2011 is also a Mahler anniversary year – we commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death on 18 May. In conjunction with this anniversary we present a treasure from the archives: the Wunderlich / Fischer-Dieskau Das Lied von der Erde.

Mahler’s great symphony of six songs on texts from an anthology of Chinese poetry was composed in summer 1908 – a period of anxiety and grief for the composer. The work celebrates the pleasures of wine and beauty and the joys of friendship, culminating in the overwhelming Abschied, a movement lasting half an hour, in which the poet takes farewell from his friend and from life.

Our CD is a live recording of a sold-out concert from the Vienna Festival, given at the Musikverein there on 14 June 1964, with tenor and baritone soloists. Josef Krips conducts the Wiener Symphoniker.

It is being released for the first time, using a unique source in the Krips family archive, a copy of the original ORF (Austrian Radio) tape, which is no longer to be found. Faithfully restored by the expert engineers at the Emil Berliner Studios in Berlin, it is a marvel of singing from the two great soloists, who were both closely associated with this great work.

Booklet notes by Thomas Voigt fill out the story with recollections from Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Harrietta Krips, the conductor’s widow; illustrations include extracts from the original concert programme booklet and newspaper cuttings of the time. Full sung texts and translations included (German, English, French).