"Powerfully voiced and vividly expressive contralto Sara Couden brings extra intensity” to Mahler

Sara Couden with Donato Cabrera and the California Symphony | Courtesy of California Symphony

“The singer was the powerfully voiced and vividly expressive contralto Sara Couden, who brings extra intensity to any assignment she undertakes. She gave each of these songs, from the emotionally yearning “Laue Sommernacht” (Warm summer’s night) to the coy and coquettish ‘Bei dir ist es traut’ (With you, it is comfortable), a character of its own. They have a more direct and folkish air than Gustav’s songs, particularly “In meines Vaters Garten” (In my father’s garden), which is emphatically strophic in verse if less so melodically.”