Gustav Mahler; Xiaogang Ye - The Song of the Earth (Long Yu)

Information

Composer: Gustav Mahler; Xiaogang Ye

• Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde
• Ye - The Song of the Earth, Op. 47

Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano / Brian Jagde, tenor

Liping Zhang, soprano / Shenyang, baritone

Shanghai Symphony Orchestra

Long Yu, conductor

Date: 2021

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

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Review

Gustav Mahler said that a symphony should encompass the world, and he perhaps never cast his net more widely than with Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth"), a vocal symphony setting Chinese texts of the Tang Dynasty. The texts passed through French and several German translations before landing with Mahler, but he succeeded in creating something truly exotic, with pentatonic scales and other chinoiseries, that suggests a transcendent quality much on the troubled Mahler's mind. Here, Das Lied von der Erde is paired with a setting of the same texts, in Mandarin, rearranged but ending with the same ones, by contemporary Chinese composer Xiaogang Ye. Considering the growing popularity of Western symphonic music in China, it's a bit surprising that nobody has attempted something like this before, but this outing avoids obvious solutions and is quite absorbing. It's notable that Ye, partly trained in the West, generally does not attempt a Chinese-sounding score. Instead, he takes the position that the project as a whole represents a kind of cross-cultural exchange. His most prominent model is Mahler, and he follows Mahler's forces with a pair of voices and an orchestra in which the brass have a great deal to do, but neither does he follow Mahler slavishly, and the result is a score that feels Chinese without obvious clues. The dramatic finale has an entirely different effect from Mahler's reflections on death and farewell. As for the Mahler, conductor Long Yu and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra prove themselves competent Mahlerians whose rather quick performances play up the Chinese elements and aptly capture the work's trajectory from "The Drinking Song of Earth's Misery" to the heavenly conclusion. Long Yu's singers in Western in the Mahler and Chinese in the Ye, all acquit themselves well, but mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, who has recorded the work before with the Minnesota Orchestra, is a standout. This delivers exactly the thoughtful cross-cultural document it promises.

— James Manheim

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Gustav Mahler (7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer and conductor. Born to Jewish parents in Bohemia, Mahler rose to prominence through major conducting posts at the Vienna Court Opera, New York's Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic. Celebrated in his lifetime mainly as a conductor, his music only gained widespread recognition after World War II, following years of neglect and suppression during the Nazi era. His large-scale compositions later influenced composers such as the composers of the Second Viennese School, Dmitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten.

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Xiaogang Ye (born 23 September 1955) is a Chinese composer who was educated at the Central Conservatory of Music and the Eastman School of Music. His extensive oeuvre spans orchestral, chamber, stage and film music, often integrating Chinese cultural, philosophical and natural themes. Major works have been performed internationally, including The Song of the Earth and music premiered at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ye has held prominent cultural and academic leadership roles in China and abroad, received numerous prestigious awards, and was the first Chinese composer signed by Schott Music.

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Long Yu (born 1 July 1964) is a Chinese conductor. Trained at the Shanghai Conservatory and in Berlin, he served as Music Director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra (2003–2023), greatly expanding its international reach and educational initiatives. Since 2009, he has led the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, founding major institutions such as Shanghai Symphony Hall, the Shanghai Orchestra Academy and the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition. He has also conducted top orchestras worldwide and, in 2018, became the first Chinese conductor to sign an exclusive deal with Deutsche Grammophon.

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