Gustav Mahler - Kindertotenlieder; Rückert-Lieder; Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen ('Songs of a Wayfarer')  ( Gustav Mahler) *

Four Lieder (Ruckert Lieder) (Friedrich Ruckert)

Kindertotenlieder (Friedrich Ruckert)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Baritone)

Symphonierorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks*

Rafael Kubelik*

Berliner Philharmoniker

Karl Bohm

In the Kindertotenlieder, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau becomes more of a singing reciter, who seems almost aware that he can only inadequately convey the content of the songs as a mediator (just as a father could hardly do when faced with the incomprehensible), and Karl Böhm felt too old for Mahler. Just on the brink, at the limit of their own abilities, these two authorities tackle Mahler expertly. At least I have never heard a more appropriate or objectively better orchestral accompaniment, one that dispenses with all idiosyncrasies, than with Karl Böhm in the Kindertotenlieder and (4 of 5) Rückert-Lieder. That is why I had been on the lookout for other Mahler recordings with Böhm, until I realized that there were none. The Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, accompanied by Mahler expert Rafael Kubelik and the BR Symphony Orchestra, are legendary and leave nothing to be desired. Like most of his male colleagues, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau refrained from performing the Rückert song "Liebst du um Schönheit".

At one point in "In dieser Wetter" (Kindertotenlieder), the interpretation seems strangely indecisive to me: "They were carried out, I was not allowed to say anything about it". Here the singer takes little position (apparently has little "to say about it"?). Nevertheless, the recordings are a must for Mahler fans.

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