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Track(s) taken from CDJ33051/3

Die Sterne

First line:
Wie blitzen die Sterne so hell durch die Nacht!
composer
author of text

Mark Padmore (tenor), Graham Johnson (piano)
Recording details: March 2004
All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: October 2005
Total duration: 2 minutes 38 seconds
 

Reviews

‘This enterprising, often revelatory set should intrigue and delight anyone interested in the development of the Lied’ (Gramophone)

‘Since making music with friends was Schubert's whole raison d'etre, this 3-CD box is an inspired idea … led by the soprano Susan Gritton, the performances are pure A-list’ (The Independent)

‘Anyone who loves lieder will find here a rich, diverse, and delightful offering. There isn't a bad song among the 81 songs by 40 composers who wrote during Schubert's lifetime, and there's a lot of fine music here by well-known and also practically unknown composers and poets. The singing is consistently excellent… anyone interested in this genre will find here a broad-ranging and generous collection’ (American Record Guide)

‘If 81 songs are too many to mention individually, sufficient variety exists and enough songs are receiving a first recording for this set to be indispensable for anyone interested in the genre’ (International Record Review)

‘Graham Johnson once again demonstrates that he has few peers today in his combined function as scholar-musician’ (Fanfare, USA)
Hüttenbrenner wrote about 250 songs, the great majority of them, perhaps not surprisingly, after Schubert’s death. His choice of poets was very different: there are only two Goethe settings, two of his own poems, six of Bürger (a fine poet more or less ignored by Schubert), and two each of Uhland and Schubart. There are thirty settings of Carl von Leitner (also an important Schubert poet) and no fewer than 160 by Ferdinand von Rast who wrote poetry under the pseudonym ‘Hilarius’ (Rast lived in Marburg and was a patron of the composer’s later years).

Die Seefahrt appears in the Gedichte of Hiazinth von Schulheim, published in Graz in 1836, and it is probable that this delightful song dates from about this time, as does Die Sterne (Leitner’s poem published in 1825). Der Hügel and Lerchenlied are later songs from the Hilarius/Rast years (between 1855 and 1858), not that the style is markedly different. I am indebted to my colleague Irwin Gage for copies of this difficult-to-obtain music.

comparative Schubert listening:
Die Sterne D939. January 1828

from notes by Graham Johnson © 2006

Other albums featuring this work

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