When Is A Song Cycle Not A Symphony ?

I don't know exactly how much truth there is in the tale that Mahler resisted calling Das Lied Von Der Erde his ninth symphony because of the superstition that a composer's ninth symphony will be his last. He did after all compose a ninth symphony which did in fact turn out to be his final completed one. It is certainly true that Das Lied ( the song of the earth ) has a symphonic scope and utilises many of the themes and techniques of his symphonies. But that is also true of earlier verse settings such as the Wunderhorn poems. The poems set in Das Lied are translated from Chinese sources. The music has only the faintest of traces of the oriental but it is distinctly pastoral in feel. There are themes of varying seriousness and light heartedness but the final farewell is by far the lengthiest setting and could be taken as some sort of goodbye to the world from the composer with a hint of resignation and acceptance rather than a railing against the fading of thee light. This is a budget recording with relatively unknown performers but they cope admirably. The solo singers are tenor Thomas Harper and mezzo Ruxandra Donose and the National Symphony Orchestra of Irelend are conducted by Michael Halasz.