CD Review | Strauss: Ein Heldenleben; Mahler: Rückert Lieder

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Following their successful release last year on the Pentatone label of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony comes this new disc, by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under the felicitous baton of its music director, Rafael Payare. The forces are back with more Mahler—this time, the sublimely introspective Rückert Lieder (1901-02)—paired with the grand Ein Heldenleben (1898) by Richard Strauss. 

Pentatone’s press release points out the rather unusual, if not perplexing, pairing of an exuberant Strauss tone poem with an inwardly radiant and spiritual Mahler song cycle—two works that represent opposites of the human emotional spectrum. 

When I saw the announcement, my immediate reaction was “I couldn’t agree more!” Yes, on second thought, my response was “Why not?”  The human life journey for most of us is typically circuitous, traversing a wide emotional landscape—of hills and valleys, of jubilance and disappointment, of joy and sadness. Imagine experiencing all these emotions in a single sonic journey! 

And what a journey it is. The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is the most recorded of all Canadian orchestras, particularly under Charles Dutoit on the Decca label. To be sure, there were other great maestros leading the OSM, such as Kent Nagano on the Analekta label, but the OSM/Dutoit discs set a gold standard. 

Now we have the OSM’s current music director, Venezuelan Rafael Payare, at the helm. The Mahler 5th that came out last year was well received, albeit not erasing memories of the great Mahler Fifth recordings already in existence. But it certainly piqued my interest and made me look forward to hearing this new disc. 

And I was not disappointed. The Strauss tone poem is a real showpiece, and the OSM under Payare gets full marks for achieving a remarkable mix of opulence and grandeur with just the right dramatic acuity, as well as a certain ingratiating mellowness when called for—one that soothes the senses. The recorded sound is marvelous in clarity and presence.  

The same qualities are found in the Rückert Lieder, although with a few caveats. While the Strauss tone poem was not well received at its premiere, the Mahler song cycle was an unqualified success when it debuted in 1905 (when only four of the songs were included). The order of the songs in performance can vary—for example, the sublime “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” is usually the last, but for some reason, it’s the first in the famous recording by Karajan and Christa Ludwig. 

Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva certainly has a beautiful voice, very much in evidence here. She is also a sensitive artist, a good candidate for this song cycle. But her performance is rather uneven. Her tone, though luscious, is not always steady at the top, especially in slow tempi, sometimes even below pitch and with an excessively wide vibrato. A few top notes are a bit too-loudly sung, not helped by the forward placement of her voice, with the orchestra recessed in the background.

The orchestra in the Mahler is beyond reproach to my ears. Despite some reservations about the soloist’s singing, any Rückert Lieder recording is an occasion, and this new release is well worth hearing.

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