Songs of a Wayfarer (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen), Mahler's first
orchestral song cycle, is a strongly autobiographical work. Set to his
own text, it is a revealing self-portrait of the young man in the
agonies of love, and a work considered by many to be the masterpiece of
Mahler's early period.
The folklore idioms of Songs of the Wayfarer give way to the haunting
musical imagery of Mahler's later style in the Kindertotenlieder
(Songs of the Death of Children), the company's setting of five poems by
Friedrich Rückert. Filled with the delicate counterpoint and luminous
chromatic harmony of his last works, they reflect another compelling
facet of Mahler's intense romanticism.
These two deeply moving scores, both favorites of musical artists and
their audiences today, are reprinted here from the original German
editions. They will provide musicians and music lovers a lifetime of
study and enjoyment of two of Mahler's masterly achievements for voice
and orchestra.