Editing Joel Hill's comments:

>I found a copy at the public library and checked it out.  It is the
>Giulini/Fassbaender/Araiza CD. W ith Das Lied, I seem to be put off by
>the singing

I have that recording and I'm not surprised the singing puts him off.
Fassbaender late in career makes some really ugly sounds.  Giulini was,
for reasons that escape me, in love with her voice.  Araiza could barely
cope (and I do like Araiza elsewhere and love the younger Fassbaender).
I used to like Giulini's role but I find increasingly that he makes the
piece sound too pretty, glossing over its rougher edges and smoothing
over the more troubling aspects of the orchestration.  I finally realized
fully what bothered me with the latter when Chailly did the piece here.

Robin Mitchell-Boyask
Temple University
Philadelphia PA 19122