Mahler: Songs transcribed for Cello and Piano
Gustav Mahler: Songs
00:00 Introduction
01:45 Liebst du um Schönheit
03:55 Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Recorded live in First Presbyterian Church on September 14, 2021
Video produced by Aquarius Music Group.
Artists:
Grace Ho, cello; Min Young Kang, piano
Program note:
Like the music both of Shostakovich (whom he much influenced) and of
Beethoven, that of Gustav Mahler encompassed both the most expansively public and the most intimate of musical styles, the former in his nine symphonies (with a tenth unfinished at the time of his early death), the latter in his series of song-cycles. Among these was the setting of five poems of Friedrich Rückert (there were other settings of this poet to follow) known and performed as the five Rückert-Lieder of 1901-2. On a first hearing of Mahler’s orchestral music, it is easy not to appreciate the extent to which, despite the immense forces involved, the actual scoring is meticulous and precise, often using groups of instruments in the manner, even of a chamber symphony. The intimacy and lyricism of the Rückert-Lieder , which can perfectly well be performed with piano accompaniment, are easily extended to the idea of a solo instrument, and, having just heard a contralto performance, the cello (one can imagine also the viola) seems just the right register for it. The two songs presented here are normally performed as the second and third of the five. “Liebst du um Schönheit”, is an offering to his wife Alma, whom he had recently married, and the listener (that is to say, Alma) to love, not for beauty or youth or treasure, but for love itself, and the beautiful “Ich bin der Welt abhanden genommen” evokes the poet, forgotten by the world and no longer caring about it, who lives alone in his devotion to his song. The poems and their setting express beautifully the sense that there is nothing left to say.
By John Matthews
*Don't miss a single note of upcoming concerts. Join on our newsletter at https://www.kalloscms.org/
*For more content, follow us on Instagram and Facebook
/ kalloscms
/ kalloscms