Review: Yajie Zhang and Hartmut Open the Kassel Lied Festival

Mahler Songs Are More Than Just Songs

LIED FESTIVAL: Yajie Zhang and Hartmut Höll Dedicate the Festival Opening to a Composer

Kassel – The opening of the Kassel Song Festival on May 1st was dedicated to composer Gustav Mahler. Right from the start, the four “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” established a connection to Kassel. Mahler had composed the songs here in 1885 during his time as a conductor.

But it wasn’t just the local connection that made this a powerful welcome by mezzo-soprano Yajie Zhang and pianist Hartmut Höll for the 80 concertgoers at UK14. Even in this early song cycle, key elements of Mahler’s song artistry are already present. There is the reference to folk poetry, which is expressed in the texts Mahler himself wrote. And there is the thematic design that already hints at an expansion into the symphonic. Mahler often reused themes—or even entire songs—in his symphonies. Conversely, all of his song cycles were later orchestrated.

At the Lied Festival, however, the original versions were performed—with voice accompanied by piano. But the Chinese-born mezzo-soprano and Hartmut Höll at the piano infused their interpretations with a song-like intimacy and a distinctly symphonic bearing. With her rich voice, shifting between lyrical delicacy and operatic dynamism, and her emphasis on diction, the young singer—already enjoying an impressive career—brought a nearly incantatory intensity to Mahler’s Lieder.

Her partner on the piano, considered one of the outstanding Lied pianists of our time, combined expressive power with clarity. The lively and light “Ging heut morgen übers Feld”, a theme also used by Mahler in his First Symphony, stood in stark contrast to the highly dramatic “Ich hab’ ein Glühend Messer in meiner Brust.”

More sober and marked by emotional intensity were the “Kindertotenlieder”, set to poems by Friedrich Rückert. In the dramatic finale “In diesem Wetter”, the interpretation transcended the confines of song.

Mahler’s “Lied von der Erde”, based on paraphrased classical Chinese poetry, is a symphony made of songs. In the nearly 30-minute final movement “Der Abschied”, Mahler fuses luminous experiences of nature with dark emotional states. Here, the piano became a powerful and at times soloistic presence, while the singing combined beauty and resignation in an intense way. It was a magnificent finale to a special evening, received with enthusiastic applause and concluded with two encores.

WERNER FRITSCH

Saturday, May 3, 2025

HNA Newspaper, Kassel

(Translated from the German)