Mahler: Lob des hohen Verstandes (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)

“this is a unique sequence, showing that most of the earliest settings which sit alongside the more familiar numbers, usually linked by theme, are just as finely-wrought and no less typical of Mahler's most haunting preoccupations.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 ****

“His word-painting is superb, replacing sheer vocal firepower wityh more Lieder-friendly qualities of agility , precision and nuance. Poetic narrative is everywhere apparent...Holzmair seems to make the case for Mahler inheriting the Lieder mantle from Schumann...for nearly 80 minutes you can listen to Mahler's melodies and barely recall that they exist in an orchestral version” Gramophone Magazine, December 2012

“As so often, the veteran 'modernist' proves himself a highly perceptive Mahlerian...[Muller-Brachmann's] penetrating, never heavy bass-baritone is pleasing and he is blessed with fine diction too, projecting the humour of 'Lob des hohen Verstandes' to excellent effect...admirers of Gielen's Mahler should not hesitate to acquire what is his belated first recording of these songs.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2012

“Sarah Connolly, with her glowing, supple mezzo and unaffected directness, is well-nigh ideal” Daily Telegraph

“there is the superlative singing of Dietrich Henschel, who seems to go from strength to strength in Lieder.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006

“Stephan Genz's light, warm and cultured baritone is especially fine in reflecting the ghost voices and moonlight serenades of Mahler's folk-inspired anthology. Yet more attack is surely needed for the prisoner in the tower and the what should be the increasingly desperate pleas of the starving child is 'Das irdische Leben'.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 ***

“Both "Dras irdische Leben" and "Der Tambourg'sell" - two starkly different songs - have a gentle lyricism that's deeply affecting. Genz is partnered by Roger Vignoles, whose playing is so sharply characterised and finely weighted that I hardly missed the better-known orchestral version.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2008

“The two singers have here superb voices, and Philip Herreweghe's accompaniments leave almost nothing to be desired…” BBC Music Magazine, September 2006 ****

“Sarah Connolly, with her glowing, supple mezzo and unaffected directness, is well-nigh ideal” Daily Telegraph

“…Herreweghe's keenly judged tempi and delicate, chamber-like way with the orchestral part… allows us, in a well ventilated recording, to hear every detail of the magical score finely played by the conductor's own orchestra. …Dietrich Henschel… brings to the dramatic songs a lively feeling for the texts and a vocal brio that places him among the most convincing male advocates in this work. ...Henschel's partner is the admirably alert and warm-toned Sarah Connolly.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006

“EMI's classic recording made in 1968 more or less puts all rivals out of court.
Even those who find Schwarzkopf's singing mannered will be hard pressed to find more persuasive versions of the female songs than she gives, while Fischer-Dieskau and Szell are in a class of their own most of the time. Bernstein's CBS version, also from the late 1960s but with less spectacularly improved sound than EMI now provide, is also very fine, but for repeated listening Szell, conducting here with the kind of insight he showed on his famous Cleveland version of the Fourth Symphony, is the more controlled and keen-eared interpreter. Also, few command the musical stage as Fischer-Dieskau does in a song like 'Revelge' where every drop of irony and revulsion from the spectre of war is fiercely, grimly caught. Strongly recommended.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The superb singing of Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau is underpinned by wonderfully sensitive playing from the LSO under Szell” Penguin Guide, 2010 ****