Lieder with Orchestra

View record and artist details

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Richard Wagner, Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Gustav Mahler

Label: Erato

Magazine Review Date: 4/1990

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 56

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 2292-45417-2

Tracks:

Composition	Artist Credit
Kindertotenlieder	Gustav Mahler, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Gustav Mahler, Composer Orchestre de Paris Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano
Wesendonck Lieder	Richard Wagner, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Orchestre de Paris Richard Wagner, Composer Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano
Mörike Lieder, Movement: In der Frühe	Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Orchestre de Paris Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano
Mörike Lieder, Movement: Wo find' ich Trost?	Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Orchestre de Paris Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano
Mörike Lieder, Movement: Denk' es, o Seele!	Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Orchestre de Paris Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano

Composer or Director: Richard Wagner, Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Gustav Mahler

Label: Erato

Magazine Review Date: 4/1990

Media Format: Cassette

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 2292-45417-4

Tracks:

Composition	Artist Credit
Kindertotenlieder	Gustav Mahler, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Gustav Mahler, Composer Orchestre de Paris Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano
Wesendonck Lieder	Richard Wagner, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Orchestre de Paris Richard Wagner, Composer Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano
Mörike Lieder, Movement: In der Frühe	Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Orchestre de Paris Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano
Mörike Lieder, Movement: Wo find' ich Trost?	Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Orchestre de Paris Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano
Mörike Lieder, Movement: Denk' es, o Seele!	Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Daniel Barenboim, Conductor Hugo (Filipp Jakob) Wolf, Composer Orchestre de Paris Waltraud Meier, Mezzo soprano

Author: Alan Blyth

The most gratifying part of this CD comes at the very end, Meier and Barenboim give an almost unbearably intense reading of that lacerating song Wo find' ich Trost?, in which the mezzo's insistent, tense singing recalls her quite memorable performances as Kundry. Besides, this and the preceding two items are one of those rarities these days a recording 'first'. Wolf orchestrated 13 of his Morike settings in 1890–91 and revelatory they are, at least to judge from the three included here. They quite alter the feeling of the songs, opening them up to a grander form of expression, and they show Wolf, as in the orchestration of some of the Goethe settings, such a master in this field that one again wishes he had exercised himself further in opera. Meier emphasizes the operatic element in them by her big-scale singing. Indeed, I sense that In der Fruhe might benefit from a more shaded, reflective performance.
Of course the Wagnerian connection is the more apparent when these orchestrations by Wolf are placed alongside the old master's own Wesendonk settings. Here Meier challenges the best of recorded performances, although two of them, by other mezzos Ludwig and Baker, sadly aren't available at present. Here again, Meier and Barenboim bring out the dramatic force of these pieces sometimes at the expense of their more inward side. Thus they score in ''Stehe still!'' and ''Schmerzen'', but are rather less convincing in ''Im Treibhaus'' and ''Traume''. Meier is mistress of the long breath and of firm attack, but throughout this recital her tone never has a true centre and tends to take on an unpleasing edge when pressure is put upon it. That becomes even more apparent if you start making comparisons with Flagstad (Decca). The older singer may not be quite as impassioned as Meier but the inner glow and velvet plush of her singing remain unsurpassed in this cycle.
Flagstad wasn't quite as happy in Mahler, but here Meier has to withstand the challenge of a bevy of glorious interpretations from other artists I made my comparisons with what are generally considered the most desirable of all. Time and again, I found her somewhat uncertain and too careful in her singing when set against Ludwig and Fischer-Dieskau (in each case the first of their two recordings is the better—both EMI). Besides, the more experienced singers in this field, it has to be admitted, have the warmer, steadier voices. If you take that key, ineffably beautiful phrase in the second song of the cycle—''Ihr wolltet mir mit eurem Leuchten sagen'', expressive as Meier may be, Ludwig and Fischer-Dieskau find just that extra eloquence that means so much. So it is throughout, and the Ludwig, elderly as it may be, has a more atmospheric sound than the new disc. Here Barenboim and his orchestra are less convincing than in the Wagner, almost tentative in approach. In spite of what I have written, the reading has many merits and if you want this coupling with the added adventure of the Wolf you might like to try the new disc.'