Presto Recording of the Week
23rd October 2020

Christiane Karg (soprano), Malcolm Martineau (piano), Gustav Mahler (piano roll)

Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1899 version): Rheinlegendchen & Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?
Mahler: Hans und Grete (Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit)
Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn (1899 version): Ablösung im Sommer [Symphony No.3], Scheiden und Meiden, Verlorne Müh', Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt, Das irdische Leben & Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen
Mahler: Rückert-Lieder: Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!, Ich atmet' einen linden Duft!, Um Mitternacht, Liebst du um Schönheit & Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Mahler: Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit: Erinnerung, Phantasie, Nicht wiedersehen & Ich ging mit Lust (acc. G. Mahler on Welte-Mignon Piano Rolls)
Mahler: Das himmlische Leben (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)

For her first solo recital on harmonia mundi, Christiane Karg, alongside her faithful partner Malcolm Martineau, presents an incursion into the most intimate aspect of Mahler’s music: the songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn take us to the heart of the composer’s creative process, as do the songs from his youth and the later Rückert-Lieder.

Two of these pieces (including the famous Das himmlische Leben from Symphony no.4) are accompanied by… Mahler himself, thanks to the achievement of the incredible Welte-Mignon piano rolls which, at the very start of the Twentieth Century, captured his playing far better than any other recording device of the period could.

"In Mahler’s hands, phrases which are usually reassuringly regular and lilting veer off in unexpected directions or are brought up short by a sudden ‘emergency stop’...the eccentric spirit of this final track haunts the entire recital: from the beguiling opening account of ‘Rheinlegendchen’ onwards, I was struck by Martineau’s very liberal use of rubato and pointed off-beat accents as well as some break-neck accelerandos, all of which apparently take their cue from the composer’s own interpretation of the last song." - Katherine Cooper, Presto Classical, 23rd October 2020