Rückert-Lieder (Songs after Rückert) is a song cycle for voice and orchestra or piano, completed in 1902 by Austro-Bohemian composer Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911). The five songs in the cycle are based on poems written by Friedrich Rückert. "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen", rich in lush, late-Romantic harmonies and beautiful melodic lines, must rank as one of Mahler's finest songs, and often performed separately. Mahler orchestrated four of the five songs, "Liebst du um Schönheit" was orchestrated by Max Puttmann. The average playing time is 17 minutes (AllMusic). For me, no-one comes close to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in this cycle, but he decided not to include "Liebst du um Schönheit" in my favourite recording of his. So I picked an alternative from the dozens of recordings in my collection: Brigitte Fassbaender with the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin under Riccardo Chailly on a Decca/London CD.
