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Rare Master Grinder
Starting with the 2018 / 2019 season, Cornelius Meister will become General Music Director of the Stuttgart State Opera and State Orchestra. And already all eyes are on the man who, as one of the youngest chief conductors ever, took over the direction of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra of the ORF at the age of only 30. With the orchestra, Meister also realized rarely heard repertoire, such as Antonín Dvořák's operatic cantata Die Geisterbraut, whose recording for Capriccio earned the conductor much praise from cultural critics earlier this year.
Gustav Mahler's cantata Das klagende Lied, based on fairy tales by Ludwig Bechstein and the Brothers Grimm, is another work under Meister's baton that is unfortunately and quite incomprehensibly rarely found on the schedules of major orchestras.It is the first composition that Gustav Mahler officially released from his œuvre and therefore designated as his "Opus 1". Written in 1878-80 (a good ten years before Mahler's first symphony), the piece already clearly shows its proximity to themes and melodies of the later "Wunderhorn" works, such as the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, begun three years after the lamenting song.
With a veritable dream cast (including Adrian Eröd and Simone Schneider), the fantastically disposed Vienna Singakademie and the proven qualities of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra of the ORF, the highly inspired Cornelius Meister has top forces at his disposal for this album, which is also excellent in sound, making it a significant contribution to the recent Gustav Mahler discography.
