BBC SSO: Das Klagende Lied, EIF music review: 'an atmospheric, magnificent tour de force'

Sir Donald Runnicles, conductor of BBC SSO: Das Klagende Lied | Bettina Stoess

BBC SSO: Das Klagende Lied ★★★★★

Usher Hall

Even at the age of 17 Mahler was thinking on a grand scale when he started writing Das Klagende Lied (Song of Lamentation), subsequently revised many times.

Conductor Sir Donald Runnicles presided over an impressive array of forces including a beefed-up BBC SSO plus a second small orchestra offstage, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, members of the National Youth Choir of Scotland and fabulous soloists – Kathleen O’Mara, Catriona Morison, John Findon and Nicholas Brownlee.

Written in three parts, the cantata is inspired by The Singing Bone, a Grimm’s fairy tale about two brothers, both knights, competing to marry the Queen by bringing her a red flower. The good brother finds it but while sleeping the bad one kills him and claims the throne. But the flute a Minstrel carves from the dead knight’s bone sings the truth.

Many of Mahler’s quirky harmonies and dramatic orchestral colour are evident including the beautiful evocation of the forest birds and the ghostly speaking flute at the wedding feast. This performance of his early, not often performed work, was an atmospheric, magnificent tour de force.

Although Schubert’s Symphony No.8 in B minor was unfinished, the orchestra’s finely calibrated reading was a suitably enigmatic curtain raiser. Susan Nickalls

The Scotsman’s arts newsletter is now sent twice a week - subscribe today

Enjoying the Arts & Culture journalism on scotsman.com? Make it easier to find by selecting us as a preferred Google source

Want the latest Scottish headlines sent directly to your phone? Sign up to our new WhatsApp channel here