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Edinburgh Guide |
Jerry Gregson |
Music Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (chamber version), Edinburgh 2002
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Das Lied von der Erde
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Usher Hall |
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One national newspaper started its review of
this concert regretting that "they hadn't done the original with full
orchestra". Very odd. This was a rare chance to hear the version prepared by
Schoenberg in 1920, 9 years after Mahler's death, and completed much later
by one, Rainer Riehn. Although the idea of reducing any of Mahler's mighty
scores for chamber forces - or even sometimes piano duet - may seem strange,
it was logical in the era before today's plentiful recorded and broadcast
media.
Is it much more than a curiosity? Well, the chamber-music medium works
better for the delicate chinoiserie which is characteristic of Das Lied,
than it might for, say, the Eighth Symphony. Schoenberg specified thirteen
instrumentalists including harmonium, apparently one of Mahler's favourite
instrument (they cheated here with an extra percussionist). Once the ear is
accustomed, only the prosaic sound of the piano occasionally jars; one would
prefer Riehn's option of a harp in Der Abschied. Certainly, a well-filled
Usher Hall - the best attendance yet for this brilliant late-evening series
- testifies that a fiver is great value for a full Mahler concert in any
medium; especially when it is given with such sweep, emotion, and conviction
as it was by these performers.
I would make a slight exception for Jonas Kaufmann. He has a thrilling
top register and an engaging platform manner and is thoroughly at home in
this music. However he was a trifle too nonchalant (Singing with arms
casually folded? Looked like a pose.) which meant that some lower-pitched
passages did not carry. Alice Coote more than compensated with a
passionate delivery of the mezzo numbers, which perfectly fit her vocal
range. She saved her finest pianissimo for the heart-breaking "Ewig,
ewig..." ending. Garry Walker paced the entire work admirably, with an
expansiveness that belied the small instrumental scale. |
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