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Track(s) taken from CDJ33051/3

Wandrers Nachtlied, Op 129 No 11

First line:
Über allen Gipfeln
composer
author of text

Susan Gritton (soprano), 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: 1 minutes 57 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)
Ferdinand Hiller, conductor, composer and teacher (born in Frankfurt, for many years the Music Director in Cologne), was a close boyhood friend of Mendelssohn who advised him to study the piano with Hummel in Weimar. This led to encounters with Goethe, who wrote a charming poem in the young musician’s honour, in 1827 and the composition of this song. In the same year the sixteen-year-old Hiller travelled with his master to visit Beethoven on his deathbed. During these weeks teacher and pupil heard Schubert and Vogl. Hiller’s memories were written down over thirty years later: ‘Schubert had but little technique. Vogl had but little voice, but they both had so much life and feeling, and were so completely absorbed in their performances, that the wonderful compositions could not have been interpreted with greater clarity and, at the same time, greater vision. One thought neither of piano playing, nor of singing, it was as though the music needed no material sound, as though the melodies, like visions, revealed themselves to spiritualized ears … my master was so deeply moved that tears glistened on his cheeks … when I visited [Schubert] in his modest dwelling, he received me so kindly, but with such respect, that I felt extremely embarrassed. To my self-conscious, pointless question as to whether he wrote much he replied: “I compose every morning—when one piece is finished I start another.” It was clear that he really did nothing but music—and lived by the way, as it were.’

comparative Schubert listening:
Wandrers Nachtlied II D768. By July 1824

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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