Mahler Symphonies Nos 9 10 Das Lied von der Erde (2005)

Filmed on tour at Berlins Philharmonie this account of the valedictory Ninth Symphony is an intense interpretation expressing Bernsteins conviction that modern man had at last caught up with the message encoded in Mahlers last completed work Having made his famous 1966 studio recording of Das Lied von der Erde in Vienna Bernstein rerecorded this in Israel with the same searing subjectivity René Kollo draws on the voice of a great Wagner tenor while Christa Ludwig the greatest exponent of the contralto songs at the time is unbearably poignant in the final movements fusion of elation and sadness