As Gustav Mahler confronted his own mortality, he found consolation in the poetry of ancient China. Das Lied von der Erde is the result, a symphony like no other that distils every last drop of life鈥檚 sorrow and sweetness into six soul-wrenching songs. Alpesh Chauhan is in his element in music like this: few conductors rival his skill at drawing intimate emotion from epic scores, and with soloists of the calibre of Brenden Gunnell and the great Scottish mezzo Karen Cargill this should go straight to the heart.
First, though, drama and opulence from Richard Strauss 鈥� a surging hymn to life, born from the turmoil of the First World War.
