Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde by Fritz Reiner (2026 Remastered, Chicago 1959)

In 1908, Gustav Mahler was at his lowest point: Maria, his eldest daughter, had just died, his health was deteriorating, and political rivalries and antisemitism had forced him to resign from his position as director of the Vienna Opera… He began composing Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) some time after learning that he was suffering from an incurable heart disease.

In this profound distress, illumination came to him from Asia, through poems of the Tang dynasty (618–907) adapted into German by Hans Bethge under the title The Chinese Flute. By turns rapturous and contemplative, they offered Mahler new ways of expressing melancholy, new images of wandering, such as that of the poet Li Bai, a celestial vagabond who is said to have died while trying to grasp the reflection of the moon in the water…

Das Lied von der Erde, an ode to life, to nature, to youth, to beauty, is also one of the most poignant hymns to humanity. This universal song of love by a Gustav Mahler at the height of his art…

Fritz Reiner stands at the summit of the discography alongside Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer. The landscapes traversed by the maestro are desolate, harsh, and severe. This granite-like, abrupt reading, its absence of sentimentality, is paradoxically associated with a pathos of great sensitivity. 

Maureen Forrester delivers a performance imbued with classicism and remains, alongside Kathleen Ferrier, the absolute model. Richard Lewis, perhaps too close to his microphone, occasionally saturates, but does not lack character and vitality.

The remastering brings a fine sense of space between the sections, allowing the slightest details of this testamentary score to emerge. A complete success.