It is right to adjudge Belgian conductor
Philippe Herreweghe an expert choral conductor, and he is most highly regarded for his impeccable readings of Baroque and Renaissance composers such as
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Mozart,
Palestrina, and
Rameau. Like his colleague
Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Herreweghe doesn't want to be pinned to down to Alte Musik (i.e., ancient music) forever, and he has recorded a great deal of
Mendelssohn, whose work does relate back to the older models with which
Herreweghe is most readily associated. However, in time
Herreweghe has begun to record
Bruckner, and with Harmonia Mundi's Gustav Mahler: Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Herreweghe takes on the most sacred of post-Romantic cattle. His soloists are
Sarah Connolly and
Dietrich Henschel, both of whom sound fine in this music.
Connolly does impart to her singing a good deal of expression and characterization, particularly in "Das himmlische Leben." Likewise, note
Connolly's tenderness of delivery in "Trost in Unglück," excellent by anyone's standards.
Dietrich Henschel gives a robust reading of the seven lieder assigned to him, although had he a choice perhaps
Henschel would have preferred another go at "Revelge," which threatens to roll off the rails in a couple of spots.