Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde / Meier, Kerl, Bychkov, Cologne Philharmonic / Waltraud Meier - In Portrait

Rating:
Summary: Excellent feature on Waltraud Meier
Review: Many documentaries concerning classical artists turn out to be a virtual bore, but this feature on Waltraud Meier will hold your attention from first to last. There are many excerpts of her performances throughout the film and you do wish that they were more extended than what was given, such is the artistic powers at her disposal. For the most part, it obviously shows her in a positive light which is to be expected, but there are also comments made about how difficult and demanding she can be, but these references are always couched with explanations. I do not doubt that working with her can be quite stressful and this was illustrated in rehersals for Tristan and Isolde, though you will also see here joke around with Siegfried Jeruselem concerning his age and whether he can still get up off a floor. You also get a glimpse of her in a recording studio as she sings Venus for Daniel Barenboim, and see how demanding and detailed the recording process is. Her personal and opinionated accounts of travel, Wagner, soprano styles, and other topics are interesting. She is not one to mince her words. I enjoyed the feature and will have no difficulties watching it again.

The concert portion of the disc is a performance of Gustav Mahler's Das Lied Von Der Erde with Semyon Bychkov conducting the WDR Symphony of Koln. With Meier, is the tenor Torsten Kerl. I first heard Torsten Kerl in a DVD performance of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Die Todte Stadt and was amazed at his performance. His ringing bell like tenor is on good display here too as he makes the most of his three songs. Meier also gives a sympathetic performance and Seymon Bychkov shapes a deeply spiritual account, especially in the final movement "Der Abshied". However, I must point out that there is an egregious edit mishap in the 4th movement "Von der Schonheit" which mars an otherwise very good performance.

Recommended with the slightest of reservations.

Rating:
Summary: Mahler would have been pleased
Review: This DVD is mostly excellent in my view. The portrait film on Meier is very well done covering her career with many excerpts from live performances mainly from Wagner but also Mahler Lieder, Berlioz, Verdi. It shows her thought process on how she approaches a role, how she expresses the emotions of the charactor and sing fully engaged in the role. I have other DVD's with her in Tristan & Islode and Parsifal and can agree with her total commitent to what she is singing. She puts Wagner above all other opera composers saying that the others while having great music and melodies, the roles are one deminsional compared to Wagner's characters.

It's somewhat strange that she doesn't mention Mahler at all in the portrait section of the film since the concert section is Das Lied von der Erde. The performance I think is very good, better than the CD with Maazel vocally and musically. The Maazel had Meier, Heppner and the BRSO.
Visually the DVD is crystal clear and the sound is excellent. Bychkov and the WDR Cologne are wonderfull, Bychkov seems to feel this music with a deep understanding. Only a few negative comments musically: The horse galloping section in Of Youth could have been more exciting and faster. The tam-tam could have been louder at the end of the extended orchestral passage in Der Abschied. The mandolin could have been louder at the end during the Ewig, Ewig. Terston Kerl the tenor sang very well but lacked a little in involvment, needing to look at the score frequently.
Waltraud Meier sang wonderfully and did not look at the score. She knows very well how to sing this music and had just the right amount of visual expression and vocal emoting. A couple of comments on the camera work: I thought there were too many close ups of faces of the orchestra and instruments and not enough of the whole orchestra. Also the camera only should the tam-tam once and not even once for the mandolin.
As a note to the previous reviewer I did not notice any edit error in Von der Schonheit and watched that song twice.