iven the centrality of Vienna in the musical history of the last two and a half centuries, programming a concert series with Austria as its focus is not exactly heavy lifting. Still, the Austrian Cultural Forum has been offering inventive programs of old and new music since it opened its sleek, intimate chamber music hall a few seasons ago, and it has made an annual series of thoughtful, focused vocal recitals a part of its mission.

This year the series is devoted to Mahler, a logical enough choice given his way with a vocal line, particularly when the text is either sublimely innocent, wrenchingly emotional or just plain morbid. Thomas Bagwell, an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and the director and pianist of the forum's vocal series, selected works that touch on all those qualities for the first installment, on Tuesday evening.

The first half of the program, in which Mr. Bagwell accompanied Meagan Miller, a soprano, offered some of Mahler's "Knaben Wunderhorn" settings, which range from the fanciful and wryly amusing ("Lob des hohen Verstandes," about a singing contest between a nightingale and a cuckoo, judged by a donkey) to the hopeless ("Der Tamboursg'sell," about a military drummer about to be hanged). After the intermission, Robert Gardner, a baritone, took up "Kindertotenlieder," Mahler's reflection (by way of Friedrich Rückert's poetry) on children's deaths.

"Kindertotenlieder" and most of the "Knaben Wunderhorn" selections are best known as orchestral songs. Mr. Bagwell's argument is that when heard in a simpler context, with just voice and piano, the texts come through more powerfully. It's a dubious argument: given Mahler's ear for the subtleties of instrumental color, and his penchant for orchestrational lushness, this clarity comes at a significant cost.

But there were moments when Mr. Bagwell's argument seemed to have merit. In the five "Kindertotenlieder" songs, Mr. Gardner offset the music's broader gestures with a measure of delicacy that would be difficult to produce in an orchestral context. Ms. Miller, too, used the intimacy of the setting to create finely calibrated characterizations. Both singers are young and have attractive voices, and both sing with a keen awareness of the text, which was clearly central to Mr. Bagwell's project. And Mr. Bagwell's nicely shaded playing allowed the singers ample room to move, interpretively speaking.

The program is repeated tonight. The remaining concerts in the Mahler series at the Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 East 52nd Street, are on March 1 and 3 and May 8 and 10. (212) 319-5300.