Mahler : Das klagende Lied

Album review

This is the three-part version of Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied that the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra brought us. It’s worth pointing out that the composer rearranged his piece many times. The original writing dates from 1880, when he was a proud twenty-year old; after a several refusals, he rewrote the partition in 1883 (considerably reducing the initial orchestral headcount which, admittedly, required titanic forces, and deleting the first act) then again in 1899, proof that he was holding it in some regard. It was only in 1901, when he was finally famous, that he managed to give this work in concert—but in the two-part version—, without much success, as it would seem. And yet, all of Mahler is already in this musical discourse and we shouldn’t be surprised to find many turns from this work in the symphonies and orchestral Lieder. The present recording offers a “hybrid” version, which is actually the most performed, that is to say: the first part Waldmärchen (Forest Legend) in the 1880 writing, then the two following parts Der Spielmann (The Minstrel) and Hochzeitsstück (Wedding Piece), in the 1899 rewriting. © Qobuz