{"product_id":"walter-das-lied-von-der-erde-1952-pasc109","title":"WALTER Das Lied von der Erde (1952) - PASC109","description":"overviewfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp class=\"bodysmallarial\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eMAHLER \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eDas Lied von der Erde\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eRecorded in 1952\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eTotal duration: 59:57\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eKathleen Ferrier, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003econtralto \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e Julius Patzak, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003etenor \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003econducted by\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e Bruno Walter\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_titlefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fFanfare Review578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_quotefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fThe restoration is nothing short of magnificent578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_bodyfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eThis, of course, is the most famous studio\nrecording ever made of Mahler’s great symphonic song cycle. It’s\ncurrently available on a reissue by the nominal original label, Decca\n466576, as well as on Regis 1146. The latter disc also contains a\nFerrier performance of the Brahms \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eAlto Rhapsody\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\nwith Clemens Krauss and the same orchestra from 1947. Yet this is as\ndemonstrably superior in sound quality to either of those as EMI’s most\nrecent issue of the Klemperer Mahler Fourth (67035) is to any other\nprevious edition. \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eThe reasons will be obvious to anyone familiar\nwith this recording from the very first notes. The sound is fuller, more\nnatural, and less edgy on the top end than any past or present CD\nincarnation. About a quarter-century ago, at the dawn of the CD era, I\nowned this on a different Decca issue, but eventually gave up on it\nbecause, although the sound was clear enough to allow you to hear the\nstays on the oboe, it was also slightly uncomfortable to my ears. \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eFor me, personally, this is the best of the four\nWalter performances I’ve heard, the others being Thorborg\/Kullmann\n(1936); Ferrier\/Svanholm, with the New York Philharmonic (1948); and\nForrester\/Lewis from 1960. It’s one of his swiftest readings, coming in\nunder an hour, and actually less romantic in feeling than Otto\nKlemperer’s supposedly non-romantic recording from 1965. But it is not\nmy all-time favorite reading of the score, great as it is. That honor\ngoes to the little-known 1939 Dutch broadcast by Thorborg, Carl Martin\nÖhmann, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Carl Schuricht (Bel\nAge 15). For me, Schuricht conducts the most intense and texturally\ntransparent reading on records, bar none; the 1939 sound quality is\nabsolutely stupendous for its time; and Öhmann is the finest tenor\nsoloist I’ve \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eever \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eheard\nin this work. (I should also mention that my favorite stereo\/digital\nreading is the out-of-print DG disc with Brigitte Fassbaender, Francisco\nAraiza, and Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, a\nrecording savaged by critics for reasons I could never quite fathom.\nDespite slower tempos, Giulini’s pacing and shaping are simply magical,\nand the way Fassbaender’s voice melts into nothingness in “Der Abschied”\nstill sends chills down my spine.) \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eBut back to this \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eDas Lied. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eJulius\nPatzak was a very great artist who was simply not born with a great\nvoice. Even in the best of circumstances, its tone was thin and rather\ncolorless, yet to listen to the intelligent way he sings here is to\nunderstand why both Walter and Furtwängler admired him—also why he was\nconsidered a great Florestan in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eFidelio\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e,\ndespite having a very small, un-Florestan-like voice. Ferrier, on the\nother hand, had one of the great voices of all time. Relistening to her,\nI was struck by how much she, like Louise Kirkby-Lunn and Helen Watts,\nsounded like a German contralto. Her low range is so effortless as to\nalmost sound bottomless: she sounds as if the voice extended at least\nthree notes further down than the lowest note she sings. Her\ninterpretation, particularly in “Der Abschied,” has always been a matter\nof personal taste (she does not really sing softly in all the passages\nmarked as such, but in fact sings out forte on certain notes), which for\nme discounts it slightly—but only slightly—in comparison to the other\nrecordings I’ve named. But omigod could she sing. No one, in my memory,\nimparts such geniality and lightness to “Von der schönheit” as Ferrier.\nHere, no one can touch her, not even Thorborg or Fassbaender. \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eThe Vienna Philharmonic, like the New York\nPhilharmonic, always had Mahler “in its blood,” so to speak, and they\nplay their hearts out for Walter here. One little thing I noticed which\nI’d forgotten: the solo violin in “Der trunkene in Frühling” plays with\nmuch more portamento than we’re used to nowadays. \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"Br\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eIf you admire this recording as much as I do (or\nmore), this is clearly the pressing to own. The restoration is nothing\nshort of magnificent. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"Br\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESb\"\u003eLynn René Bayley \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis article originally appeared in Issue 32:2 (Nov\/Dec 2008) of Fanfare Magazine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9main_samplefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fsamples\/PASC109.mp3578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fProducer's Note578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcontent578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp align=\"center\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bodybig\" style=\"font-size: 24px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eOne of the great recordings of all time \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"bodybig\" align=\"center\"\u003e\u003cem class=\"bodymid\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eXR remastering brings a new depth and dimension \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"body\"\u003eIt may come as something of a surprise to find this recording here at Pristine Classical - it can surely never have left the catalogue in its Decca release, and was most recently remastered by decca from their master tapes as recently as 2000.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"body\" align=\"left\"\u003eIt was during the preparation of our issue of the same piece in its 1936 world première recording (PASC108) that curiosity got the better of me and I obtained a copy of one of the movements of the 1952 recording from iTunes in its current incarnation. I was surprised by the sound, but not pleasantly so - it had an unnatural harsh forwardness which grated on the ears, a kind of tiring artificiality which I didn't like. As I had all of the requisite recordings on my system I carried out a quick XR re-equalisation of the movement (the 4th, as it happens), and shared the results with my colleague Peter Harrison of \u003cem\u003edisk2disc\u003c\/em\u003e in England, asking him to tell me which he preferred without informing him which was the Decca issue and which was my own tweaked version.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"body\" align=\"left\"\u003e It was no surprise to me, but perhaps a surprise to Peter (who has always held Decca's engineers - rightly - in very high regard) to find my XR remastering clearly and considerably improved upon the Decca issue. This testing was done effectively blind, as i did not reveal which file was which until after he'd made his mind up.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\" align=\"left\"\u003eIt was at this point that Peter revealed to me that he had a near-mint vinyl copy of the original issue. Taking that same movement, Peter transferred it from the vinyl disc and sent it to me as a lossless 24-bit FLAC file to receive the same XR treatment I'd given the iTunes download. Once again the results were excellent, clearly outshining the Decca CD and LP.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"body\" align=\"left\"\u003eAnd so the perhaps surprising decision was made to restore and issue this well-known recording and put it head-to-head against Decca's own much-praised CD issue. I hope you'll agree with those who've heard and commented on it prior to release that it is not only a truly magnificent recording in its own right, but that this remastering brings us closer than ever to the magic spell cast in May 1952 by the Vienna Philharmonic, Bruno Walter, Julius Patzak, and of course the incomparable Kathleen Ferrier, already only too aware of the cancer that would take her life the following year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"body\" align=\"left\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eAndrew Rose\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fFull Track Listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5ftrack_listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eMAHLER \u003c\/b\u003eDas Lied von der Erde\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKathleen Ferrier, \u003c\/b\u003econtralto \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Julius Patzak, \u003c\/b\u003etenor \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003econducted by\u003cb\u003e Bruno Walter\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecorded in Vienna in May, 1952. \u003cbr\u003e Issued as Decca LPs LXT 2721-2 \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTransfer from LP by Peter Harrison at disc2disk\u003cbr\u003e Restoration and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, April 2008\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCover artwork based on a photograph of Kathleen Ferrier\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nTotal duration: 59:57\u003cspan style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,san-serif;\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bodysmallarial\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fCover Art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcover_art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/thumbs\/PASC109.jpg578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/PASC109.pdf578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f","brand":"Pristine 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