Understandably, commentators often cite Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony in the same breath with Mahler’s better-known “song-symphony” Das Lied von der Erde. Aside from both having dated the same woman (at different times, of course!), the composers have less in common than one might expect. Zemlinsky, for one, is not as memorable a melodist nor as transparent an orchestrator. His late-romantic syntax either evokes the sensual aspects of Debussy’s late impressionist style, or the giddy chromaticism exploding from Struass’ pen as he sketched out Die Frau ohne Schatten. At the same time, Zemlinsky’s thicker writing sometimes foreshadows Messiaen’s stained-glass sound blocks.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Julia Varady graced Lorin Maazel’s DG studio recording with extraordinary presence and authority, and again here, to a greater degree. The difference lies in the immediacy and resonance of a live concert environment. True, Lothar Zagrosek’s Vienna Radio Symphony may not match the sumptuous perfection of Maazel’s Berlin Philharmonic, yet shrill, spotlit engineering compromises the latter. If you want to wallow in gorgeous sonics and henna-tinted orchestral playing, try the Chailly/Concertgebouw recording. Or sample the whiplash intensity and exciting, streamlined textures with which Michael Gielen gooses the younger voices of James Johnson and Vlatka Orsanic. Gielen’s Lyric Symphony, my all-around favorite, sells at budget price and offers equally wrenching performances of Berg’s Five Orchestral Songs Op. 4 and three pieces from the same composer’s Lyric Suite. But I wouldn’t want to be without Orfeo’s coupling– Hartmann’s valedictory Gesangsszene for baritone and orchestra. Here Fischer-Dieskau brings out the harrowing imagery of Jean Giraudoux’s text with more color, inner meaning, and vocal flexibility than in his premiere recording of 20 years earlier. Orfeo provides full texts, translations, and notes that discuss the performances as well as the music.
