1936 LIVE MAHLER PicturelblDAS LIED vd ERDE Record78rpm

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71

A series of great early Opera performances: From 1902 G&Ts to 40s wartime German records:

CREATOR RECORD: Bruno Walter Premiered Das Lied von der Erde in 1911!

This is the famous LIVE recording from the golden hall of the Vienna Musikverein in 1936 Pre-Na*i Vienna, of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde - FIRST RECORDING by Mahler pupil and collaborator Bruno Walter w Kerstin Thorborg and Charles Kullman. On the original issue UK Columbia Gustav Mahler Picture label with original album.

7x 12" 78 rpm record

Condition:

Album is great with sound binding and sleeves. Spine has light fraying, front has one small water spot. Records are excellent minus - clean and unworn, but some scuffing, needs cleaning. Sides 4 & 14 have a short faintest scratch, side 6 has one 1/4 turn groove showing light grey.

Here is some appreciation of  this recording:

During 1894-6, Bruno Walter assisted Mahler in Hamburg, the latter’s favourable impression confirmed when he obtained for his protégé a post in Breslau. The two were reunited in 1901, when Walter became Mahler’s assistant at the Vienna Hofoper. Despite the latter’s controversial departure in 1907, Walter remained there until 1912, when he conducted the Vienna première of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and the world première of the Ninth.

 After the Nazis came to power in 1933, he returned to Austria, where his opera productions at Salzburg achieved legendary status. The 1930s also saw the making of several recordings, including Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Ninth Symphony, the latter recorded live, literally hours before the Anschluss made it impossible for him to remain in Austria.

Bruno Walter gave the world première of Das Lied von der Erde in 1911, and made three commercial recordings. The first, like his pre-war Vienna account of the Ninth Symphony, was recorded at a live performance in 1936, and features expressive contributions from Thorborg and Charles Kullman, singers particularly associated with the work at this time, and a response from the Vienna Philharmonic to remind one that the piece was still at the modern end of the repertoire.

The Vienna strings are sorely tested at the beginning of Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde, but Walter steers the players securely, and often audibly, through the harmonic and rhythmic difficulties of this opening movement. Listen especially to the wonderfully nuanced interlude, where Mahler’s intricate orchestration is brought subtly and effortlessly to life. Kullman is a capable if perhaps a little staid exponent of life’s sorrows, but meets the challenges of despair and resignation at the close head-on. Thorborg brings a chaste poignancy to Der Einsame im Herbst, and Walter integrates the ruminative woodwind-led theme seamlessly into the warmer string-based music, with the surge of emotion the more telling for being short-lived. The instrumental postlude has a liquid transparency which rivets the attention after 65 years.

Kullman is amiable, though not especially youthful-sounding in Von der Jugend, where Walter reaffirms his acute understanding of Mahlerian rhythmic motion, above all in the halting gait of the refrain. He complements Thorborg’s’s wide-eyed anticipation in Von der Schönheit to perfection, the breezy arrival of the horsemen not over-rushed, and coaxes finely-honed playing as the final bars recede from earshot. Kullman is at his most persuasive in Der Trunkene im Frühling, stubborn and open-hearted in his hazy recollections. Walter ensures such details as the violin solo at ‘Was hör’ich beim Erwachen?’ have the requisite sentiment without sentimentality.

Walter’s perspective on Der Abschied was remarkably consistent over his three recordings. Not for him the implacable fatalism of Klemperer, or the transfigured emotion of Horenstein. Here, the knowledge of transcendence is implicit from the outset, and Thorborg’s lyrical contribution, with its unfussy though rarely unimaginative phrasing, matches his approach in full measure. Nothing is overplayed: the rush of emotion at the climax of the first part does not overshadow the return to the depths, while the funereal tread of the central interlude acts not as a self-contained interlude, but as a pivot between the two settings, fusing them conceptually as well as musically. The starkness with which the second part opens has been transformed by the final lines, and a gentle radiance persists through to the close, harp and celesta adding magical arabesques as Mahler’s vision of eternity fades into memory.

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A note on grading Victrola/ Pathe/ Shellac 78 rpm discs:

Pls note that I try to be extremely conservative and consistent in my grading. All records are graded with the same criteria, regardless of genre.

I noticed that my grading seems to be more conservative than what I have seen from other sellers, so here some notes.

Surface VISUAL GRADING:

EXCELLENT - clean and shiny, as new. E minus is the same, with light scuffing.

Very Good Plus - Clean, with a little more scuffing. Some grooves spots may have some light greying. Little if any distortion.

Very Good - a clean copy, some scuffing, some greying on a single groove or a few small groove bands. Enjoyable record, maybe light distortion on some top notes.

=> Everything up to here is a great and enjoyable record

Very Good Minus - May have areas of visible wear, may have some scuffing or lightly dulled surface. Still a great record, but ticks, pops and some distortion.

Good Plus - a worn and scuffed copy. May have other defects separately stated. Plays well, but with noise, may require filtering.

All other defects (if any: Chips, cracks, scratches, lamination cracks, label damage, needle digs) will be stated SEPARATELY.

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