Mahler Symphony No. 4 and Rückert-Lieder

Mahler Symphony No. 4 and Rückert-Lieder concert. Claudio Abbado conducts the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in 2009. Magdalena Kožená sings mezzo-soproano. TV direction by Michael Beyer. Released  2010, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio surround sound. Grade: 

When you first encounter Magdalena Kožená here, you might be startled by her exaggerated facial expressions (geared to the live venue and not to the HDVD camera). You'll get over it as you listen to her warm and intelligent singing, which the Lucerne audience clearly loved. The Symphony No. 4, a relatively short, happy work in contrast to the previous Mahler gigantics, provides some Weltschmertz analgesic. All this looks and sounds great in my modest home theater (especially using headphones), but audiophiles have criticized the surround-sound set up. For reservations mentioned,  I give the grade of "A-" to both titles on this disc.  For song lovers, the Rückert-Lieder might be worth a higher grade.  Gramophone in February 2011 gave this recording a glowing review, but you can't tell if the reviewer watched the DVD or Blu-ray version. Nigel Simeone writing in the International Record Review said "This is a DVD to cherish." But he apparently didn't know the title is available in Blu-ray HDVD!

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