Gustav Mahler: Lieder – Christiane Karg

The German soprano and her regular recital-partner beguile in the Rückert-Lieder and songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, whilst the composer himself makes an appearance (via a 1905 piano-roll) for ‘Das himmlische Leben’.

For her first solo recital on harmonia mundi, Christiane Karg, alongside her faithful partner Malcolm Martineau, presents an incursion into the most intimate aspect of Mahler’s music: the songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn take us to the heart of the composer’s creative process, as do the songs from his youth and the later Rückert-Lieder.

Two of these pieces (including the famous Das himmlische Leben from Symphony no.4) are accompanied by… Mahler himself, thanks to the achievement of the incredible Welte-Mignon piano rolls which, at the very start of the Twentieth Century, captured his playing far better than any other recording device of the period could.