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Presented on CD for the first time and newly remastered, a pair of Romantic Lieder recitals by the Welsh contralto who inherited the mantle of Kathleen Ferrier.
The history of British contraltos on record, stretches back to Constance Shacklock and before her Dame Clara Butt but it was Ferrier who defined the sound of that voice type for millions of listeners around the world. Produced as if from a great distance, noble and yet communicating the most profound and immediate of emotions, the possessors of a true contralto voice inspired Handel, Elgar and others to compose some of their most heartfelt arias.
It was with the music of Handel that the Welsh contralto, Helen Watts, made her debut on record: in performances of ‘Semele’ and ‘Sosarme’ recorded by L’Oiseau-Lyre, released in 1955 and reissued by Eloquence. Along with Alfred Deller and William Herbert, Watts counts among those British singers discovered by the founder of L’Oiseau-Lyre, Louise Hanson Dyer, in her search the young and talented musicians who could breathe new life into old and mostly unfamiliar music. Her career burgeoned, on disc and especially on the concert platform where she became the alto soloist of choice for countless performances of ‘Messiah’ and ‘The Dream of Gerontius’.
Watts was also an accomplished recitalist and her gifts in this area have often been overlooked. This release compiles the first two song recitals she recorded, in 1963 and 1964. In the world of Schumann’s ‘Frauenliebe und -Leben’ she enters intimately into each song’s shades of feeling and she brings a special passion to the three Mignon songs of Hugo Wolf. The earlier recital, couples more Schumann – notably the late and haunted ‘Five Songs of Mary Stuart’ – with favourite Lieder of Brahms such as ‘Ständchen’ and the Op. 91 pair with obbligato viola (Cecil Aronowitz). The anthology is completed with more Brahms, the Alto Rhapsody she recorded in Geneva with Ernest Ansermet in 1965: solemn, yet warm and deeply human, a perfect testament to her art and to the praise of her modern counterpart, Nathalie Stutzmann: ‘an extraordinary contralto’. (© Decca Music Group Limited / Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd.)
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Gedichte von J. W. von Goethe (Hugo Wolf)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Hugo Wolf, Composer - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Hugo Wolf, Composer - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Hugo Wolf, Composer - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Hugo Wolf, Composer - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Italienisches Liederbuch, nach Paul Heyse (Hugo Wolf)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Hugo Wolf, Composer - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Sechs Lieder für eine Frauenstimme (Hugo Wolf)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Hugo Wolf, Composer - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Gedichte von J. W. von Goethe (Hugo Wolf)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Hugo Wolf, Composer - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Frauenliebe und -leben Op. 42 (Robert Schumann)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Adelbert von Chamisso, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Adelbert von Chamisso, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Adelbert von Chamisso, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Adelbert von Chamisso, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Adelbert von Chamisso, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Adelbert von Chamisso, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Adelbert von Chamisso, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Adelbert von Chamisso, Author
℗ 1966 Decca Music Group Limited
Five Poems of Mary Stuart, Op. 135 (Robert Schumann)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Adelbert von Chamisso, Author
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Mary Stuart, Author - Gisbert Freiherr von Vincke, Translator
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Mary Stuart, Author - Gisbert Freiherr von Vincke, Translator
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Mary Stuart, Author - Gisbert Freiherr von Vincke, Translator
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Mary Stuart, Author - Gisbert Freiherr von Vincke, Translator
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Lieder-Album für die Jugend, Op. 79 (Robert Schumann)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Eduard Mörike, Author
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - From "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" by Achim von Arnim & Bettina Brentano / von Arnim
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Liederkreis, Op. 39 (Robert Schumann)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, Author
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Lieder-Album für die Jugend, Op. 79 (Robert Schumann)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Hermann Kletke, Author
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Myrthen, op.25 (Robert Schumann)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Robert Schumann, Composer - Friedrich Rückert, Author
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Ständchen, D. 920 (Franz Schubert)
Helen Watts, Contralto - The Elizabethan Singers - Viola Tunnard, Piano - Louis Halsey, Conductor - Franz Schubert, Composer - Franz Grillparzer, Author - Kenneth Wilkinson, Balance Engineer
℗ 1967 Decca Music Group Limited
Mädchenlied, Op.107, No.5 (Johannes Brahms)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Johannes Brahms, Composer
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Des Liebsten Schwur, Op.69, No.4 (Johannes Brahms)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Johannes Brahms, Composer - Josef Wenzig, Author
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
5 Poems, Op. 19 (Johannes Brahms)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Johannes Brahms, Composer
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Ständchen, Op. 14 No. 7 (Johannes Brahms)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Johannes Brahms, Composer
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Gestillte Sehnsucht, Op.91, No.1 (Johannes Brahms)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Cecil Aronowitz, Viola - Johannes Brahms, Composer - Friedrich Rückert, Author
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Geistliches Wiegenlied, Op. 91 No. 2 (Johannes Brahms)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Geoffrey Parsons, Piano - Cecil Aronowitz, Viola - Lope de Vega, Original Text Author - Emanuel Geibel, Author
℗ 1964 Decca Music Group Limited
Rhapsody for Alto, Chorus, and Orchestra, Op. 53 (Johannes Brahms)
Helen Watts, Contralto - Pro Arte Choir, Lausanne - Chœur de la Radio Suisse Romande - L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - Ernest Ansermet, Conductor - Johannes Brahms, Composer - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Author - John Mordler, Recording Producer - James Lock, Balance Engineer
℗ 1967 Decca Music Group Limited
Album review
Presented on CD for the first time and newly remastered, a pair of Romantic Lieder recitals by the Welsh contralto who inherited the mantle of Kathleen Ferrier.
The history of British contraltos on record, stretches back to Constance Shacklock and before her Dame Clara Butt but it was Ferrier who defined the sound of that voice type for millions of listeners around the world. Produced as if from a great distance, noble and yet communicating the most profound and immediate of emotions, the possessors of a true contralto voice inspired Handel, Elgar and others to compose some of their most heartfelt arias.
It was with the music of Handel that the Welsh contralto, Helen Watts, made her debut on record: in performances of ‘Semele’ and ‘Sosarme’ recorded by L’Oiseau-Lyre, released in 1955 and reissued by Eloquence. Along with Alfred Deller and William Herbert, Watts counts among those British singers discovered by the founder of L’Oiseau-Lyre, Louise Hanson Dyer, in her search the young and talented musicians who could breathe new life into old and mostly unfamiliar music. Her career burgeoned, on disc and especially on the concert platform where she became the alto soloist of choice for countless performances of ‘Messiah’ and ‘The Dream of Gerontius’.
Watts was also an accomplished recitalist and her gifts in this area have often been overlooked. This release compiles the first two song recitals she recorded, in 1963 and 1964. In the world of Schumann’s ‘Frauenliebe und -Leben’ she enters intimately into each song’s shades of feeling and she brings a special passion to the three Mignon songs of Hugo Wolf. The earlier recital, couples more Schumann – notably the late and haunted ‘Five Songs of Mary Stuart’ – with favourite Lieder of Brahms such as ‘Ständchen’ and the Op. 91 pair with obbligato viola (Cecil Aronowitz). The anthology is completed with more Brahms, the Alto Rhapsody she recorded in Geneva with Ernest Ansermet in 1965: solemn, yet warm and deeply human, a perfect testament to her art and to the praise of her modern counterpart, Nathalie Stutzmann: ‘an extraordinary contralto’. (© Decca Music Group Limited / Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd.)
Details of the original recording : Recordings: London, UK, 8–9 February 1963 (Brahms, Schumann: Lieder); Conway Hall, London, 18–19 September 1965 (Wolf, Schumann: Frauenliebe); Victoria Hall, Geneva, Switzerland, 31 October 1965 (Brahms: Alto Rhapsody); Kingsway Hall, London, UK, October 1966 (Schubert)
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 33 track(s)
- Total length: 01:48:27
- Main artists: Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ernest Ansermet Helen Watts Geoffrey Parsons
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Decca
- Area: Allemagne
- Genre: Classical Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder Lieder (German)
- Period: Romantic Music
- Collection: Eloquence
© 2019 Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd. ℗ 2019 Decca Music Group Limited
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