Brigitte Fassbaender, Francisco Araiza, Carlo Maria Giulini - Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (2013)

Giulinis Mahler recordings are few but notable. The earliest is of the First Symphony, made in 1971 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra a performance that seems to radiate from within, full of delicate colours and telling details as well as a strong sense of architecture. Giulini conducted the Ninth Symphony for the first time at Florence in November 1971 before performing it on a number of occasions in Chicago, where he made his famous Deutsche Grammophon recording of the work in 1976. Only one other symphonic movement by Mahler figured in Giulinis repertoire: the Adagio from the Tenth Symphony, though he left no commercial recording. He also conducted two song cycles: the Kindertotenlieder (which he performed with Janet Baker at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1975) and the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen.
Apart from the First Symphony, the work by Mahler that Giulini conducted more than any other was Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) subtitled a Symphony for contralto, tenor and large orchestra based on Hans Bethges poems in translation from the Chinese Die chinesische Flote. Composed in 1908 9, it was first performed in Munich on 20 November 1911 (six month after Mahlers death), conducted by Bruno Walter not only Mahlers protege but also Giulinis early idol. Giulini himself performed Das Lied on 26 occasions between 1976 and 1992. Two of his live performances have been issued as well as the present studio recording: the first of these is from a concert in Berlin with Brigitte Fassbaender, Francisco Araiza and the Berlin Philharmonic given on 14 February 1984 the day before sessions started for this Deutsche Grammophon recording with the same musicians. Three years later, on 2 August 1987 at the Salzburg Festival, Giulini, Fassbaender and Araiza gave the work with the Vienna Philharmonic. That performance has also been published, and it feels rather more theatrical than the Berlin concert and recording.
Giulinis approach to Das Lied von der Erde exemplifies so many aspects of his remarkable musicianship. His famously patient and fastidious preparation is apparent from the quality and individuality of the orchestral playing by the Berlin Philharmonic. So, too, is Giulinis ear for telling detail, evident in the refinement of the instrumental balance to produce a wonderfully effective combination of transparency with expressive warmth. What matters even more is Giulinis broader conception of the work on this recording a vision of sweeping eloquence and searing humanity. Giulini never shies away from the pain that is so often present in the score: he builds tension superbly, above all in Der Abschied (The Farewell), but the sense of release is all the more telling when the music at last finds tranquillity and transfiguration in its closing pages, with the coming of spring and the soloists repetitions of ewig (eternally). It was Bruno Walter who described Das Lied as the most personal utterance among Mahlers creations, and Giulini realizes this magnificently.
The conductor is greatly helped by his soloists. The Mexican tenor Francisco Araiza first became famous in lighter Mozart and Rossini tenor roles, but in the early 1980s he started to take on heavier assignments this recording of Das Lied von der Erde was made a few months after Araiza first sang Walther von Stoltzing in Die Meistersinger at the Metropolitan Opera. His refined, lyrical approach to the taxing tenor part seems to reflect Giulinis own conception of the work. Brigitte Fassbaenders performance of the contralto songs is acutely characterized throughout, but she reaches an extraordinary level of intensity and concentration in her profound, soul-searching account of Der Abschied. -- Nigel Simeone