Mahler: Complete Songs for medium voice and piano

Anybody familiar with the idiom of Mahler's Lieder will possibly be struck by the unmahlerian language of Alma's Lieder. The choice of text, the melodic line and the piano writing are evidence that Alma's mentality and her musical background were leading her in a different direction. Robert Schollum stresses the influence of Zemlinsky, who passed on the influences of Wagner (harmonically) and Brahms (formally). "A comparison of Zemlinsky's own Lieder with those of his pupil reveals a common sound world, committed to tonality but iridescent in its harmony. The struggle to reach beyond tonality is evident…" (Herta Blaukopf)