These are two discs of exceptionally good Mahler singing by two young artists. Andreas Schmidt studied with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the best attributes of his master in his own youth are discernible in these performances. I was reminded of Fischer-Dieskau's early EMI recording of the Gesellen songs with Furtwangler made 40 years ago. Schmidt has a particularly strong and rich lower register, almost as if he were a bass-baritone—listen to the thrilling resonance at ''meinen Schatz'' in the first song. His control is remarkable too, exemplified by gorgeous soft tone in the second song, on the words ''mir nummer bluhen kann!''.
Again, in the third song, the growing desperation and passion in his enunciation of ''O Weh'' at each repetition are superbly projected. The orchestral postlude to this song is typical of the beautifully balanced and natural sound of the recording and of the extremely fine playing of the Cincinnati orchestra under Lopez-Cobos. His tempos tend to be slow, but without dragging, and he invests many a phrase with an affecting intensity. The orchestra has a splendid oboist and the horn-playing in Kindertotenlieder is marvellous. The strings, too, are warm and refulgent—for example, in the first song, at the words ''ew'ge Licht''.
Schmidt sings these songs magnificently too: serene resignation in the first; poignancy in the second at the line ''Ihr wolltet mir mit eurem Leuchten sagen''; such hope at ''Der Tag ist schon'' in the fourth song, and in the fifth, almost a detached narrative style in the first four stanzas until the reversion to acceptance of the full tragedy of the final verses. Lopez-Cobos points up the influence of Bach in the third song, with its opening for cor anglais and bassoon that is so like a church cantata.
The four songs Ruckert songs complete this outstanding disc, each stylistically differentiated, with a memorable melisma on ''gestorben'' in ''Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen'' and a thrilling climax, by singer and brass, to ''Um Mitternacht''.
Catherine Robbin, in a well-recorded CBC disc, sings the same cycles with the addition of the fifth Ruckert song, ''Liebst du um Schonheit'', written for Alma Mahler and orchestrated by Max Puttmann. The highest compliment I can pay to Robbin is that she could often be mistaken for Janet Baker. There is a similar timbre, a similar attention to textual detail and meaning, a similar emotional commitment—and possibly a steadier upper register.
This is a Canadian recording. The Kitchener-Waterloo Orchestra is based in Ontario and Raffi Armenian, an Egyptian who trained in Vienna, has been its Music Director since 1971. It is obvious from the standard of playing, which is high, that conductor and orchestra understand each other well. Although these songs are more suitable for a male voice, Catherine Robbin's performances are of striking beauty and some listeners may prefer Armenian's faster tempos for certain songs. Excellent discs, both.'