A loose miscellany rather than a defined cycle, Des Knaben Wunderhorn has ‘grow’d like Topsy’ in recent years. Michael Gielen includes not merely the songs later incorporated into the Second and Fourth Symphonies but also the purely instrumental ‘Blumine’ movement Mahler excised from the First after its initial performances. Riccardo Chailly’s version (Decca, 5/03) deploys as many as four soloists, whereas Thomas Hampson’s latest account (DG, 2/11) finds the singer alone, fronting a conductorless ensemble formed by the principal players of the Vienna Philharmonic. There is no consensus about which songs should be allocated to a female voice or which work best as duets. Best not be sniffy about Gielen’s choices and interpolations.

As so often, the veteran ‘modernist’ proves himself a highly perceptive Mahlerian. The more militaristic numbers may lack the heft of Leonard Bernstein’s Concertgebouw (DG, 6/89^R) but quieter moments are exquisitely handled, transparent and vulnerable in precisely the right manner. Gielen has spoken of how the conflict between individual and society in the 20th century can be felt in Mahler’s writing. Even when the music is peaceful, it should seem as if the ground is constantly being swept away from under his feet. Only those looking for the biggest vocal personalities – and they don’t come bigger or more contentiously mannered than Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau for George Szell (EMI, 1/69^R) – are likely to feel short-changed. Incidentally, that classic recording generally moves more swiftly than Gielen’s or Bernstein’s. While Lucia Popp’s superlative solo rendering of ‘Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen’ for the latter is undeniably slow, Gielen launches his own sequence with an unusually spacious ‘Der Schildwache Nachtlied’.

Gielen’s singers are younger than much of the competition. Hanno Müller-Brachmann must now be counted a rising star. His 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. Like most exponents he is taxed by the likes of ‘Revelge’, where his elegant dryish timbre frays a little even though the expression here is relatively contained. Christiane Iven, a regular at the Stuttgart Staatsoper, is billed as a soprano but retains a mezzo-ish timbre. With texts and translations provided, admirers of Gielen’s Mahler should not hesitate to acquire what is his belated first recording of these songs. Pieced together from sessions held over two years, in different venues, the results are sonically consistent, recessed and natural with vocal lines just occasionally submerged as they might be in concert.