A vivid and intimate portrait of Mahler

Anna Lucia Richter brings striking depth and expressive insight to the composer's song-settings

- MALCOLM HAYES

The booklet accompanying this remarkable release begins with a short interview with Anna Lucia Richter. She all at once pins down the conundrum of how to approach Mahler's song-settings from the folk anthology Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn): 'They demand naturalness'. Indeed, and how does a highly trained concert singer capture that, which in its way is in opposition to the artistic sophistication that's also required?