The Polygon Years, Vol. 2 (1952 - 1955)

What could have prompted Gustav Mahler to compose a work as unclassifiable as this one? Written between 1907 and 1908, a pivotal period in Mahler's life, The Song of the Earth occupies a special place within his oeuvre. It combines the “fin de siècle” spirit with the fascination for the exotic that was spreading amongst his peers at the time. Vienna was in turmoil when this music was composed, and the piece oscillates between the notions of farewell and new beginnings. With a lot of layers to peel back, The Song of the Earth definitely merits a closer look.

Listening to Bruno Walter’s recordings, in light of the splendid remastered editions published by Sony Classical, you tap into a truly humanistic culture. A tremendous conductor, music was his vocation, a way of life and an art of thought. His recordings have conserved his art vocal music, intense but never sentimental, thanks to a clear linearity complemented by a versatile rhythm, ensuring clarity, coherence and vigour.

It was a rainy October night in the Bugey. On October nights, it's always raining in the Bugey. It was around midnight. There were fifty of us, waiting in the cold, the wet and the rapt silence at the Ambronay Festival. All of a sudden, and without a sound, Jordi Savall was there, sopping wet in a white raincoat, like Bogart in Casablanca, holding onto a hard case shaped like a human body. Moving slowly, he drew out not a person but a viola de gamba, which he started tuning and stringing with the greatest care. And then the miracle descended upon the auditorium.