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Schumann: Liederkreis Op. 24 & Kernerlieder, Op. 35

Leif Ove Andsnes

Classical - Released April 19, 2019 | harmonia mundi

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Justinus Kerner, a poet and a practicing physician fascinated with occultism, somnambulism and magnetism, inspired young Schumann who, at just seventeen, set to music the singular poet’s verses. He would eventually come back to it in 1840 with a strange cycle, “a masterpiece of dereliction” (according to Brigitte François-Sappey) he wrote as an exorcism for his mental illness: through a suite of twelve poems (Zwölf Gedichte Op. 35, better known as “Kerner Lieder”), Schumann projects his own destiny, questioning himself, trying to understand why sadness overwhelms his soul even though he’s in-love and newlywed.This pain produced a series of masterpieces that are still admired for their musical and philosophical reach. Liederkreis Op. 24 also dates back to 1840, a surprisingly prolific year for Schumann who composed like a mad man; his first cycle of lieder based on poems by Heinrich Heine about love and its inevitable consequences: expectations, hope, disillusionment and farewells.The result of many years of collaboration between Matthias Goerne and Leif Ove Andsnes, this album, recorded in Berlin in 2018, will undoubtedly be a landmark in Schumannian interpretation. The German baritone’s voice has grown deeper with age, giving a unique intensity rich with doubt and desolation, an impression reinforced by the strength and intensity of the Norwegian pianist’s performance. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Romances

Emmanuel Pahud

Classical - Released May 5, 2023 | Warner Classics

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There is little flute music from the middle of the 19th century. The notes for this release by flutist Emmanuel Pahud and pianist Eric Le Sage point out that this was likely because the flute was in a technological trough during this period, with the advances that led to the modern flute still several decades in the future. Not a one of the works on this album was written for the flute. The three Romances, Op. 94, of Robert Schumann were for the oboe, while Clara Schumann's set was composed for the violinist Joseph Joachim; six lieder by Fanny Mendelssohn fit well on the flute, and Felix Mendelssohn's Sonata in F major was for violin originally. Nowhere is it stated whose transcriptions these are; perhaps they are Pahud's own, although the notes refer to Jean-Pierre Rampal's transcription that brought the Robert Schumann Romances into the flute repertory. At any rate, a flutist of the late 19th century would have found this project entirely congenial. There are several attractive features here, beginning with the graceful, thoroughly French-school readings by Pahud; his agile, joyous reading of Felix Mendelssohn's sonata finale is one of the highlights. The pieces by the female spouses are also unusually strong; the Romances of Clara Schumann, writing for the leading violinists of the age, are certainly not unknown, but they're still not the commonplace of the concert stage they should be, and their rather delicate tone comes off well on the flute. Warner Classics' thoroughly idiomatic sound from the Namur Concert Hall in Belgium is yet another draw on an album that anyone can enjoy.© James Manheim /TiVo
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A Jacqueline du Pré Recital

Jacqueline du Pré

Classical - Released October 6, 2017 | Warner Classics

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Schumann: Alle Lieder

Christian Gerhaher

Classical - Released September 3, 2021 | Sony Classical

Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or de l'année
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Fauré & Schumann

Marie-Pierre Langlamet

Classical - Released April 2, 2021 | Indésens

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A Jacqueline du Pré Recital

Jacqueline du Pré

Classical - Released January 1, 1982 | Warner Classics

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Brahms: Vier Ernste Gesänge, Op. 121

Marie-Claude Chappuis

Classical - Released May 26, 2023 | Prospero Classical

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Schubert: Lieder

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Classical - Released November 1, 1983 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

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Robert Schumann: Complete Piano Trios, Quartet & Quintet

Trio Wanderer

Chamber Music - Released April 30, 2021 | harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or - Diapason d'or / Arte
Constantly shifting from the most impulsive exuberance to the most restrained meditation, from the most intense passion to the most innocent tenderness, this programme forms a representative panorama of Schumann’s chamber music. Going beyond the Piano Trios, which already give us a fully rounded account of Schumann, the Trio Wanderer have invited their favourite partners to join them for their interpretation of two supreme masterpieces, the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet. © harmonia mundi
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Diaries: Schumann

Tiffany Poon

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | PentaTone

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Physical buyers of the album will get reflections from Tiffany Poon about "feeling all the feels" and other similarly general concepts (the diaries, apparently, are hers rather than Schumann's), but this young pianist turns out to have a real feel for Schumann, and this release, her first on the PentaTone label, promises much. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of available recordings of the three Schumann works here, but Poon succeeds in standing out from the crowd. The most remarkable performance of all is one of the most popular works, Kinderszenen, Op. 15, and within that, one can sample the single most beloved Scene of Childhood, Träumerei, Op. 15/7. Poon, in a world full of heavily rubato-laden interpretations of these pieces, takes Robert Schumann's advice to Clara to heart and plays them not far from fixed tempos, but there is nothing dispassionate about her performance, which makes a great deal out of very small gestures. Later in the program, which builds in intensity as it proceeds, Poon unleashes some drama in the Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, works that are close to Schumann's heart and expressive of his fantasy life. Even here, everything is under perfect control. It has been a very long time since such freshly conceived and brilliantly executed Schumann has graced CD players and hard drives, and audiences responded by placing this album on classical best-seller lists in early 2024.© James Manheim /TiVo
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R. Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie, Tod und Verklärung (Live)

Mariss Jansons

Classical - Released December 30, 2016 | BR-Klassik

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason - Choc de Classica - 5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik
Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra have recorded the tone poems of Richard Strauss for BR Klassik since 2010, and they have already presented the popular Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegels Merry Pranks), Don Juan, and Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), in impressive performances for the German label. This 2016 album offers two more Strauss favorites, the musical representation of a mountain hike, Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), and the moving depiction of a man's last moments, Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration). These works reflect dramatically different sides of Strauss, where the virtuosic music and opulent orchestration of Eine Alpensinfonie suggest a robust extroversion, while the deathbed ruminations of Tod und Verklärung and its final vision of transcendence are more introspective. Jansons elicits powerful playing from the orchestra, and draws out resplendent sonorities that are thrilling for their brilliance and force. Yet Strauss' softer music may hold more expressive depth, particularly the tone painting of "Night" at the beginning of Ein Alpensinfonie, and the fragile, hesitant opening of Tod und Verklärung, which are among the subtlest and most affecting passages in all of Strauss' works. The sound of this standard CD is rich and vibrant, and practically every detail can be heard clearly.© TiVo
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Encounter

Igor Levit

Classical - Released September 11, 2020 | Sony Classical

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or / Arte
The latest album ‘Encounter’ by the German-Russian pianist is a particularly astonishing one, blending the diverse works of great composers such as Bach, Brahms and Morton Feldman. While the 2020 health crisis, due to the covid19 virus, has caused great anxiety among the general population it has also ignited the imagination of artists and musicians alike. Locked down in his apartment like so many us, the pianist Igor Levitt broadcasted a daily, live performance on his social media, even going as far as playing a 20 hour piece, Vexations by Erik Satie. ‘Encounter’, the product of Levitt’s self-isolation during lockdown, brings together an intelligent and pleasing array of composers. From Bach arranged by Busoni at the Palais de Mari, or the latest work from Morton Feldman for solo piano, to Brahms arranged by Reger, these are intimate connections between composers, as much as they are moments of solidarity at a time or great loneliness and isolation. Levitt’s poignant introspection and devotion to humanity shines throughout his album. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Da Pacem

Ricercar Consort

Classical - Released March 8, 2024 | Mirare

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Director Philippe Pierlot and the Ricercar Consort here set Heinrich Schütz's music against the background of the Thirty Years' War that raged over much of his career, suggesting that "[Schütz's] music conveyed people's hopes for a fair and lasting peace that can still resonate in our ears today." It is not crystal clear that Schütz's hearers would have understood the pieces this way, but it is possible, and it is worth accepting for the sake of argument as the Schütz portion of the program begins with the motet Da pacem. Pierlot and company use one person per part throughout, draining energy from the Geistliche Chormusik and Cantiones Sacrae pieces but working well enough in the simple short motets that are at the heart of this program. One might reflect that there was a war on, and even if Schütz's music was performed this way, that might not have been what he would have wanted. Nevertheless, this is a matter of listener choice; the small motets are quite powerful, and each set of Schütz pieces is elegantly introduced by a five-part instrumental work of Johann Schein. Mirare's sound from the Abbaye de La Lucerne gives the whole a luminous quality. Listeners who like the madrigalistic, more delicate type of one-per-part release will be delighted with this release, which inarguably does its bit for world peace.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Strauss, R.: Four Last Songs; Orchestral Works

Gundula Janowitz

Classical - Released January 1, 1974 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

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Schubert: Lieder with Orchestra

Munich Radio Orchestra

Classical - Released October 6, 2023 | BR-Klassik

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One might react to this album with initial annoyance and ask whether it is really necessary to hear orchestrated versions of Schubert's supremely pianistic songs. It may come as a surprise, then, to find that most of these Lieder with Orchestra were arranged by great composers. They include Benjamin Britten, Jacques Offenbach, and Max Reger, who took on the job because, he said, he hated to hear a piano-accompanied song on an orchestral program. Perhaps the most surprising name to find is that of Anton Webern, but his arrangements are not the minimal, pointillistic things one might expect; he wrote these arrangements as a way of studying Schubert's music, and they are quite straightforward. Indeed, it is somewhat difficult to distinguish the arrangers simply by listening to the music; Schubert's melodic lines tend to suggest distinctive solutions. Perhaps Reger's are a bit more lush than the others, although his version of Erlkönig, D. 328, is one of the few numbers here that just doesn't work (there is no way to replicate the percussive quality of the accompaniment). As for the performances as such, Benjamin Appl is clearly an important rising baritone, and he has a wonderful natural quality in Schubert. An oddball release like this might seem an unusual choice for a singer in early career, but he contributes his own notes, and he seems to have undertaken the project out of genuine enthusiasm for the material. At the very least, he has brought some intriguing pieces out of the archives and given them highly listenable performances. The Munich Radio Orchestra, under the young Oscar Jockel, is suitably restrained and keeps out of Appl's way. This release made classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Echo: Schubert, Loewe, Schumann & Wolf

Georg Nigl

Classical - Released May 5, 2023 | Alpha Classics

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 4F de Télérama
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Maria Mater Meretrix

Anna Prohaska

Classical - Released April 14, 2023 | Alpha Classics

Hi-Res Booklet
By no means should you be expecting the "typical" productions we so often associate with the violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Together with the soprano Anna Prohaska, she has developed a highly original programme which brings violin and vocals together. In this respect, while we were delighted to find a recording of the beautiful and all too rare Maria-Triptychon, which Frank Martin wrote in 1968 for Irmgard Seefried and her violinist husband Wolfgang Schneiderhan, we wonder whether it was really necessary to dismantle this polyptych whose three movements tell the story of the mother of Christ with perfect fluidity.It must be said that the entirety of this unusual album feels rather all over the place, very much like György Kurtág who unsurprisingly features in this curious inventory of a thousand years of music, from Hildegard von Bingen to the present day.We need to look elsewhere for the main theme and, more precisely, at the questioning of the two musicians around the subject of female emancipation and “the sensitive exploration of their common experiences as women evolving in the current music industry.” This quest for content, set to music around the figure of Mary, evokes a mixture of shimmering colours created by the Camerata de Berne orchestra, and depicts a journey through the ages and arias which incorporates so many of the contradictions of human nature. We highly recommend that you immerse yourself fully, and listen to these twenty tracks from beginning to end. This way you will be better able to appreciate this strangely fascinating patchwork, which feels like a work of art in its own right. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Bach: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 by Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer

Classical - Released March 4, 2023 | Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording

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Robert Schumann: Piano Works

Llyr Williams

Classical - Released January 12, 2024 | Signum Records

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Pianist Llŷr Williams has built a following with recordings of Beethoven and Schubert, and with this double album, he plows forward into Schumann; the works on the album are mostly early, so one assumes that this is the first in a cycle. The appearance of the album on classical best-seller charts in early 2024 should encourage the folks at Signum Classics to proceed. Williams is a sober player whose style may remind listeners of a certain age of Rudolf Serkin. He has remarkable control in the larger pieces that frame the program here, the Fantasy, Op. 17, and the Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26. He certainly doesn't lack control in the smaller pieces, either. The issue is that these pieces, especially lately, have been treated, backed by Schumann's own writings and programmatic descriptions, as examples of free fantasy. It is not that Williams' playing is inexpressive, but he tends to let the fantastic in Schumann's music speak for itself. Sample the brief "Ungeduldig" ("Impatient") fourth movement of the Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, which few would call impatient. Williams' playing in the Papillons, Op. 2, is exquisitely delicate, and throughout, there is a fine sense of line. He has an approach that is unorthodox in Schumann, and that is all to the good. However, listeners should do some sampling to see how well they take to it. Producer Judith Sherman records the album well at a pair of locations at St. Paul's School and the Wyastone Estate, capturing the clarity of Williams' performances.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Winter Journeys

Lautten Compagney

Classical - Released October 20, 2023 | deutsche harmonia mundi

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