Strauss (R): The Complete Songs, Vol. 2 - Anne Schwanewilms

Strauss’s Drei Lieder der Ophelia have an inauspicious genesis. They were dashed off (together with three settings from Goethe’s Bücher des Unmuts—The Books of Bad Temper) in the throes of a legal battle with his publisher. Clearly Strauss hoped that three mad songs and three bad-tempered songs would represent a suitably poisoned chalice for his arch-enemy. But in the case of the three mad songs, they have proved highly effective in the concert hall, especially when performed by a great singing actress such as Anne Schwanewilms, whose dramatic and vocal gifts are highlighted in this, the second volume of the complete Strauss Lieder.

The selection begins, like Volume One, in the familiar territory of Opus 10, and proceeds chronologically through to the Ophelia-Lieder, on the way taking in many songs that will be less well known—if they are known at all. Highlights among them should certainly be the impassioned and dramatic O wärst du mein!, the delightful miniatures of Weißer Jasmin and Wiegenliedchen, the two Alsatian folksongs, and not least the remarkable Blindenklage.

Anne Schwanewilms is one of the greatest Strauss sopranos on the opera stage today, performing many major roles under Simon Rattle, Colin Davis, Andrew Davis, Semyon Bychkov and Mark Elder. This is her debut recording for Hyperion.

CDA67588  64 minutes 22 seconds
‘This remarkable German soprano takes us on some giddy flights with superb breath control and a quite amazing concentration of vocal energy. But she never loses sight of the text. Even when the musica ...
‘It's hard to dispute Roger Vignoles's claim that Anne Schwanewilms is 'a great singing actress'. That's clear in every song, where both the overall tinta and the text have not just been scrupulously ...
‘If Christine Brewer, odalisque of the Oriental numbers on Hyperion's first volume of Strauss songs, is the fullest Straussian soprano voice currently making recordings, Schwanewilms' is surely the mo ...