Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Das Lied von der Erde
Ralph Vaughan Willams (1872-1958)
Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Set Svanholm (tenor)
Elena Nikolaidi (contralto)
Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York/ Bruno Walter
rec. live, radio broadcast, 22 February 1953, Carnegie Hall, New York City
XR Remastering Ambient Stereo
Reviewed as download
Pristine Audio PACO 232 [74]

There are by my count at least eight recordings of Das Lied von der Erde conducted by Bruno Walter between 1936 and 1960. Three of those are commercial studio productions; by far the most celebrated is the 1952 recording with Patzak and Ferrier, although personally I marginally prefer the earlier live recording with Ferrier in more youthful voice, as per my survey. Both of those have been remastered by Andrew Rose and now he has turned his attention to this live concert radio broadcast.

The concert starts with a beautifully – and reverentially – played account of the RVW Thomas Tallis Fantasia, only you have to ignore some shuffling and coughing. I had no idea that it was conducted by Walter in New York but it was already by then a well-established work, being composed in 1910, and the NYP sounds as if they were enjoying playing it. They are not in the least sparing with vibrato and portamento, and deliver a thoroughly Romantic reading, led by concertmaster and violin soloist John Corigliano Sr. The sound is really remarkably good: deep, dark and resonant; I think Barbirolli would have approved.

The horns are in great form for the whooping opening of the first song of Das Lied von der Erde and Heldentenor Set Svanholm sounds to be in equally confident voice, but he never had the most ingratiating tone and is sometimes clearly operating near the limits of his capabilities; he is occasionally close to yelling.

Unrestrained coughing mars the bassoon solo in the opening of the first song for Nikolaidi and recurs intermittently throughout. She has an “old-fashioned” vibrato – fast and flickering – and a fruity timbre that might not be to all tastes and it can result in a certain ambiguity in her intonation, especially as she indulges in quite a few expressive swoops; rarely does she move from one note to another without sliding, which becomes something of a tic. However, she has sufficient lower register to cut through in the fast central “horse-riding” passage in “Von der Schönheit” and a neat way of floating a pianissimo note – but the bronchial ward spoils the close of that song, too, as well as much of the “Der Abschied”. Paradoxically, the enhancement of the sound by Pristine merely makes the extraneous noise all the more irritating.

Good as they are, neither vocal soloist affords me unalloyed pleasure compared with the very best but Walter’s conducting and the NYP playing are both top-notch. The constant interruptions from the audience challenge the listener’s concentration and I cannot really see the attraction of this issue when Walter’s masterly direction may be heard in other recordings with better sonics and superior soloists.

Ralph Moore