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Track(s) taken from CDJ33008

In der Mitternacht, D464

First line:
Todesstille deckt das Tal
composer
August 1816; first published in 1895
author of text

Sarah Walker (mezzo-soprano), Graham Johnson (piano)
Recording details: May 1989
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: December 1990
Total duration: 4 minutes 26 seconds
 

Reviews

‘Walker, in probing, glowing form throughout, closes this long and profoundly satisfying recital with a hair-raising account of Erlkönig’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘This is distinguished singing indeed … Graham Johnson's unimpeachable choice of mood and the impeccable musicality and technique of his creative role at the piano is the linchpin of this great project’ (CDReview)
We move into C minor, the relative minor of E flat major. This is probably the greatest song of the little cycle, if cycle it is. It shares some of the atmosphere of Litanei, but there is infinitely less consolation in this mini-tragedy of private grief. Whenever Schubert doubles his vocal line with the piano we know that something portentous is being said. The enigmatic drama behind this poem is difficult to explain. If we consider the song in a cyclic context it is clear that she has married the wrong man; indeed the wedding ceremony of Hochzeitslied may well relate to a different man than the lover mentioned in An Chloen. Was there perhaps something too mechanical and heartless in Hochzeitslied? In its own right the song is a deeply poetic, and unjustly neglected, night meditation. Its weary guarding of a secret brings Goethe's Mignon, and her song Heiss mich nicht reden to mind.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1990

Other albums featuring this work

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