Renée Fleming - Gustav Mahler Rückert lieder

Musikverein Großer Saal,
Tuesday, 11. December 2012
Wien

Renée Fleming, soprano
Maciej Pikulski, Klavier

Gustav Mahler
five songs to texts by Friedrich Rückert

Ich atmet´ einen linden Duft
Liebst Du um Schönheit
Um Mitternacht
Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

[MarcRajotte-hvhw]

CONSISTENTLY is Renee's entire singing instrument, soul, heart, spirit and facial expression connected to the music and what a treat. Thank you Ms Fleming

[lagunagreg]

Such beautiful colors, from both the singer and the pianist. Such intimacy.

[jsphotos]

00.19 Ich atmet´ einen linden Duft
02:45 Liebst Du um Schönheit
05:23 Um Mitternacht
11:12 Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!
12:40 Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

[anthonysharp]

Magnificent and quite beautiful in every way. What good fortune for this world that there is such talent for us to enjoy. Anthony Sharp

[Pachelbel_PaperDarts]

Vienna at the Turn of the 20th Century - A Recital with Renée Fleming - is available on DVD. It's one of my favourite recitals and it worth every penny to hear Renee Fleming sings in live concert! Her voice in this concert is at the peak of its power and luminosity. This is a very personal homage to “Fin de Siècle” music she loves. You can't get any more sublime than watching her sing live in the most beautiful and sumptuous interior of the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. It's recorded in 2012. Let's hope we will see another great performance from this concert when she sings J. Strauss: Walzer aus Wien – "Frag' mich oft".

[aneashumm]

Mrs. Fleming is one of the greatest sopranos on this planet. So sad to sea so many haters here. I loved it. and what a magnificent pianist

[melvynelphee]

I cannot believe the extremism of some of the comments below. Granted that Fleming's voice now has the beauty of an autumn leaf rather than a full summer bloom and that she is given to exaggeration, but when all is said and done we are listening to one of the greatest singers of our time in her sunset. There is surely far more to glory in than to carp at. (Listening without picture can diminish some of the exaggerations).

[MarcRajotte-hvhw]

the first three notes TESTIFIED to the musicality of this accompanist...TY like the first phrase in Renee

[talmagebandy]

I could listen to this forever. Gorgeous.

[hahe]

5. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen 5. I’ve gotten lost to the world


Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, I’ve gotten lost to the world,
Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben, With it I ever wasted so much time,
Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen, So long has it heard nothing of me,
Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben! It might well believe I were dead!


Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen, It didn’t matter to me a bit,
Ob sie mich für gestorben hält, If it took me for dead,
Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen, Far be it from me to contradict,
Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt. Since I really am dead to the world.


Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetümmel, I have died to the hurly-burly,
Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet! And I repose in a silent realm!
Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel, I live alone in my own Heaven.
In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied! In my love, in my song!

[stephaniehammett]

Must’ve been really amazing to hear in person <3

[herrbrucvald]

Really gorgeous!
queeny negative comments, not so much...

[jsphotos]

At the very end 18:35 (front row and throughout) of "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" one can see a few members of the audience wiping tears from their eyes; I was with them. This was a moving performance.

[marykokiou]

Always wonderful Renee, and what a pianist!

[DimitrisRebelYell]

Thank you, Renée Fleming, I'm speechless. <3

[SeanKroll]

All the world loves Renée. She's is a gift to humanity. Thank you, lady of miracles. #ReneeFleming <3 #admittedlysmitten  

[JC]

Lovely. She is a national treasure. Mahler can drag but she lifts the melody. There is always room for another interpretation otherwise the composer is a dead issue. Think of the many singers of opera and what each brings to the table.

[celloguy]

Does anyone else find the piano painfully loud in the introductions and codas of lots of the songs? I wonder if the DVD release has this same problem. Wonderful singing! The German is so clear, and the emotional commitment and myriad vocal colours make up for the slight loss of lustre in the instrument.

[GianniFranceschi]

Non si può dire che canti male; tuttavia la Fleming esegue questi brani meravigliosi, che dispiegano tutta la tormentata interiorità del mondo mahleriano (e anche dei bellissimi testi di Rückert, non lo dimentichiamo), in modo troppo ostentatamente teatrale, esteriore, drammatico. Ad esempio, alcuni punti più espressamente drammatici del terzo Lied funzionano meglio, secondo me, dei passaggi che richiedono introspezione del secondo, per non parlare dell'ultimo, dove i portamenti sono proprio brutti e fuori stile. Anche il pianista mi sembra un po' fuori dalle righe, forse nel tentativo di assecondarla. 

[studentjohn]

Long rails on the back side of the Steinway indicate that it's part of the Steinway dealer's rental stock. Not the Musikverein's house piano, then.