Mahler, not Beethoven, this time.
I think this is the most beautiful song I know. I saw it performed yesterday here in Vienna with a baritone voice. Does anyone know whether Mahler actually meant it for a man's voice or for a woman's?
I have seen it done before by Thomas Hampson and I have heard it sung by women more than once. To me the woman's voice is more apt to evoke the pain and sadness that oozes out of the words and the music. I enjoyed yesterday, don't get me wrong. But Janet Baker and Barbirolli doing this is so much more subtle. There's a Kozena/Abbado version on Youtube, too, which is very, very beautiful.
There are two moments of absolute bliss (even more than the rest) in this song: at '... und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet', when some sort or reconciliation is taking place with the pain and sadness and at the end, when the song peters out into some sort of unreachable infinity. One just wants the silence and peace to continue for ever.
Mahler was a genius in the expression of these kinds of feelings. He does it time and again in his symphonies, in different shapes.
I think this is the most beautiful song I know. I saw it performed yesterday here in Vienna with a baritone voice. Does anyone know whether Mahler actually meant it for a man's voice or for a woman's?
I have seen it done before by Thomas Hampson and I have heard it sung by women more than once. To me the woman's voice is more apt to evoke the pain and sadness that oozes out of the words and the music. I enjoyed yesterday, don't get me wrong. But Janet Baker and Barbirolli doing this is so much more subtle. There's a Kozena/Abbado version on Youtube, too, which is very, very beautiful.
There are two moments of absolute bliss (even more than the rest) in this song: at '... und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet', when some sort or reconciliation is taking place with the pain and sadness and at the end, when the song peters out into some sort of unreachable infinity. One just wants the silence and peace to continue for ever.
Mahler was a genius in the expression of these kinds of feelings. He does it time and again in his symphonies, in different shapes.
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