It’s an interesting idea for a CD to couple an exuberant early Strauss tone poem with a extremely introspective Mahler song cycle and that’s what L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal have done for their upcoming release with conductor Rafael Payare. I’m not especially familiar with Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben Op. 40 but it sounds suitably Straussian and it gets a full blooded treatment from Payare with the solo violin part played quite beautifully by Concertmaster Andrew Wan.
The main interest for me though is the Mahler. It’s the Rückert Lieder sung by soprano Sonya Yoncheva. It’s quite interesting. Yoncheva’s voice is brighter and perhaps lighter than I’m accustomed to which really stands out on “Um Mitternacht” which is quite restrained and almost friendly. It’s interesting to contrast it with Christine Schäfer’s much more dramatic Berlin recording (which is also a minute longer!) let alone with naturally darker voices. The “light and bright” treatment works very well with some of the other songs though; especially “Liebst du um Schönheit”. I’m not sure this is my favourite Rückert Lieder recording but it’s an interesting approach and well worth a listen.
The recording was made at la Maison symphonique de Montréal in March 2023 and it sounds just fine. It’s being released on March 15th as a physical CD and in MP3 and FLAC (CD quality and 96kHz/24 bit) formats. I listened to CD resolution digital.
Catalogue information: Pentatone PTC5187201
operaramblings 
Heldenleben is not an early work. Strauss composed 8 tone poems in the 19th century before coming to opera in the 20th century. Heldenleben (his 8th) refers back to Don Juan, Don Quixote (coming to the TSO next month), Zarathustra, Death & Transfiguration, its grandiose title daring to propose a retrospective summation from Strauss at the advanced age of 34, making references to his own music (as we see again with the Four Last Songs, that quote the same tone poems of his youth). What’s the German word for “cojones”?