Originally released in 1966,
Bernard Haitink's vivid recording of
Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3 in D minor is coupled here with a 1973 performance of Das klagende Lied; since these are among the least performed and least familiar works in
Mahler's catalog, the pairing is mutually beneficial to each, and listeners who have neither in their collections would do well to consider snapping up this affordable set. Perhaps the only flaw should be mentioned up front: though virtually no tape hiss is audible, there is a bit of an acoustic "vacuum" around the sound of the musicians, suggesting that the analog masters have been cleaned up a bit too efficiently and some resonance seems lost. Still, even if this recording is a little deficient in sonority and less than life-like in presence, the performance of the symphony is still worth having, not only for the
Concertgebouw Orchestra's fully involved, utterly transparent playing and radiant singing from contralto
Maureen Forrester, but also for the memorable choral fifth movement, sung with a magical lightness by the
Netherlands Radio Choir and the Boys' Chorus of St. Willibrord Church, Amsterdam. Das klagende Lied is slightly less enjoyable, partly because this early cantata is less recognizably Mahlerian, a bit stilted, and possibly too operatic for its narrow parameters. Yet the compelling performances by soprano
Heather Harper, contralto Norma Procter, and tenor Werner Hollweg make this work's strange tale of revenge more accessible, and
Haitink and the
Concertgebouw deliver clear, crisply articulated support that makes the work easier to appreciate in purely musical terms.