Kindertotenlieder by Mahler reviewed by Iain Burnside Building a Library 20th April 2024

Gustav Mahler composed his song cycle Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) between 1901 and 1904 for voice and orchestra. The texts are poems by Friedrich Rückert, selected from the 428 poems he wrote in the 1830s as an outpouring of grief following the illness and death of two of his children from scarlet fever. Mahler's Late Romantic settings reflect the poems' mixture of feelings: anguish, fantasy resuscitation of the children, resignation, and ending in a mood of transcendence.
Recommended Version:
Marjana Lipovsek (mezzo-soprano)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Claudio Abbado (conductor)
Sony G010001399711H