June 26, 1957
GUSTAV MAHLER – LUCRETIA WEST: (From a music review by Minos Dounias of a concert by the Athens State Orchestra): «We had the pleasure of experiencing a rare musical event. The American contralto Lucretia West presented Mahler’s ‘Songs on the Death of Children’… One would have to go a long way before finding a singer of non-German origin who has the ability to articulate the language so beautifully and so poetically. Equally astounding was the interpretation of Mahler’s music, in which the support of the orchestra and conductor were excellent. There is always the risk of a tone of desperation affecting the interpretation of these sad songs. Yet even here, West’s passionate singing went beyond pain; its overriding force was a religious endurance and a faith in immortality – in accordance with the deeper sense of [Friedrich] Ruckert’s poems. Strauss also deals with immortality in his symphonic poem ‘Death and Transfiguration.’ However, after Mahler’s austerity and sincerity, Strauss’s musical language appears theatrical and pompous. It has been correctly claimed that while Mahler saw the tragic depths of our age, Strauss showed its superficial brilliance, the blinding surface of things.»
