A Guided Tour of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, courtesy of the Atheist Codger

In this saddest of all music we'll hear baritone Peter Mattei with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, led by Fabio Luisi.
I enthusiastically recommend the video of this performance: • Peter Mattei - Kindert...

[@Ivan_1791]

Finally I have some time to check this video. I'm really glad you decided to give this marvelous set of songs a shot, I was interested about what your view on it would be and I can say I learned a bunch of things after watching the video. Thank you for this gem.
My experience with this masterpiece last year was quite short lived but really intense (even more so now while I'm seeing your analysis and highlights). I remember crying so many times with the first and third songs, being fascinated by the haunting ending of the second, feeling physical pain with the raw honesty of the third or the ending of the fourth, feeling horrified by the harsh portrayal of madness and grief in the fifth song to later be rewarded with one of the most uplifting and heartwarming endings you could expect in such a dark composition.
Since the first day I listened to it this set became my favourite work by Mahler and one of my favourite pieces of musi ever. It let me explore extreme emotions I didn't even know existed, it made me understand the human condition to a higher degree. I still can't imagine how Mahler felt when his daughter died; because if 5 songs managed to break me I can't imagine how I would have felt if I would have been in his place, in a real life sitiation of extreme grief. The only song that has managed to break me as much was the 3rd song of Brahms' Op.121, "Oh Tod". You can really feel a personal pain in that one.
For what I have heard it seems that Mahler left a sketch with an almost 12 tone cluster chord that was meant to represent his agony after the death of his daughter. It amazes me to what extent ordering sounds can lead to such deep ways of communicating emotions and ideas, sometimes going to some metaphisical regions we don't fully understand like what Beethoven stumbled upon in his last compositions.
On a quick note I wanted to say that the treble wind instruments at 22:26 might represent a distorted depiction of the kinds instead of being a cruel irony.
Thank you for enhancing this musical experience, I'm sure I'm not alone among people who appreciated this video.

[@mikesimpson3207]

So good. I think this was the first Mahler piece I ever heard, certainly a strong first impression! It reminds me of Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, both very much in the category of masterpieces you can't listen to too often because they're depressing.

[@David_Goza]

I was glad when I was finished with this project; it was a difficult one to get through. At least Das Lied - which I've taken up work on again - is more philosophical in nature, its pain tempered with lofty thinking.