Frederica von Stade – Mahler Songs

Critical reception

The album was favorably reviewed by Peter G. Davis in the New York Times: "Miss von Stade ... sounds utterly absorbed in Mahler's aching world of nostalgia and regret, while the burnished beauty and fragile vulnerability of her voice communicates with every note. Some of the songs, such as 'Um Mitternacht', ideally require greater tonal volume than she can muster, but on the whole this is a cherishable disk, further distinguished by the subtly shaded orchestral playing of the London Philharmonic under Andrew Davis's sensitive direction."

The album was also critiqued by John Steane in Gramophone in a review comparing it to Mahler recital albums by Marilyn Horne, Christa Ludwig, Janet Baker, and Yvonne Minton. Describing the Rückert Lieder performances he says: "Frederica von Stade starts rather unhappily, not rising, in the first place, to the 'linden' very gracefully and indulging too much in the habit of opening out individual notes in succession, 'squeezing' rather than 'binding'. Sometimes a phrase comes to life, as when she brings a touch of impulsiveness which has eluded the other singers in what is surely the crucial line 'o ja, mich liebe!' in 'Liebst du', and in 'Ich bin der Welt' the phrase 'ich sei gestorben' is most beautifully floated. But at times the soft singing is a little too relaxed and the voice lacks the resources of power and body for the climax of 'Um Mitternacht'. ... In Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen [Songs of a Wayfarer] the Von Stade/Davis recording is more satisfying.... For instance, the second song, 'Ging heut' morgen' goes with a spring..." Like Peter G. Davis he felt von Stade could have used more vocal heft, but that "to some extent she compensates for this by the tenseness of her tone in the more turbulent passages, and in the last song she colours the voice most resourcefully and movingly."