Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Rückert-Lieder
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Kindertotenlieder
Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)
Joseph Middleton (piano)
rec. 2021, St. George’s Bristol, Bristol, UK
Sung texts with English translations enclosed
Reviewed as download from press preview
Signum Classics SIGCD741 [61]
Sarah Connolly has had a long and distinguished career both as opera singer and on the concert platform. In 2010 she was appointed CBE and in 2017 DBE for her services to the cultural life in the United Kingdom, and her recordings are numerous. I have had the pleasure to review quite a few of them, most recently a disc with the complete songs of Henri Duparc, of which I wrote that it “still has her voice in fine fettle. A little more vibrant perhaps than when I last heard her, but the tone is beautiful and her expressiveness is undiminished, and her high notes ring out with glory” (review). With this verdict in mind, and having read my colleague John Quinn’s very positive (review) of the quite recent Signum recording of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, where Dame Sarah was singing the contralto part, I turned with confidence to this new disc, which is the first instalment in a projected series with the complete songs of Mahler.
Opening with the Rückert-Lieder, Dame Sarah opts for “Ich atmet einen linden Duft” as the first song. Checking some ten recordings of the songs I didn’t find two with identical order of the songs, and Mahler never intended them as a cycle. They were published independently from each other. “Ich atmet” has a mild and soft start, very slow and inward, sung almost hesitatingly, and Joseph Middleton articulates the accompaniment in the same manner. The voice is beautiful but brittle and one understands that it is not in the first blossoming of its youth. There is a light beat on sustained notes, but all in all it is a touchingly intimate reading. Problems begin to arise in the short and agitated “Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder”. When she sings above mezzo forte the vibrato widens, of which there was a hint in the Duparc review, and this is a recurring annoyance throughout the disc. As I have repeatedly written in my reviews, listeners react differently to vibrato. Some people abhor excessive vibrato while others are very tolerant of it. Fortunately most of the songs here are low-intensive and intimate, and long stretches of “Um Mitternacht”, “Liebst du um Schönheit” and my wife’s favourite song “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” are sung with all the skill and sensitivity the experienced Sarah Connolly can muster, but to many listeners the readings as a whole are still compromised.
With these limitations in mind Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen also goes well. “Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht”is quite wonderful. “Ging heut’ Morgen über’s Feld” is also convincing. The stumbling-block is “Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer”, where the vibrato becomes overloaded, but the power and intensity is still overwhelming. “Die zwei blauen Augen” is more within her scope, and the final line “Lieb’ und Leid, und Welt und Traum!” sung pianissimo, as a whisper, is really moving.
The dark and tragic Kindertotenlieder is the greatest challenge for any singer, male or female. Even here large portions are inward and low-key. Sorrow is primarily private, but also the big dramatic outbursts of despair are handled with almost superhuman power and intensity when she reaches the climaxes – impressive, indeed, and Joseph Middleton’s accompaniments are masterly.
To a young listener coming new to this marvellous music, I would say that if you want to buy your first recording of Mahler songs, I recommend Janet Baker’s recordings with John Barbirolli from the late 1960s. A somewhat later recording of similar merits is Brigitte Fassbaender’s. Both are with orchestral accompaniments. A third highly recommendable orchestral version is Katarina Karnéus’ BIS recording, which was a Recording of the Month twelve years ago (review). Since the present disc was recorded with piano accompaniment, I’ll also recommend my favourite recording of that version, too: Marianne Beate Kielland, a Scandinavian like Karnéus, who recorded it for LAWO in 2016 (review) and was awarded a Recommended tag. Followers of Sarah Connolly will no doubt derive a lot of pleasure from the present disc, but it’s a pity she didn’t set it down a couple of years earlier.
Göran Forsling
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