It soon attracted distinguished conductors: Gustav Mahler first directed the group in 1897 and premiered his Symphony No. 4 and Symphony No. 8 with the orchestra, while Bruno Walter directed the orchestra for the posthumous premiere of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.
Notable examples of the orchestral song cycle in Germany and Austria include Richard Strauss' Vier letzte Lieder and several cycles by Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde, Des Knaben Wundernhorn; Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; and Kindertotenlieder.
In concert, she performed Das Lied von der Erde by Mahler with the Orchestre de Paris directed by Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestre national de Lille conducted by Jean-Claude Casadesus.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Otto von Bismarck | Der Spiegel | Alexander von Humboldt | Der Rosenkavalier | Wernher von Braun | Carl Maria von Weber | Der Ring des Nibelungen | Rotenburg an der Fulda | Herbert von Karajan | Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher | John von Neumann | Spittal an der Drau | Lars von Trier | Limburg an der Lahn | Ferdinand von Mueller | Weiden in der Oberpfalz | Paul von Hindenburg | Alexander von Humboldt Foundation | Heinrich von Kleist | Anne Sofie von Otter | Erich von Stroheim | Dillingen an der Donau | Van der Graaf Generator | Max von Sydow | Justus von Liebig | Kirchdorf an der Krems | Hermann von Helmholtz | Franz von Papen | Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg |
His famous Decca Das Lied von der Erde with Kathleen Ferrier, Julius Patzak, and the Vienna Philharmonic was made in May, 1952, and he recorded it again in studio with the New York Philharmonic in 1960.
Following several concert seasons as an oratorio and song recital specialist, including the American premier of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, he traveled to Germany where he made his operatic debut in Hamburg as Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca in 1927.