The Vienna Philharmonic strings bring dewy beauty to the late-Romantic canvas [of the Mahler], but there's little Götterdämmerung-like wildness...Boulez is more assured in the Lulu Suite: irradiating the many singable melodic strains, finding a word- and pitch-perfect soprano in Anna Prohaska

Boulez's recordings become more precious the less we hear from him...Here he explores the life-stories teeming beneath the shells of two musical organisms with murder in mind

This new performance...is remarkable for its transparency, but Boulez has added actual drama to his mastery of Mahler's early orchestration...There's real atmosphere here...The choir, perfectly trained and singing with impeccable diction and attention to dynamics, cannot be praised highly enough. The Lulu-Suite that follows receives a marvellous reading as well...this new Boulez is a major entry.

Boulez is a splendid guide to both these scores and if you don’t mind having a foreshortened account of Das klagende Lied this disc is a compelling proposition.

What I always like about Boulez’s recordings of Mahler is his attention to balance and texture, and this is certainly true here, with all the small details and colours impressively brought out...The singing from both chorus and soloists is really thrilling, too: the choir clearly revels in the variety of moods that Mahler’s writing offers...Every moment of this recording [of the Lulu-Suite] is exceptional.

[the Mahler's] its brightly lit orchestral effects have always brought the best out of his conducting; the performance has both spaciousness and finely focused detail...The Lulu Suite is even more remarkable, for there's an emotional breadth to Boulez's approach now that just wasn't there in his earlier, pioneering performances. His balance between rigour and expressiveness exactly mirrors Berg's music