This eleven hour box set marks the 90th birthday of German mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, whose phenomenal career, which ran from 1950 to 1990, still inspires admiration in her colleagues (of course) and a growing number of music fans. She has collaborated with the greatest musicians of her age, most notably Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Otto Klemperer. She also shone in the genre of the Lied, with a brilliance comparable to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's or Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's – and of course she regularly performed with both – and these recordings with Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons bear witness to her talents. A note on the brand-new releases that form part of this edition: some performances are published here for the first time*: these are Lieder with orchestra by Alban Berg (tracks 144 to 146), Max Reger (track 137) and Richard Wagner (track 124) as well as Lieder with piano by Hugo Wolf (track 14), Franz Schubert (tracks 15 and 16, 62 to 66) and Stille Nacht (track 89), which were left aside when they were first recorded, either because of the limits of the 33rpm format, or just because of a decision by the artistic director. This collection also sees some pieces re-published for the first time since their release on LP, such as the piece by Gluck (track 88), several of Brahms' Lieder (tracks 15 to 19, tracks 104 and 107). The recital of Brahms which Christa Ludwig would record alongside Walter Berry appears here in its entirety for the first time since it was first released (from track 67 to track 89, see above). © Qobuz

The mystery of the ballad comes from the way it is told.’ (Goethe). Epic to the point of hallucination, this genre calls for skill in narrative, word-painting, evocation. And it is as a peerless storyteller that Stéphane Degout tackles this repertory which the German Romantics raised to unequalled heights. Who would have believed, before listening to this disc, that a French baritone could pay such eloquent tribute to the language of Goethe? © harmonia mundi

His debut recording devoted to Schumann offered a brilliant opportunity to discover the name of Samuel Hasselhorn, a young baritone deeply invested in the art of lieder. With his collaborator Joseph Middleton, he now turns to Schubert, in an insightful programme evoking some of the themes dear to the Viennese master of song: nature, night-time, parting, absence, and death. Both essential and less familiar songs are featured side by side in this poignant depiction of profound self-reflection that can rank among the most moving examples of what the Romantic temperament has ever produced. © harmonia mundi

In anticipation of the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner's birth, Marek Janowski and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra embarked on an ambitious project to record the ten major music dramas for PentaTone; the recording of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was made on June 3, 2011, as a concert performance without costumes or staging, the better to concentrate all energies on the music. This is a stunning package, presented on four hybrid multichannel SACDs in a thick hardcover book that is replete with background notes and the libretto. Janowski has distinguished himself with his previous releases with this audiophile label, and his reading of Meistersinger is entirely at the service of the score, without any idiosyncrasies or novelties, and the orchestra plays with equal seriousness and dedication. The experienced cast is captivating and the singers audibly inhabit their roles, even without the benefit of a full production. Especially noteworthy is the charismatic singing by the leads, tenor Robert Dean Smith as Walther von Stolzing, soprano Edith Haller as Eva, baritone Albert Dohmen as Hans Sachs, and tenor Peter Sonn as David, who embody the most appealing of Wagner's characters. The sound is superb, offering close-up microphone placement for the vocalists, but also ample coverage of the orchestra and choir, so the illusion of being physically present is quite successful, especially when the music is heard over headphones. For newcomers, this is an excellent introduction to Wagner and to Die Meistersinger, and it is sure to win many admirers, even among connoisseurs who already own a cherished version.© TiVo

"What could be more fascinating than the play of light and shadow? To descend into sensual melancholy, to dare to be fragile and to reveal oneself in its depths and inner nuances. I find that one way of illustrating this complexity of the senses is to compare two musical and pictorial schools: French Impressionism and German Expressionism. The colours and timbres employed by these two schools have long fascinated me just as much as the extreme refinement and detail of the paintings and compositions themselves. Each painter and composer explored the depths of the human soul in his or her own manner. This programme of works composed between 1899-1914 that laid the foundations for modern music is intended as a bridge between Expressionism and Impressionism. This parallel does not claim to illustrate their differences but rather to highlight their common points, to reveal the voluptuous and almost decadent sensuality of these two currents as well as their geographical and stylistic contrasts" (Coline Dutilleul) © Fuga Libera

Dietrich Buxtehude is a composer whose reputation is on the rise as performers look beyond the organ works that Bach took a 300-mile stroll to hear, and find a wealth of other riches. This disc, the second of a pair issued by its performers covering the similar repertory, focuses on a group of highly accomplished religious pieces for one or more voices and instruments, without chorus. Unlike Bach during most of his career, Buxtehude was an organist first and foremost; another Lübeck composer took care of the weekly vocal music for church. Though they are presented as a unitary set by the packaging and liner notes, the works on this album are of two sharply different types. Some are for small groups of voices, plus a small string group and continuo. It's easy to imagine these being sung on a Sunday in the living room of a well-established Lübeck merchant family; they have an intimate devotional quality that is familiar to us from Bach's music but that comes through especially nicely in this comparatively unusual setting. Other cantatas are for a solo voice, and these were not sung in anyone's home; they are fiery works for trained singers that Buxtehude must have had at his disposal. Some of the music is in German, the rest in Latin, and Buxtehude seems to have partially inspired Bach's ability to wring dramatic impact out of the sonic characteristics of a single German word. Try singing "nichts" repeatedly and rapidly as the performers here must do; they pull it off perfectly. Four top English soloists -- soprano Emma Kirkby, countertenor Michael Chance, tenor Charles Daniels, and bass Peter Harvey -- plus the Purcell Quartet handle these varied chores well in general. Those who want to hear Kirkby pushed to her limits can do so in the "Gloria Patri" movement of the cantata Dixit Dominus Domino meo, BuxWV 17, and the other soloists except for Harvey also get their athletic moments. Chance plays a bit loose with the pitch but is highly expressive. In the vocal-ensemble cantatas this English group does especially well in structures that point back to the middle seventeenth century -- ground basses, little strophic movements. Their precise style feels a little restrained in the moments where Buxtehude is closest to Bach, but some listeners may like it that way. In any event, this is an above-average exposition of some unfamiliar and quite important music. © TiVo

Halfway between the style of Heinrich Schütz and the more modern style of Buxtehude and Johann Sebastian Bach, the music of the glorious unknown Augustin Pfleger (1635-1686) is fascinating in many ways, starting with a powerful spirituality. The author of Concerts spirituels and numerous cantatas relating the life of Christ, Pfleger's work is religious first and foremost. Martin Wahlberg has drawn from this source to design this programme, whose connecting thread is the life and passion of Christ. It takes the listener through some significant works.The programme offered here by Martin Wahlberg, his musicians and his singers, is a valuable testimony to the practices of Northern Europe. Based on Pfleger's religious cantatas, it has been articulated to form a dramatic whole through the use of regional instruments that were very fashionable in the past and forgotten today, such as the ancient psalter inherited from the Middle Ages, a positive organ and a consort of viols. Recorded in 2018 in Norway, it is a sonic panorama of Baroque Scandinavia and seems to continue the tradition of previous centuries. © François Hudry / Qobuz