Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Great Recordings of the Century)
Of the concert performances in London that preceded the making of this  recording in March 1968, theGuardian's Ted Greenfield wrote that "the  two greatest Lieder singers in the world" were supported by "Britain's finest  orchestra under the conductor who has trained America's finest orchestra"--and  this is still true. No surprise, then, that this rendition of theWunderhornsongs has been a classic from the day it was made, and  fittingly belongs in EMI'sGreat  Recordings of the Centuryreissue series. It findsDietrich Fischer-Dieskauin  stupendous form, hurling the words of "Revelge" out with an almost sadistic  edge, and bringing an extraordinary range of emotion and nuance to half-a-dozen  other songs, too.Elisabeth Schwarzkopfwas beginning to sound a bit matronly at this stage in her  career--the bloom is off the voice, to be sure--but in her singing, too, the  expressive pointing is as keen as ever. George Szell proves himself once again a  master of Mahler's moods, eliciting a performance of amazing detail and clarity  from the London players, and achieving just the right pace and emphasis in each  piece. The recording, made in Kingsway Hall, is magnificent: glorious,  well-balanced sound with tremendous immediacy, across a beautiful, wide sound  stage. I have cherished the LP ever since it was released in 1969, but this  remastering reveals a host of new and wonderful things that will make for  pleasurable listening for another 30 years.--Ted Libbey