07. Jascha Horenstein talks about "The Song of the Earth" [3'14]
Alfreda Hodgson- alto; John Mitchinson- tenor; BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jascha Horenstein
BBC Legends BBCL 4042-2 (recorded in April 1972; this CD issued 2000)
(CD-rip; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans)
Recording venue: Houldsworth Hall, Manchester
Recording engineer and Producer: not disclosed
When surveying recordings of Das Lied von der Erde I was surprised to find that this fine studio recording seems to be currently unavailable as either retail or blog download. Even the link given in a comment to Davide's mega post here on MIMIC is dead - so here is my rip from CD.
Of all the recordings of the work, this remains my favourite - doom-laden and extraordinarily moving. Aficionados of bizarre reviewing will no doubt be pleased to read that David Hurwitz gives it a very negative review. Whilst I accept that Der Abschied is very slow, the tension that Horenstein builds, coupled with Alfreda Hodgson's beautiful singing leads to a spine-tingling reading. And John Mitchinson is no slouch in the three tenor movements. The BBC Northern orchestra, now known as the BBC Philharmonic, were at the time not in the very front rank but they here play their hearts out for Horenstein.
It remains amazing that it took so long for this recording to get an "official" release. I purchased the earliest "unofficial" issues back in 1989 - on the Descant label (only three releases, all Horenstein) - and whilst that had a quite acceptable transfer to CD, this BBC Legends issue has rather superior sound quality - better than on many of their "concert" recordings. I haven't heard the Music & Arts issue.
PS: In 1974, Hodgson and Mitchinson went on to make a commercial recording of the work with Alexander Gibson and the Scottish National Orchestra for EMI Classics for Pleasure. This was issued on LP in 1975 but has never appeared on CD. Whilst the singing is fine, overall the performance is no match for the Horenstein. A rip from LP can be found in Davide's mega post here on MIMIC.
Download from MEGA.