Eiji Oue has made some great recordings for Reference (most notably his Strauss disc, containing “Ein Heldenleben” and the “Frau Ohne Schatten” symphonic fantasy), but this one is simply extraordinary. In its expressive intensity this performance clearly belongs with the best ever recorded; just listen to the way he and Michelle DeYoung sustain phrases like “blauen licht die fernen” in the final song, “The Farewell”. This is greatness, folks, and Oue is very lucky to have an orchestra superbly responsive to his direction, a young tenor willing to risk his vocal career on the “Drinking Song of Earth’s Misery,” and in DeYoung a true “Mahler” alto sensitive to every line of the text. Villars is excitingly direct, sounding sort of like a young Ernst Haefliger, but what DeYoung does with phrasing and breath control verges on the sublime. Has the difficult middle section of the fourth song, “Of Beauty,” ever been so clearly and effortlessly articulated? The only comparison that comes to mind is the young Christa Ludwig (for Klemperer on EMI). Add to all of this sonics of drop-dead demonstration quality, and the result is without question a recording for the ages. Stunning.
