The Gustav Mahler Celebration

Thomas Hampson, Sophie von Otter, Marita Solberg, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Manfred Honeck

Mahler: Totenfeier / Rheinlegendchen (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) / Ging heut' morgen übers Feld (No. 2 from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen) / Urlicht (orig. in Des Knaben Wunderhorn) / Ich atmet' einen linden Duft (Rückert-Lieder) / Es sungen drei Engel (orig. in Des Knaben Wunderhorn) / Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (Rückert-Lieder) / Trost im Unglück (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) / Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) / Revelge (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)

Wholenote Discoveries - December 2010 / January 2011
There’s not a lot to see in Kaliště, the tiny enclave of some 330 souls in the present-day Czech Republic, but on July 1 this past summer the town was inundated to celebrate the 150th birthday of their most famous son, Gustav Mahler. Set in a temporary outdoor structure, the greatly augmented Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra (originally founded by Claudio Abbado) appeared under the direction of Manfred Honeck for a festival performance of excerpts from Mahler’s towering Second Symphony and a handful of his more intimate songs with orchestra featuring baritone Thomas Hampson and soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. Despite the compromised acoustics of the band shell the sound of the performance is actually quite good; while von Otter is content with the conventional park-and-bark position to deliver her considerable vocal gifts, hammy Hampson relishes the opportunity afforded by his wireless headset microphone to roam the stage both back and front in a riveting performance of the great anti-war song Revelge. Though little of the town that Mahler knew remains, the camera glimpses a ghostly military band in the distance and briefly roams through the local Jewish cemetery. The Czech Boy’s Choir and Prague Philharmonic Choir chime in remotely from the local church in Es sungen drei Engel and appear on the bandstand to great effect for the concluding paean of the Symphony. Daniel Foley
Exactly one hundred and fi fty years after the birth of the brilliant composer and conductor Gustav Mahler, a select band of artists gathered in his birthplace, Kalište, to honour his creative talent in a very special way. Under the direction of the Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck and accompanied by the internationally acclaimed Mahler Chamber Orchestra, three world-famous soloists came to pay tribute to Mahler at a gala concert: Thomas Hampson, Anne Sofie von Otter and Marita Sølberg. The result was an unforgettable summer evening of classical music made up of outstanding excerpts from Mahler’s Second Symphony and his best-known orchestral songs, performed on an impressive open-air stage against the backdrop of an idyllic natural setting – it was, in short, a worthy tribute to the great Gustav Mahler.

Price: $29.98