Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor 'Tragic'

“what a performance! Pappano treats Mahler's opening movement with a restraint that reveals the itchy energy inside...[he] builds towards the finale with a sense of the inscrutable and a pile-driver bite.” --Classic FM Magazine, February 2012 *****

“Anyone wanting to hear an Italian orchestra play Mahler is likely to be fascinated and impressed by this performance...the Santa Cecilia Orchestra plays with a fine feeling for nuance and shape in the more tender music...there is a lot to admire in Pappano's account and while his view of its emotional trajectory doesn't engross me as I hoped it would, it is still starkly effective.” --International Record Review, January 2012

“Pappano’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has an exuberance that comes across most strongly in the opening Allegro energetico ...Pappano, like his Roman musicians, is still building up experience in Mahler. Where he scores is in the quieter, song-like stretches of music, such as the first movement’s dream sequence and an Andante of con amore warmth.” --Financial Times, 5th November 2011 ****

“[an] enthralling account...terrific, ear-scorching climaxes” --The Observer, 6th November 2011

“Pappano’s first Mahler recording with his Roman orchestra demonstrates an attention to detail in the score unobscured by biographical hypotheses. He plays the work in the published (and musically logical) order. The opening march has terrific thrust, the scherzo is laden with Mahler’s sardonic black humour and nostalgia for folk music. The Accademia prides itself on its Mahlerian associations, with justice on this basis.” --Sunday Times, 27th November 2011

“If you’re going to tone down Mahler’s febrile neuroticism, you have to replace it with something equally valid, and that is exactly what Antonio Papppano does here in his first recording of the composer. Out goes the tortured intensity, in comes a blazing energy and warmth that pays dividends all the way through” --The Telegraph, 2nd December 2011 ****

“His expansive approach to the first three movements won't be to everyone's taste, though it often yields surprising results...The Scherzo has rarely sounded as implacable as it does here, though the Andante, in contrast, feels altogether too laid back, until its final climax where Pappano suddenly unleashes a maelstrom that takes your breath away.” --The Guardian, 5th January 2012 ****

2 CD · MP3 320 · 188 MB

Mahler: Kindertotenlieder, Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen, Ruckert-lieder

'She sings them as beautifully as any contemporary female interpreter, with her smoky vocal colouring, her careful enunciation of the texts and her feeling for the heart-rending pathos of the music...there is a unity of purpose in these readings that makes them a must-hear for dedicated Mahlerians.' --Sunday Times, 31st July 2011 ****

The recorded sound is wonderful, and Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki coaxes a sound of golden warmth from her Swedish orchestra. Swedish mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus makes a sound as rich and glossy as a thoroughbred’s coat. --The Telegraph, 14th July 2011 ***

MP3 320 · 142 MB

Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen · Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012)

Born in 1925, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau trained in his native Berlin until his studies were interrupted by conscription in the early 1940s, and was held in an American prisoner-of-war camp in Italy for two years where he continued to perform Schubert for his fellow inmates. Shortly after his release, he made his operatic debut as Posa in Berlin in 1948 and went on to become an imposing presence on major opera stages, winning particular acclaim as Mandryka, Kurwenal, Barak and Mozart's Count Almaviva but also encompassing heavyweights including Jokanaan, Wotan, Amfortas, Hans Sachs and The Dutchman. 

He has also championed new repertoire in the concert-hall and opera-house alike, having sung in the world premieres of many works including Britten's War Requiem, Henze's Elegie für junge Liebende and works by Rihm, Reimann and Matthus.

But he became best known as a master of German song: widely regarded as the finest lieder-singer of the last century, his recital repertoire numbers over 3000 songs by more than 100 composers (including all of the baritone songs of Schubert, Schumann and Wolf), and his interpretative originality, textual sensitivity and seemingly infinite palette of vocal colours arguably remain unequalled today. He did much to revive neglected works and the tradition of the song recital itself, and his masterful interpretations of lieder remain a benchmark for singers, pianists and audiences alike. Since his retirement in 1992, his incomparable influence in this realm continued through his recordings, writing and busy teaching schedule. 

MP3 320 · 141 MB