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Track(s) taken from CDA67934

Die drei Zigeuner, S320 First version

First line:
Drei Zigeuner fand ich einmal
composer
completed on 17 June 1860; LW N62
author of text

Angelika Kirchschlager (mezzo-soprano), Julius Drake (piano)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
Recording details: October 2011
Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Produced by Simon Kiln
Engineered by Arne Akselberg
Release date: July 2012
Total duration: 6 minutes 8 seconds

Cover artwork: Photograph of Angelika Kirchschlager. Sim Canetty-Clarke
 

Reviews

‘Finding a wide palette of colours within her naturally warm mezzo, Kirchschlager is in her element … this recital should open many ears to the richness and variety of Liszt's songs. Recording and presentation are first-class’ (Gramophone)

‘The more one hears of Liszt's songs, the more one wonders why they have been so rarely performed … Kirchschlager's rich, resonant mezzo finds beauties everywhere on this disc, from heights of drama to intimacies of reflection, and at every turn Drake is with her’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘This is a fascinating and rewarding recital, which explores Liszt’s oeuvre from the 1840s to 1870s … the grainy and distinctive timbre of Kirchschlager’s vivid mezzo-soprano is well suited to this highly charged emotional world, and Drake’s playing is eloquently impassioned without sinking to fortissimo ham’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Hyperion's retrospective of Liszt's complete songs [is] one of the most important recording projects of recent years … Kirchschlager is exquisite and intensely dramatic by turns … Drake is outstanding throughout’ (The Guardian)

‘The high expectations roused by Volume 1 of Hyperion's compete Liszt songs … are more than met with this second instalment … the programme is excellently chosen to showcase Liszt's versatility as a master of Romantic song … Kirchschlager's extraordinary dramatic gifts are displayed in the two longest songs here, Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher and Die drei Zigeuner … rich new levels of meaning are revealed … Kirchschlager and Drake deliver performances that set the beauty and inventiveness of each song in high relief … not to be missed’ (International Record Review)
The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Hungarian style known as verbunkos, born of military recruiting music and closely associated with the virtuosity of Hungarian gypsy bands, is on display in Die drei Zigeuner, complete with bokázó figures (clicking of heels), hallgató (free melodies without words), garlands of triplet rhythms, the so-called ‘gypsy scale’, and alternating slow and lively tempi. No wonder Liszt was drawn to this poem: its poet, Nikolaus Lenau (born Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau in what was then Hungary and is now part of Romania) created three musician-personæ whose instruments—fiddle, pipes and cimbalom—Liszt mimics brilliantly in the piano. In a letter to Carolyne on 27 May 1860, Liszt wrote: ‘In addition, the whim suddenly took me, without rhyme or reason, to set Lenau’s Zigeuner—and at the piano I quickly found the whole outline’; he finished it on 17 June.

from notes by Susan Youens © 2012

Le style hongrois des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles appelé verbunkos—issu de la musique de recrutement militaire et étroitement associé à la virtuosité des orchestres tziganes hongrois—s’affiche dans Die drei Zigeuner, où se côtoient figures de bokázó (claquements de talons), hallgató (mélodies libres sans paroles), guirlandes de rythmes en triolets, «gamme gitane» et tempos tour à tour lents et enjoués. Rien d’étonnant à ce que Liszt ait été attiré par ce poème: son auteur Nikolaus Lenau (né Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau, dans une région de Hongrie se trouvant aujourd’hui en Roumanie), créa trois personnages de musicien, dont le compositeur imite brillamment les instruments—violon, flûte et cymbalum—au piano. Dans une lettre à Carolyne datée du 27 mai 1860, Liszt écrivit: «En plus, l’idée m’a pris soudain, sans rime ni raison, de mettre en musique les Zigeuner de Lenau—et j’ai vite trouvé toute la trame au piano»; il acheva le lied le 17 juin.

extrait des notes rédigées par Susan Youens © 2012
Français: Hypérion

Der im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert in Ungarn bekannte Verbunkos-Stil ging aus der Musik zur Anwerbung von Soldaten hervor und ist eng an die Virtuosität ungarischer Zigeunerkapellen gekoppelt; in Die drei Zigeuner entfaltet er sich mit bokázó-Figuren (Hackenschlagfigur), hallgató (freie Melodien ohne Worte), Triolengirlanden, der sogenannten „Zigeunertonleiter“ sowie abwechselnd langsamen und lebhaften Tempi. Es ist nicht verwunderlich, dass Liszt von diesem Gedicht angezogen war: der Dichter Nikolaus Lenau (geboren als Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau im damaligen Ungarn, heute Rumänien) stellte darin drei Musiker dar, deren Instrumente (Fiedel, Pfeife und Cimbal) Liszt brillant auf dem Klavier imitiert. Am 27. Mai 1860 schrieb Liszt an Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein: „Nebenbei hat mich aus heiterem Himmel die Laune gepackt, Lenaus Zigeuner zu komponieren—und ich fand am Klavier bald den ganzen Umriß dazu“; er beendete das Lied am 17. Juni.

aus dem Begleittext von Susan Youens © 2012
Deutsch: Christiane Frobenius

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