Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Lieder der Jugend (Songs of youth and Awakening)
Katharina Konradi (soprano)
Sophie Rennert (mezzo-soprano)
Mauro Peter (tenor)
Sir Simon Keenlyside (baritone)
Joseph Middleton (piano)
rec. 2024/25, All Saints Church, East Finchley, London & Potton Hall Studios, Saxmundham, UK
German texts and English translations
Signum Classics SIGCD1006 [60]

This is the second in what is presumably – judging by the continuation of the format and design of the first issue of three famous song cycles by Dame Sarah Connolly – a projected series of Mahler Lieder recordings with piano accompaniment by Joseph Middleton. That recital was reviewed by my colleagues Göran Forsling (review) and John Quinn (review) .

This presents twenty songs from Mahler’s formative years, 1880-1885, accompanied by an extensive note by the pianist which expertly but unpretentiously guides the listener through their themes and forms, along with German texts with English translations – a welcome and increasingly rare provision. The first of the four singers we hear in this collection is Sophie Rennert, whose recital of Schubert Lieder on BIS David James (review) and I (review) both recently reviewed very positively; it was a “Recommended” disc and an April “Recording of the Month”. Her warm, steady, expressive mezzo-soprano adapts just as easily to these Mahler songs. Next we hear Katharina Konradi who has a bright, attractive light soprano but which also has a rather insistent vibrato and a tendency to harden on loud, high notes; similarly, I am not very enamoured of Swiss tenor Mauro Peter’s lyric tenor as his vibrato also pulses, his basic tone is rather constricted in the predominant Germanic manner and his top notes are hooty. If you think I am being pernickety over the vibrato issue, you have only to compare the vocal production of the soprano and tenor with the mezzo-soprano; hers is swift, neat and flexible and always falls gratefully on the ear.

The singers mostly alternate throughout the first sixteen songs, then the best-known by far, the concluding four Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, are sung by Sir Simon Keenlyside, now in his mid-sixties and singing a repertoire which does not tempt him to force in a manner which has of late rather marred his ventures into heavier territory. There is no denying that his voice does not have its former bloom, especially on higher notes, and the vibrato has loosened, such that I would not say that his delivery is especially beguiling, but his use of text and his characterisation are as acute as ever. He gives us pleasing, pleasant accounts which in no way vie for memorability with versions by such Janet Baker, Frederica von Stade, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bernarda Fink, Karen Cargill et al. Admittedly, they are all mezzos and fewer baritones have recorded them; we can go back to such as Josef Metternich for male singers with rather more voice, although very few have recorded the piano version rather than the much more commonly encountered orchestrated arrangements. For that, my recommendation remains Stephan Genz with Roger Vignoles on Hyperion.

The best of this collection is the fact that we have a variety of voices among which Sophie Rennert is by far the most appealing, and the whole is sustained by the sensitivity and brilliance of Joseph Middleton’s piano accompaniment. The range of colours he conjures up from the keyboard is truly admirable; that gift no doubt arises, as he says, from an awareness that the accompanying pianist in these songs must “think orchestrally” and try to recreate “a symphonic sound-world”. I should also point up that Janet Baker recorded this exact same programme with Geoffrey Parsons back in 1983 and that remains my touchstone.

(The tracklist at the end of the booklist fails to indicate that in track 8 the soprano joins the tenor in duet.)

Ralph Moore

Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free

Contents:
1. Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 1: No. 1, Frühlingsmorgen
Sophie Rennert (mezzo-soprano)
2. Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 3: No. 11, Ablösung im Sommer
Katharina Konradi (soprano)
3 Lieder GMW2-4
Mauro Peter (tenor), Katharina Konradi (soprano)
3. No. 1, Im Lenz
4. No. 2, Winterlied
Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 3
Mauro Peter (tenor)
5. No. 12, Scheiden und Meiden
6. No. 10, Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz
Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 2
Sophie Rennert (mezzo-soprano), Katharina Konradi (soprano), Mauro Peter (tenor)
7. No. 7, Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grünen Wald
8. No. 9, Starke Einbildungskraft
9.Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 1: No. 2, Erinnerung
Sophie Rennert (mezzo-soprano)
10. Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 3: No. 14, Selbstgefühl
Katharina Konradi (soprano)
11. Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 1: No. 3, Hans und Grete
Sophie Rennert (mezzo-soprano)
Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 2
Katharina Konradi (soprano), Sophie Rennert (mezzo-soprano)
12. No. 6, Um schlimme Kinder artig zu machen
13. No. 8, Aus! Aus!
Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 1
Mauro Peter (tenor), Katharina Konradi (soprano)
14. No. 4, Serenade aus Don Juan
15. No. 5, Phantasie aus Don Juan
16. Lieder und Gesänge, Vol. 3: No. 13, Nicht wiedersehen!
Sophie Rennert (mezzo-soprano)
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, GMW 10
Sir Simon Keenlyside (baritone)
17. No. 1, Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht
18. No. 2, Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld
19. No. 3, Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer
20. No. 4, Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz