Christian Gerhaher - Mahler: Orchestral Songs (2015) [Official Digital Download]

The incomparable lied baritone, Christian Gerhaher, revisits Gustav Mahler in his latest release Mahler: Orchestral Songs. Accompanied by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra , under the elegant baton of Kent Nagano, Gerhaher has recorded three Mahler song cycles in their authentic orchestral versions for the first time. On Mahler: Orchestral Songs, Gerhaher manages to blend with the compelling sound of the orchestra, but at the same time makes his baritone hover above the instruments, so that every word and nuance comes across without ever sounding forced. Simple in style and full of empathy, this is the art of song at its finest.

Besides his principal activity giving concerts and recitals, Christian Gerhaher is also a highly sought-after performer on the opera stage. Under Riccardo Muti he sang Papageno in a production of The Magic Flute at the Salzburg Festival. Gerhaher gave guest performances in the title role in Henze’s Prinz von Homburg at the Theater an der Wien, as Wolfram at the Teatro Real in Madrid, at the Vienna State Opera and Munich State Opera, and in 2010 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, where in 2011 he received the famous Laurence Olivier Award for his interpretation. Future engagements are scheduled in roles such as Pelléas, again in Frankfurt – where he has already sung Orfeo, Wolfram and Eisenstein – Posa in Don Carlo in Toulouse and again performances as Wolfram in Berlin, Vienna and London.

Having received countless awards for his singing of lieder, in 2010 Christian Gerhaher was voted “Singer of the Year” by the journal Opernwelt for his portrayals of the Prinz von Homburg and of Wolfram in Vienna and Munich. Christian Gerhaher has performed together with conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Simon Rattle, Herbert Blomstedt, Heinz Holliger, Kent Nagano, Ingo Metzmacher, Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink and Christian Thielemann in the world’s major concert halls.

“the intensity comes from his attention to the text and the ebb and flow of consonance and dissonance…The obsessive love, raw misery and the yearning for oblivion are all vividly realised, "Ich bin der Welt…" simply devastating.” (The Independent, UK)

“Admirers of Gerhaher's lieder singing won't need any encouragement to listen to this disc. They'll marvel once again at the astonishing range of colour and inflection he applies to every phrase…[there are] are myriad instances when the essence of a song seems perfectly captured” (The Guardian)

“As ever, Gerhaher combines vocal beauty and acute sensitivity to verbal and musical nuance with a certain patrician restraint…The Montreal orchestra (superlative wind solos) match the baritone in their sentient, compassionate playing, while Nagano keeps textures lucid…one of the finest baritone versions of these cycles since Fischer-Dieskau.” (Gramophone)

“As a singer of German art songs, the Munich-based Christian Gerhaher has no rivals today…The Montreal players rise to the occasion under Kent Nagano, but it is Mr. Gerhaher’s uncanny ability to inhabit each word and each phrase fully that makes this a riveting — and unsettling — experience.” (New York Times)

TRACKLIST

Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911)

Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
1 Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht 03:42
2 Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld 03:46
3 Ich hab' ein glühend Messer 03:04
4 Die zwei blauen Augen 04:59

Kindertotenlieder
5 Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n! 05:00
6 Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen 04:15
7 Wenn dein Mütterlein 04:08
8 Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen! 02:41
9 In diesem Wetter! 05:48

Rückert-Lieder
10 Blick mir nicht in die Lieder 01:22
11 Ich atmet einen linden Duft 02:17
12 Um Mitternacht 05:42
13 Liebst du um Schönheit 02:10
14 Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen 05:39

PERSONNEL
Christian Gerhaher, baritone
Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal
Kent Nagano, conductor