Mahler, A: Die stille Stadt

Alma Mahler was greatly admired by many gentlemen of intellectual circles during the late nineteenth-century. This disc portrays songs set by Alma Mahler, Alexander Zemlinsky and Gustav Mahler.

Ruth Ziesak easily portrays the joy and sorrow in each of these lieder, skillfully accompanied by Gerold Huber.

At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century the interest of the composers for a cappella choir music seemed to be weakening; Mahler and Debussy wrote for choir, then promptly included them into orchestral works. The a capella music of the 1920s was influenced by the polyphonic tradition of the 16th century.

In the 1960s Ligeti opened up new perspectives with his piece for choir Lux aeterna.

Gottwald’s transcriptions refer to Ligeti’s work giving us ultimately better understanding of the contemporary choir music.

ATMA presents the first solo recording of Canadian mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne, who is featured in a rarely recorded chamber version of Mahler’s two famous song cycles, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Kindertotenlieder. She also performs a selection of lieder by Alma Mahler.

Recently making her debut at The Met, Atma has signed a 3-CD contract with her.