These are two first edition DECCA LXT 2721 AND 2722 issues of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) and Three Ruckert Songs: Ich bid der Welt abhanden gekommen, ich atmet'einen linden Duft and Um Mitternacht.

The Contralto is Kathleen Ferrier in one of her best recorded performances, when she was already dying of cancer.

Julius Patzak is the Tenor , with Bruno Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Both records and covers made in England.

The records themselves have no visible scratches that I can see in daylight and are glossy in appearance.

The sound is mostly very good. There are a couple of areas where the sound becomes a bit muffled. The record is not cd silent.  But there are no skip sor jumps or overpowering egg frying background noise.  No recurring pops that I could pick up.

Kathleen Ferrier's mindblowing performance can be very much appreciated.

The covers are solidly very good with no splits or tears. There are two very minor clear marks were small bits of tape were removed. There are no original sleeves on the records.

A wonderful solid addition to any fine collection of one of the best performances of all time. Bruno Walter actually knew Mahler and interpreted him like no-one else. Just read the contemporary review at the bottom of this listing.

This is a heavy set at over 600 grammes when securely packed and posted.

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Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Kathleen Ferrier, Julius Patzak and Bruno Walter

One of the undoubted classics of the post-War Decca catalogue was Bruno Walter’s 1952 Vienna recording of Mahler’s song symphony Das Lied von der Erde. The contralto soloist was Kathleen Ferrier, already ill with cancer, who was to die, aged 41, the following year. Alec Robertson was the reviewer in October 1952...

MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde. Three Rückert Songs.

Kathleen Ferrier (contralto) Julius Patzak (tenor) Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Bruno Walter

Decca LXT2721-2 (12 in., 79s.).

It will be remembered that the Columbia recording of Das Lied von der Erde, with Kerstin Thorborg and Charles Kullmann, and Bruno Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, was made at an actual performance in Vienna on May 24, 1936 and suffered somewhat from the prevailing conditions. It is, nevertheless, a recording one has cherished: but now the greatly improved methods of recording and the avoidance of the many breaks in the music make it difficult for one to listen to it patiently after hearing the present one: and there seems little point in making comparisons.

It must, however, be said that Kathleen Ferrier's singing is even more beautiful than that of Kerstin Thorborg and that her rhythmic sense is much superior. It was complained that Julius Patzak could hardly be heard in the Edinburgh Festival performance this summer: but however that may have been, the placing of the microphone sees to it that we get his every note in this recording so that we are able to hear what a fine and sensitive performance he gives; a remarkable one, in this taxing part, for a singer no longer young. Bruno Walter's deep understanding of Mahler is given every chance to show itself in this carefully balanced recording with its sense of space: and one can appreciate to the full Mahler's wonderful handling of his large orchestra, in its most delicate as well as in its most strenuous moments. The charming chinoiserie of Youth is beautifully caught: the glittering oriental march in Beauty, and the brooding sorrow of the last song, Farewell, with its tragic funeral march and its exquisite lyrical passages (which Kathleen Ferrier makes almost intolerably moving) are very memorable. One's critical sense, however, has to note that Miss Ferrier is placed rather too close to the microphone, and thus one is more aware than would otherwise have been the case of a certain sense of strain in one awkward passage in the last great emotional outburst. She recovers at once and sings the last words “blauen Licht die Fernen” with a superb legato and beautifully manages the toneless repetitions of “ewig” at the end. It is a pity that the celesta is not clearly heard enough on these last pages, one gets some but not all the notes of the arpeggios: the triangle also, is elusive at the start of Youth. I can only briefly allude to two other outstanding things in this recording, the melancholy beauty of The Solitary in Autumn, in which Kathleen Ferrier excels, and Patzak's singing at the moment when the bird calls to The Drunkard in Spring.

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen is far and away the best of the three songs to poems by Rückert (a poet set by Schubert, Schumann and Brahms and by Mahler, again, in Kindertotenlieder) on the reverse. The music, reminiscent of the Adagietto in the composer's Fifth Symphony, is beautifully orchestrated and Kathleen Ferrier's singing is surpassingly lovely and tender. The middle song, Ich atmet einen linden Duft, has a charmingly devised accompaniment, but is not otherwise remarkable: and the last one, Um Mitternacht, is scored without strings: the wood-wind used include an oboe d'amore and a double bassoon, the brass, trombones and bass tuba.

This scoring was dictated perhaps by the grandiose hymn-like ending, which is undeniably effective and in which Kathleen Ferrier pours forth glorious tone. The recording of all three songs is extremely good.

AR