wimpel69
02-27-2013, 04:25 PM
Re-upped and Upgraded to FLAC. Links below.
I freely confess to have little respect for Gustav Mahler's music. There, I said it. Most of it is
inflated, pretentious, grandiloquent and, deep down, empty. It is sentimental, vulgar, and cheap.
If anything, Mahler was the P.T. Barnum of the late romantic symphony. Ralph Vaughan Williams
called him "a tolerable imitation of a composer", and he was probably right. Worst of all, the alleged
former "neglect" of his output (studies into performance history indicate that this is a myth)
has been replaced by a ridiculous over-exposure today - so much so that vital performance time for
other, potentially more interesting works is being hogged by the Mahler brontosauruses.
There is, in my mind at least, one exception: his lovely, beautifully crafted symphonic
song cycle Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), based on rather loose
translations of Chinese traditional poems. This piece is the only of Gustav Mahler's
that I'd freely admit I love - it is also in the top 10 of my favourite classical works ever.
Go figure! ;)
It'll never work in the concert hall, as the two singers involved have to fight against a large symphony
orchestra without the benefit of microphones. I've been to a number of performances, and, invariably,
the singers were drowned out by the orchestra in the climaxes, of which there are quite a few. This
is music composed for the recording studio, even if Mahler himself would not have known that.
I am offering you three different versions of this late romantic masterpiece: the "original" version,
with the poems sung in German - a recording for which the actual Chinese (or, more accurately,
Cantonese) poems were used - and, finally, the arrangement for chamber ensemble prepared
by none other than Arnold Schoenberg for his Circle for the Private Performance of Contemporary
Music. Also included is an upload of the full original score, which is in the public domain.
Enjoy! Don't share! Buy the originals!
And a word of thanks might get you more stuff! ;)
Music by Gustav Mahler
Played by Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
With Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano) & Burkhard Fritz (tenor)
Conducted by Marc Albrecht
"Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth") is a large-scale work for two vocal soloists and orchestra
by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler. Laid out in six separate movements, each of them an independent
song; the work is described on the title-page as Eine Symphonie f�r eine Tenor- und eine Alt- (oder Bariton-)
Stimme und Orchester (nach Hans Bethges "Die chinesische Fl�te") � "A Symphony for Tenor and Alto
(or Baritone) Voice and Orchestra (after Hans Bethge's 'The Chinese Flute'"). Bethge's text was published
in the autumn of 1907. Mahler's use of 'Chinese' motifs in the music is unique in his output. Composed in
the years 1908�1909, it followed the Eighth Symphony, but is not numbered as the Ninth, which is a different work.
Following the most painful period (1907) in his life, Mahler touches on issues of living, parting and salvation with
this work. It lasts approximately 65 minutes in performance.
Mahler conceived the work in 1908. This followed closely on the publication of Hans Bethge's volume of ancient
Chinese poetry rendered into German, Die Chinesische Fl�te ("The Chinese Flute"), based on several intermediate
works (see Text). Mahler was very taken by the vision of earthly beauty and transience expressed in these
verses and chose seven (two of them used in the finale) to set to music. Mahler himself wrote: "I think it is
probably the most personal composition I have created thus far."[2] Bruno Walter called it "the most personal
utterance among Mahler's creations, and perhaps in all music."
According to the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, in Chinese poetry Mahler found what he had formerly sought
in the genre of German folk song: a mask or costume for the sense of rootlessness or "otherness" attending his
identity as a Jew. This theme, and its influence upon Mahler's tonality, has been further explored by John Sheinbaum.
It is also claimed that Mahler found in these poems an echo of his own increasing awareness of mortality.
Mahler's experiences during the preceding summer (1907) are likened to the three hammer blows of his Sixth Symphony
(written in 1903�1904). He was pushed to resign his post as Director of the Vienna Court Opera, through political
intrigue partly involving anti-semitism. His eldest daughter Maria died from scarlet fever and diphtheria. In addition,
Mahler himself was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. "With one stroke," he wrote to his friend Bruno Walter,
"I have lost everything I have gained in terms of who I thought I was, and have to learn my first steps again like a
newborn".
Mahler had already included movements for voice and orchestra in his Second, Third, Fourth and Eighth Symphonies.
However, Das Lied von der Erde is the first work giving a complete integration of song cycle and symphony. The form
was afterwards imitated by other composers, notably by Shostakovich and Zemlinsky. This new form has been termed a
"song-symphony", a hybrid of the two forms that had occupied most of Mahler's creative life.
Mahler was aware of the so-called "curse of the Ninth", the fact that no major composer since Beethoven had successfully
completed more than nine symphonies before dying. He had already written eight symphonies before composing
Das Lied von Der Erde, which he subtitled A Symphony for Tenor, Contralto and Large Orchestra, but left unnumbered
as a symphony. His next (instrumental) symphony was numbered his Ninth. That was indeed the last he fully completed,
for only the first movement of the Tenth had been orchestrated at the time of his death.
The original public performance was given on 20 November 1911 in the Tonhalle in Munich, with Bruno Walter conducting
and sung by Sara Cahier and William Miller. One of the earliest in London (possibly the first) was in January 1913 at the
Queen's Hall, under Henry Wood, where it was sung by Gervase Elwes and Doris Woodall: Wood thought it 'excessively
modern but very beautiful'.
Four of the Chinese poems used by Mahler ("Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde", "Von der Jugend", "Von der Sch�nheit"
and "Der Trunkene im Fr�hling") are by Li Bai, the famous Tang dynasty wandering poet. The German text used by Mahler
was derived from Hans Bethge's translations in his book Die chinesische Fl�te (1907). These 'translations' were in fact
loose imitations of translations in Hans Heilman's 1907 book Chinesische Lyrik, and draw also upon Heilman's two sources
in French translation from the Chinese. These French sources were Po�sies de l'�poque des Thang by Marie-Jean-L�on,
Marquis d'Hervey de Saint Denys, and the Livre de Jade by Judith Gautier[14] (an intimate friend of Richard Wagner).
"Der Einsame im Herbst" is by Qian Qi and "Der Abschied" combines poems by Mong Hao-Ran and Wang Wei, plus several
additional lines by Mahler himself."
Wikipedia
Music Composed by Gustav Mahler
Played by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
With Ning Liang (mezzo-soprano) & Warren Mok (tenor)
Conducted by Lan Shui
"The concept here is to take Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, his hour-long symphonic song cycle setting
Hans Bethge's translations of Chinese poetry, and translate the texts back into the original Chinese.
The spin is that the resulting work is performed here by all Chinese forces. How well either the concept
or the performance succeeds depends on the listener. Those familiar with the work but not familiar with
Chinese may find it at first disconcerting to hear the big consonants and long vowels of the German
original replaced by the hard consonants and sharp vowels of the Chinese in Daniel Ng's translation. How
long that sensation lasts and whether it is interesting, appealing, or even endurable is up to the listener.
Both mezzo-soprano Ning Liang and tenor Warren Mok sing beautifully and the Singapore Symphony
Orchestra under Lan Shui play with evident professionalism and manifest dedication. Some listeners may
find the orchestra's tone more forced and the colors more glaring than a European orchestra, but there
is no denying that the performers are determined to do their best by the piece."
All Music
Music Composed by Gustav Mahler
Arranged for chamber ensemble by Arnold Schoenberg & Rainer Riehn
Played by The Premiere Ensemble
With Jean Rigby (mezzo-soprano) & Robert Tear (tenor)
Conducted by Mark Wigglesworth
"Those familiar with the music of Gustav Mahler know that Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song
of the Earth") was originally intended to be his 9th Symphony, but he thought he could beat the
"9th Symphony curse" by giving this composition a different name. Regardless of whether Mahler
called it a symphony or not, Das Lied von der Erde is certainly symphonic in scope, scored for
a large orchestra and vocal soloists.
This recording, however, is of an arrangement made for a chamber ensemble--no, not even a
chamber orchestra--two violins, viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, timpani,
percussion (three percussionists--how many orchestras have more percussionists than violinists!?),
harp, piano and celesta (same player for both, making up for the three percussionists), and
harmonium. Seventeen players if my math is correct. The vocal soloists are Jean Rigby,
mezzo-soprano, and Robert Tear, tenor. Mark Wigglesworth, a young conductor from the UK,
leads this merry band in an utterly fascinating arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg.
I must confess that I was quite taken aback through the first few minutes, but then found myself
quite intrigued by the spare texture of this arrangement. The sound quality is exemplary, as we
have come to expect from the producer/engineer team of Andrew Keener and Mike Hatch. This is not
a recording I would recommend to the novice listener, but to those who enjoy Mahler, and who have
a favorite full orchestral version of Das Lied in their collections, I recommend this version as an
interesting alternative viewpoint and an enjoyable musical experience in its own right."
Amazon Reviewer
Sources: Pentatone Classics, BIS & RCA-BMG CDs (my rips!)
Format: FLAC (RAR), DDD Stereo
File Sizes: 252, 306 & 259 MB
Link 1 (original version, Marc Albrecht) - http://depositfiles.com/files/z07v713nh
Link 2 (Chinese version, Lan Shui) - http://depositfiles.com/files/aqv2p7jzh
Link 3 (Schoenberg version, Wigglesworth) - http://depositfiles.com/files/4a17axnpn
Link 4 (the full original score, PDF) - http://depositfiles.com/files/30reowwvk
And here, you can find the lyrics/poems in various languages:
Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, m�lodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music) (http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=235)
Re-upped and Upgraded to FLAC. Links above.
Enjoy! Don't share! Buy the originals! :)
And a word of thanks might get you more stuff! ;)
I freely confess to have little respect for Gustav Mahler's music. There, I said it. Most of it is
inflated, pretentious, grandiloquent and, deep down, empty. It is sentimental, vulgar, and cheap.
If anything, Mahler was the P.T. Barnum of the late romantic symphony. Ralph Vaughan Williams
called him "a tolerable imitation of a composer", and he was probably right. Worst of all, the alleged
former "neglect" of his output (studies into performance history indicate that this is a myth)
has been replaced by a ridiculous over-exposure today - so much so that vital performance time for
other, potentially more interesting works is being hogged by the Mahler brontosauruses.
There is, in my mind at least, one exception: his lovely, beautifully crafted symphonic
song cycle Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth), based on rather loose
translations of Chinese traditional poems. This piece is the only of Gustav Mahler's
that I'd freely admit I love - it is also in the top 10 of my favourite classical works ever.
Go figure! ;)
It'll never work in the concert hall, as the two singers involved have to fight against a large symphony
orchestra without the benefit of microphones. I've been to a number of performances, and, invariably,
the singers were drowned out by the orchestra in the climaxes, of which there are quite a few. This
is music composed for the recording studio, even if Mahler himself would not have known that.
I am offering you three different versions of this late romantic masterpiece: the "original" version,
with the poems sung in German - a recording for which the actual Chinese (or, more accurately,
Cantonese) poems were used - and, finally, the arrangement for chamber ensemble prepared
by none other than Arnold Schoenberg for his Circle for the Private Performance of Contemporary
Music. Also included is an upload of the full original score, which is in the public domain.
Enjoy! Don't share! Buy the originals!
And a word of thanks might get you more stuff! ;)
Music by Gustav Mahler
Played by Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
With Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano) & Burkhard Fritz (tenor)
Conducted by Marc Albrecht
"Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth") is a large-scale work for two vocal soloists and orchestra
by the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler. Laid out in six separate movements, each of them an independent
song; the work is described on the title-page as Eine Symphonie f�r eine Tenor- und eine Alt- (oder Bariton-)
Stimme und Orchester (nach Hans Bethges "Die chinesische Fl�te") � "A Symphony for Tenor and Alto
(or Baritone) Voice and Orchestra (after Hans Bethge's 'The Chinese Flute'"). Bethge's text was published
in the autumn of 1907. Mahler's use of 'Chinese' motifs in the music is unique in his output. Composed in
the years 1908�1909, it followed the Eighth Symphony, but is not numbered as the Ninth, which is a different work.
Following the most painful period (1907) in his life, Mahler touches on issues of living, parting and salvation with
this work. It lasts approximately 65 minutes in performance.
Mahler conceived the work in 1908. This followed closely on the publication of Hans Bethge's volume of ancient
Chinese poetry rendered into German, Die Chinesische Fl�te ("The Chinese Flute"), based on several intermediate
works (see Text). Mahler was very taken by the vision of earthly beauty and transience expressed in these
verses and chose seven (two of them used in the finale) to set to music. Mahler himself wrote: "I think it is
probably the most personal composition I have created thus far."[2] Bruno Walter called it "the most personal
utterance among Mahler's creations, and perhaps in all music."
According to the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, in Chinese poetry Mahler found what he had formerly sought
in the genre of German folk song: a mask or costume for the sense of rootlessness or "otherness" attending his
identity as a Jew. This theme, and its influence upon Mahler's tonality, has been further explored by John Sheinbaum.
It is also claimed that Mahler found in these poems an echo of his own increasing awareness of mortality.
Mahler's experiences during the preceding summer (1907) are likened to the three hammer blows of his Sixth Symphony
(written in 1903�1904). He was pushed to resign his post as Director of the Vienna Court Opera, through political
intrigue partly involving anti-semitism. His eldest daughter Maria died from scarlet fever and diphtheria. In addition,
Mahler himself was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. "With one stroke," he wrote to his friend Bruno Walter,
"I have lost everything I have gained in terms of who I thought I was, and have to learn my first steps again like a
newborn".
Mahler had already included movements for voice and orchestra in his Second, Third, Fourth and Eighth Symphonies.
However, Das Lied von der Erde is the first work giving a complete integration of song cycle and symphony. The form
was afterwards imitated by other composers, notably by Shostakovich and Zemlinsky. This new form has been termed a
"song-symphony", a hybrid of the two forms that had occupied most of Mahler's creative life.
Mahler was aware of the so-called "curse of the Ninth", the fact that no major composer since Beethoven had successfully
completed more than nine symphonies before dying. He had already written eight symphonies before composing
Das Lied von Der Erde, which he subtitled A Symphony for Tenor, Contralto and Large Orchestra, but left unnumbered
as a symphony. His next (instrumental) symphony was numbered his Ninth. That was indeed the last he fully completed,
for only the first movement of the Tenth had been orchestrated at the time of his death.
The original public performance was given on 20 November 1911 in the Tonhalle in Munich, with Bruno Walter conducting
and sung by Sara Cahier and William Miller. One of the earliest in London (possibly the first) was in January 1913 at the
Queen's Hall, under Henry Wood, where it was sung by Gervase Elwes and Doris Woodall: Wood thought it 'excessively
modern but very beautiful'.
Four of the Chinese poems used by Mahler ("Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde", "Von der Jugend", "Von der Sch�nheit"
and "Der Trunkene im Fr�hling") are by Li Bai, the famous Tang dynasty wandering poet. The German text used by Mahler
was derived from Hans Bethge's translations in his book Die chinesische Fl�te (1907). These 'translations' were in fact
loose imitations of translations in Hans Heilman's 1907 book Chinesische Lyrik, and draw also upon Heilman's two sources
in French translation from the Chinese. These French sources were Po�sies de l'�poque des Thang by Marie-Jean-L�on,
Marquis d'Hervey de Saint Denys, and the Livre de Jade by Judith Gautier[14] (an intimate friend of Richard Wagner).
"Der Einsame im Herbst" is by Qian Qi and "Der Abschied" combines poems by Mong Hao-Ran and Wang Wei, plus several
additional lines by Mahler himself."
Wikipedia
Music Composed by Gustav Mahler
Played by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra
With Ning Liang (mezzo-soprano) & Warren Mok (tenor)
Conducted by Lan Shui
"The concept here is to take Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, his hour-long symphonic song cycle setting
Hans Bethge's translations of Chinese poetry, and translate the texts back into the original Chinese.
The spin is that the resulting work is performed here by all Chinese forces. How well either the concept
or the performance succeeds depends on the listener. Those familiar with the work but not familiar with
Chinese may find it at first disconcerting to hear the big consonants and long vowels of the German
original replaced by the hard consonants and sharp vowels of the Chinese in Daniel Ng's translation. How
long that sensation lasts and whether it is interesting, appealing, or even endurable is up to the listener.
Both mezzo-soprano Ning Liang and tenor Warren Mok sing beautifully and the Singapore Symphony
Orchestra under Lan Shui play with evident professionalism and manifest dedication. Some listeners may
find the orchestra's tone more forced and the colors more glaring than a European orchestra, but there
is no denying that the performers are determined to do their best by the piece."
All Music
Music Composed by Gustav Mahler
Arranged for chamber ensemble by Arnold Schoenberg & Rainer Riehn
Played by The Premiere Ensemble
With Jean Rigby (mezzo-soprano) & Robert Tear (tenor)
Conducted by Mark Wigglesworth
"Those familiar with the music of Gustav Mahler know that Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song
of the Earth") was originally intended to be his 9th Symphony, but he thought he could beat the
"9th Symphony curse" by giving this composition a different name. Regardless of whether Mahler
called it a symphony or not, Das Lied von der Erde is certainly symphonic in scope, scored for
a large orchestra and vocal soloists.
This recording, however, is of an arrangement made for a chamber ensemble--no, not even a
chamber orchestra--two violins, viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, timpani,
percussion (three percussionists--how many orchestras have more percussionists than violinists!?),
harp, piano and celesta (same player for both, making up for the three percussionists), and
harmonium. Seventeen players if my math is correct. The vocal soloists are Jean Rigby,
mezzo-soprano, and Robert Tear, tenor. Mark Wigglesworth, a young conductor from the UK,
leads this merry band in an utterly fascinating arrangement by Arnold Schoenberg.
I must confess that I was quite taken aback through the first few minutes, but then found myself
quite intrigued by the spare texture of this arrangement. The sound quality is exemplary, as we
have come to expect from the producer/engineer team of Andrew Keener and Mike Hatch. This is not
a recording I would recommend to the novice listener, but to those who enjoy Mahler, and who have
a favorite full orchestral version of Das Lied in their collections, I recommend this version as an
interesting alternative viewpoint and an enjoyable musical experience in its own right."
Amazon Reviewer
Sources: Pentatone Classics, BIS & RCA-BMG CDs (my rips!)
Format: FLAC (RAR), DDD Stereo
File Sizes: 252, 306 & 259 MB
Link 1 (original version, Marc Albrecht) - http://depositfiles.com/files/z07v713nh
Link 2 (Chinese version, Lan Shui) - http://depositfiles.com/files/aqv2p7jzh
Link 3 (Schoenberg version, Wigglesworth) - http://depositfiles.com/files/4a17axnpn
Link 4 (the full original score, PDF) - http://depositfiles.com/files/30reowwvk
And here, you can find the lyrics/poems in various languages:
Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive: Texts and Translations to Lieder, m�lodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music) (http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/assemble_texts.html?SongCycleId=235)
Re-upped and Upgraded to FLAC. Links above.
Enjoy! Don't share! Buy the originals! :)
And a word of thanks might get you more stuff! ;)