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Track(s) taken from CDJ33023

Geist der Liebe, D414

First line:
Der Abend schleiert Flur und Hain
composer
April 1816; first published in 1895 in the Gesamtausgabe
author of text

Christoph Prégardien (tenor), Graham Johnson (piano)
Recording details: September 1994
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: May 1995
Total duration: 1 minutes 51 seconds
 

Reviews

‘When the Hyperion Schubert Edition is finally completed I am certain that this wondrous offering will rank among its most precious jewels … Prégardien is a prince among tenors’ (Gramophone)

‘Prégardien is an artist of the first rank’ (Fanfare, USA)
This is another enchanting little song, delicate and Mozartian. The melody at the beginning ('Der Abend schleiert Flur und Hain') is almost childlike; in his opera Die Bürgschaft (also from 1816) Schubert used it for the Romance of Anna which describes a mother's search for her child. The following sequence ('in traulich holde Dämmrung ein') adds to the nursery-rhyme impression. However, all suspicion of banality vanishes with what follows when the tune takes off on a purely Schubertian harmonic expedition. The melody modulates into D (at 'hell flimmt, wo gold'ne Wölkchen ziehn') and back into G in the next bar before the vocal line is capped by a succession of semiquavers which pay homage to the 'Liebeskönigin' with a hand (and a tessitura) pointing up to the stars of the heavens followed by a courtly bow which sweeps the ground in its gallantry. As Reed points out the song is related in tonality and folksong simplicity to Heidenröslein without achieving the memorability of that masterpiece. But Schubert obviously liked the poem well enough to use it again six years later for the four-part male chorus setting D747.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1995

Other albums featuring this work

Schubert: The Complete Songs
CDS44201/4040CDs Boxed set + book (at a special price) — Download only
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