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Track(s) taken from CDJ33011

Seligkeit, D433

First line:
Freuden sonder Zahl
composer
May 1816; first published in 1895
author of text

Brigitte Fassbaender (soprano), Graham Johnson (piano)
Recording details: June 1990
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: May 1991
Total duration: 2 minutes 3 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano), Julius Drake (piano)

Reviews

‘Magnificent. Collectors of this series need not hesitate, and newcomers who try this volume are in serious danger of addiction’ (American Record Guide)

‘19 tracks devoted to some of the greatest songs ever written’ (Classic CD)

‘Superb … a disc to return to time and again’ (CDReview)

‘Fassbaender has never been in better form … I urge you to collect them all, not only for the genius of Schubert but also because they are an anthology of the finest singers of our time’ (Musical Opinion)

‘Deserves to be enshrined as a classic’ (The New Yorker, USA)
This is an ironic description of a Christian angelic heaven, a change of emphasis from pagan fun and games, but rather less serious than the Schiller classical studies. It is in the same original key as Elysium, a tonality Schubert favours when it comes to depicting transfiguration, both serious and tongue-in-cheek. Seligkeit has something of the whimsy of a Viennese waltz, and the earthiness of a Ländler, but its tempo is too slow for the first and too fast for the second. It is all artless enough to be full of the high art that defies definition. The song was unknown until 1895 but since then has become somewhat overworked as an encore for coy debutantes. Elisabeth Schumann, who made it her own between the wars, was able to carry off the song as a masterpiece of soubrette charm, but Hölty's words are capable of more passionate advocacy. In the context of this recital, the song is a means of returning from head (or rather soul) in the clouds, to the security of terra firma. Laura's beauties are after all palpable; when we see her we think we have died and gone to heaven, but we are never certain that other realms will have anything comparable to offer us. The American phrase would be 'let's take a rain check on dying', or perhaps 'let's declare a moratorium on death'. And so, for at least a little while, say all of us.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1991

Other albums featuring this work

Schubert: 21 Songs
Studio Master: CDA68169Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Schubert: The Complete Songs
CDS44201/4040CDs Boxed set + book (at a special price) — Download only
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