Avie AV 2195

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde – Jane Irwin (mezzo-soprano), Peter Wedd (tenor), Manchester Camerata, Douglas Boyd

The 2010 Mahler in Manchester festival was ‘A sensory experience like no other’, according to The Sunday Times, not least for the Manchester Camerata’s revelatory performance of Das Lied von der Erde in the scaled-down chamber version by Schoenberg. The poignancy of Mahler’s ‘Song of the Earth’ is highlighted by the reduced forces: just sixteen performers, including the distinctive chimes of harmonium, celesta, and piano. The chamber arrangement came about through Schoenberg’s Vienna-based Association for Private Musical Performances, founded in 1918. Dedicated to exploring new music but short of funds, members made a number of chamber versions of larger works, of which Das Lied was one. Captured on disc, Manchester Camerata’s performance of this transcription, conducted by Douglas Boyd, loses nothing of the astonishing sonic allure of the original – an ideal memento of an enlightening festival celebrating the music of Mahler.