2PD17 Van Beinum Conducts Mahler

• Symphony No 4 [listen]
  Margaret Ritchie (Soprano) Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam conducted by Eduard van Beinum
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• Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen[listen]
  Eugenia Zareska (mezzo-soprano), London Philahrmonic Orchestra conducted by Eduard van Beinum
  

"This is an outstandingly successful transfer of the Symphony ...Van Beinum is so elegant and his underlying rhythms are so subtly placed that the booklet's description of the music as 'cheerful, carefree and sunny' is aptly justified. The 58 year old recording still stuns the ear with its powerful impact at the main climax." Anthony Hodgson Classical Record Collector Summer 2010

Here we have another fine restoration of one rarity and one star in Decca's post-war catalogue. Eugenia Zareska's fine rendition of Mahler's song cycle opens the programme and was, curiously, never issued on LP. Her career included a stint in Rome in the early 1940s and, after the war, a good deal of success in Paris and London. She sings Mahler's sparsely orchestrated songs with touching innocence, and the London Philharmonic under their chief conductor at the time, Eduard van Beinum, are entirely sympathetic. Recorded in Kingsway Hall in late 1947 the sound is full and dynamic, capturing the voice very well.

This (is a) justly famous recording of Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Margaret Ritchie was a fine soprano and she had the measure of what Mahler intended in the last movement. There are a few recordings of this symphony which I find as satisfying as this one... Van Beinum's clear sense of direction still reels one in after all these years. Peter Joelson at Audiophile Audition

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