Review

Gustav Mahler
Vier Lieder aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn:

Arranged by Ralph Sauer

Tenor or bass or contrabass trombone and piano

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2022
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and solo parts.

Primary Genre: Solo Tenor Trombone - with piano
Secondary Genre: Solo Bass/Contrabass Trombone - with piano

Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder (German; "The boy's magic horn: old German songs") is a collection of German folk poems and songs edited by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, and published in Heidelberg, Baden. The book was published in three editions: the first in 1805 followed by two more volumes in 1808. The collection of love, soldiers, wandering, and children's songs was an important source of idealized folklore in the Romantic nationalism of the 19th century. Des Knaben Wunderhorn became widely popular across the German-speaking world; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, one of the most influential writers of the time, declared that Des Knaben Wunderhorn "has its place in every household."

The songs of Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn) by Gustav Mahler are voice-and-piano and voice-and-orchestra settings of poems chosen from the Wunderhorn collection. Ten songs set for soprano or baritone and orchestra were first published by Mahler as a cycle in 1905, but in total 12 orchestral songs exist, and a similar number of songs for voice and piano.

The songs transcribed by Mr. Sauer are as follows:
1. Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht? (Who has created this song?)
2. Lob des hohen Verstands. (In praise of lofty intellect.)
3. Verlor'ne Mueh. (Labor lost.)
4. Lied des Verfolgten im Turm. (Song of the persecuted in the tower.)

The four songs present a wide variety of styles and moods; for example, the first song is all about a smoothly flowing line mostly in sixteenth notes outlining arpeggios or scale patterns, while the second is more folksong-like in tone, not to mention ironic!, especially when the donkey is selected to judge a singing competition between a nightingale and a cuckoo, and punctuates his judgments with a loud "I-ya! or Yee-hah" a two-octave bit of braying. The third song's "labor" is that of the suitor who fails to convince a young lady to "go out" with him. The fourth song about a prisoner is dramatic from the beginning, with the melody rising up the octave to the words [in the original] "Die Gedanken sind frei! (Thoughts are free!)"

The transcription of the four songs is first rate, as we have come to expect from Ralph Sauer. Major demands are not made of a technical sort, but style and expressiveness represent major challenges. A close study of the songs in the original, even in translation, will provide a good beginning to the study of these songs, as will listening to recordings of fine vocalists. The transcriptions are all a tone lower than Mahler's original songs. Highly recommended!