{"id":3213,"date":"2011-07-19T22:04:11","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T21:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=3213"},"modified":"2011-07-20T13:41:36","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T12:41:36","slug":"cd-review-classical-source-on-orchestra-of-the-swan-song-of-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2011\/07\/19\/cd-review-classical-source-on-orchestra-of-the-swan-song-of-the-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Review- Classical Source on Orchestra of the Swan: Song of the Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new review at the Classical Source from <\/a>Peter Reed\u00a0of the new Orchestra of the Swan recording of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen on Somm. Read the whole thing here.<\/a> A short sample follows:<\/p>\n

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…The three singers are superb. In the Wayfarer songs, the baritone (with a strong bass element) David Stout is right inside their emotional range \u2013 their sense of loss, resignation and lost innocence \u2013 and while you\u2019re aware of his voice\u2019s potential in terms of size, he keeps it to the scale of the ensemble. He also produces a very seductive sound \u2013 warm, velvety, full of nuance and colour \u2013 and the descents into impenetrable blackness capture the poor traveller\u2019s experience of romantic despair with extraordinary conviction. Woods\u2019s tempos are spot on, with Stout deftly controlling the changes of mood and handling Mahler\u2019s irregular phrasing with great subtlety. In the third song, \u2018Ich hab\u2019 ein gl\u00fchend Messer\u2019, his high-voice singing is magical, and the close of the last setting is wonderfully distracted. I was hugely impressed by him, by his restraint and musicality as much by the quality, or rather qualities, and total security of his voice. Woods\u2019s conducting is full of absorbing detail and gives Schoenberg\u2019s reduction a gripping intensity and immediacy. Schoenberg\u2019s scoring for the harmonium is particularly telling \u2013 its sound so atmospheric and so contemporary \u2013 a long way from the out-of-tune wheezing of those Victorian instruments you squeeze with your feet that are still in use today in some churches.<\/p>\n

That aside, the instrumental playing, in both works, is very fine, and it\u2019s a shame that the names of the players aren\u2019t listed in the booklet (the texts are included though)[ed. note- you can see the listing of the players here]<\/a> \u00a0\u2013 there are some heart-breaking violin solos and some stylish, expressive playing from oboist and clarinetist. The chamber version also exposes Mahler\u2019s use of oriental modes to expressionist effect.<\/p>\n

Emotionally, this performance of Das Lied also presses the right buttons in terms of wisdom, wonder, resignation and regret \u2013 it never ceases to amaze how Mahler\u2019s response to the Chinese poems folds in such a complex range of feeling. Brennen Guillory barges his way deliriously through the two drinking songs and is heart-stopping in the visionary \u2018Von der Jugend\u2019, a really telling reminder from the old of the wonder of youth and how it\u2019s wasted on the young. Guillory\u2019s vocal range, control and power are quite something. Emma Curtis\u2019s full, voluptuous contralto suits the instrumental timbre brilliantly. Occasionally her vibrato is a bit too close, but in her higher register there\u2019s a Straussian strength and radiance to her singing, beautifully regulated and desolate in \u2018Der Einsame im Herbst\u2019 and piercingly ecstatic in \u2018Der Abschied\u2019. Obviously in this last movement you don\u2019t get Mahler\u2019s huge orchestral perspectives \u2013 although the long instrumental-only passage works extremely well \u2013 but the way in which singers, players and conductor connect with the music is remarkable and very moving. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

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Purchase here from Presto Classical\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Purchase here direct from Somm Recordings<\/a><\/p>\n