A great performance
While there are other wonderful performances of tese works, Klemperer & Wunderlich and Ludwig are the equal of any. Baker/Haitink being the only other great contender . They're each great in their own way.

My favorite version of Das Lied
Isn't it interesting how differently people "hear" music? I thought the James King--Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau--Bernstein the least good of all versions I've heard and I have something like 6. Great conducting is uppermost, but without singers who can mesh technique with the emotional demands of the music and the poetry, no recording will stand out. Fischer-Dieskau, while a distinguished singer, was not the right guy for the job. My favorite is the Fritz Wunderlich--Christa Ludwig--Klemperer, followed by the Ferrier--Patzak--Walter recording. The Klemperer has everything, the beauty of the voices, especially Wunderlich and majestic sound even though it seems to have been patched together over a considerable period of time. The Walter stunned me, the first time I'd ever heard the work--the pathos and range of emotion of the vocals by Ferrier and Patzak, although each of these singers had, for me, voices that were not conventionally beautifully. Patzak sounds like a man who has lived fully (whether he did or not, I have no clue). As has been said previously Ferrier's performance is heart-rending, full of pathos.

My favorite "Das Lied Von der Erde"
If I pick just one version of "Das Lied von der Erde", I'd probably choose this one. The singing is first-rate and the recorded sound is excellent.

Fortunately, I don't have such limitations and I can enjoy the wonderful Walter/Ferrier/Patzak version. The recorded sound is mono but it a wonderful interpretation.

Those are my two favorite recordings of "Das Lied".

Mahler as an Expressionist
I'm an Idiot. Still I can't think that this is Mahler as Expressionistic as he ever got. I hate musical Expressionism. I Love this though! From the first movement until the end, this is a work that I often return to, you can really hear the pain that Mahler was going through. The recording is great as well. I hope this helps.

The Most Poetic Das Lied von der Erde
Otto Klemperer was a majestic force of nature during the 50s to the 70s who offered one of the most old-fashioned, granitic interpretations of classical music. His Beethoven stands perhaps at the pantheon of the composer's greatest aural representations, and his Wagner was always correct. Even his Bach, conducted in the grand tradition of the Romantics, sounds ravishingly albeit with all the HIP recordings flooding the market. That said, I believe that Klemperer's strengths as a conductor worked best with his interpretation of the works of Gustav Mahler. It was not because he was Jewish, although Christa Ludwig once said in an interview that this was the main reason why he had such a great affinity with the great composer's works. It was more because Klemperer came from an old tradition of conducting that while rendered obsolete by many of today's musicians, brings out the spirit of the score without eschewing transparency and detail.

It goes to say that this is perhaps the most spiritual and poetic account of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde ever committed to records. I own over 10 recordings of Das Lied, and this is the one I return to the most. Klemperer had an affinity with Mahler's understanding of the tragic and the rapturous, and perhaps he also knew what it meant to assimilate the Oriental traditions that Mahler imbued in this extremely personal work. I regard it to be his very best orchestral and musical work, much better than all of his symphonies combined. Although others would disagree with me, the Das Lied von der Erde has so much wisdom in it, and sums up in a few lines such as "ewig ewig" the meaning of life as it meant to Mahler. Klemperer understood that philosophy, and paints this recording with that Mahlerian spirit that makes this interpretation so special. Listen to the outbursts of the Philharmonia in the Trinklied, or listen to the gentle, wavelike entrance of the strings in Der Einsame im Herbst. Or yet again, why don't you listen to the opening bars of the Abschied and listen to how successfully Klemperer imbues the music with a touch of tragedy and abandon. It is simply ravishing what he was able to do with this orchestra, and bravo indeed for what is one of the greatest recordings ever committed to disc.

The soloists here deserve special mention too. Has there ever been a better mezzo than Christa Ludwig? Better yet, among all the mezzos who have sung the work, does anyone capture the soul of the work while at the same time giving the lines a sense of security, vocal warmth, and tonal beauty that we never heard in Ferrier and Baker? I think Christa Ludwig surpasses all the altos and baritones who attempt to sing this work, and while I still love what Ferrier, Baker, Dieskau, DeYoung, and other such great singers do to this score, Ludwig is perhaps my favorite. Her singing in Der Einsame in Herbst has a plaintive quality to it that brings tears to my eyes everytime I listen to this ravishingly beautiful movement. Her singing in the Abschied is the interpretation upon which all others are judged. Brava brava brava!

As for the tenor, I don't think there has been a voice that has so easily sung the demanding, yet short parts so beautifully. Wunderlich was a miracle who had not only the beauty of tone, but a large one as well. He easily beats King and Heppner in the tenor songs. How fortunate we are that his voice was captured on recording before his tragic death.

My recommendation? Buy it! This truly is one of the greatest recordings of the century.

Of course, you can't have just one Das Lied von der Erde. Another Lied that I would recommend is Kubelik's Audite recording with Dame Janet Baker and Waldemar Kmentt. This truly is Mahler at its finest!