Listened to this yesterday, and I have to say that it's a non-contender. Nagano and his orchestra are pretty unremarkable here, very much middle-of-the-road (if not downright dull) with no revelations or insights, but at least he doesn't get in the way of the singers (nor does he seem to help them, either). Gerhaher, as always, has exemplary diction without ever sounding pedantic (unlike what I often find with Fischer-Dieskau). His tendency of late to croon and attack soft notes with a straight tone (bringing in the natural vibrato later) bothers me a bit, but otherwise he sounds great, and his 'Der Abschied' is passionately sung. But the deal-breaker here is the tenor, Klaus Florian Vogt, who's just totally inadequate. His overly sweet and lyric approach is completely at odds with the demands of this work, particularly in the first song. To put it bluntly, I've never heard a more prissy rendition of the tenor songs, and that's enough to rule this recording out as a general recommendation, despite the excellence of Gerhaher.
Russell
