.
Everybody seems to do the "DKW" songs in a completely different order, and Stenz does a good job of mixing the lineup of lighter vs. more serious songs. For example, after starting with three lighter numbers, Stenz gives us an outstanding "Wo die schonen Trompeten blasen", followed by the dark "der Tambourgesell". "Revelge" - the most powerful soldiering song in the entire cycle - comes near the end, followed by the equally dark, "das Irdische Leben". It was a brilliant stroke to conclude the disc with an outstanding performance of "das himmlische Leben" - the song that Mahler would later conclude his fourth symphony with. Amazon gives you plenty of excerpts above, so check them out. I love this disc, because "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" acts as an important thematic nursery for Mahler's first five symphonies. And while no Wunderhorn material shows up in Mahler 8, much of Part II feels and sounds like a throw-back to Mahler's earlier "Wunderhorn" style. Klaus Tennstedt pointed that out years ago.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasant singing that's emotionally pallid
5 Feb 2013
By Santa Fe Listener
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
The so-called Mahler revolution is fifty years old by now, but even before serious attention was paid to his symphonies, Mahler never lost his reputation for writing songs, and it remains astonishing how richly he provided orchestral songs in particular, rivaled only by Richard Strauss. Yet sumptuous as Strauss's songs are, he didn't imagine a complete world of the kind that Mahler did for his Knaben Wunderhorn settings, where the orchestral part was so original - going far beyond accompaniments - that it spilled over into his first three symphonies. These are heartwarming songs tinged with the harsher reality of fatalistic soldiers and starving children, at once innocent, eerie, folkloric, and mythic.
There have been such great interpreters of the Wunderhorn songs that not many newcomers can rival them. The last set with two singers that rose to the highest level featured Thomas Quasthoff and Anne-Sophie von Otter under Claudio Abbado (DG), and this new one from Cologne can't match it. Michael volle and Christine Oelze have good voices of soloist quality, but they are short of imagination. These songs evoke flesh-and-blood characters with vivid emotions that cry out for nearly operatic portrayals, because they are caught in situations of love and death, despite the sometimes cheerful tunes. These readings are pleasantly one-dimensional, and that's not enough. More's the pity since Markus Stenz provides very subtle orchestral shading, although he too tends to understate the music's emotions. the recorded sound is very good, and there's a nice immediacy to the whole concert program.
There have been such great interpreters of the Wunderhorn songs that not many newcomers can rival them. The last set with two singers that rose to the highest level featured Thomas Quasthoff and Anne-Sophie von Otter under Claudio Abbado (DG), and this new one from Cologne can't match it. Michael volle and Christine Oelze have good voices of soloist quality, but they are short of imagination. These songs evoke flesh-and-blood characters with vivid emotions that cry out for nearly operatic portrayals, because they are caught in situations of love and death, despite the sometimes cheerful tunes. These readings are pleasantly one-dimensional, and that's not enough. More's the pity since Markus Stenz provides very subtle orchestral shading, although he too tends to understate the music's emotions. the recorded sound is very good, and there's a nice immediacy to the whole concert program.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Mahler Must-Have
13 Aug 2011
By D. Mitchell
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
In terms of overall performance, and especially audio engineering, this Das Knaben CD is a must have and certainly one of the best. The audio engineering is superlative--the "you are there" effect is a spellbinding listening experience, providing one has the playback equipment to reproduce the original live performance. The equipment that the recording engineers now have are getting us closer and closer to the real thing, in selected recent recordings. The singers and the Gurzenich-Orchester Koln are first rate.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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