Hyperion Records

German was, of course, Sibelius’s first foreign language (he spoke little French or English) and it was natural that at a time when his music was beginning to find a welcome in Germany in the first years of the century that he should turn in his Opus 50 to a major language. Two of the set, Im Feld ein Mädchen singt (‘In the field a maiden sings’) and Die stille Stadt (‘The Silent Town’) are among his greatest songs. Lenzgesang (‘A Song of Spring’), to words of Fitger, suffers from a piano accompaniment set in too low in register, which does not really blend with the voice, but the vocal part itself has exuberance and charm, as indeed does its immediate successor Sehnsucht (‘Longing’, or ‘Loneliness’). This has the simplicity and polish of the best Swedish settings, and the piano accompaniment has an affecting directness and economy. The piano part, syncopated chords gently adumbrated, lend the song a special pathos. The first of the Dehmel settings, a poet also favoured by Mahler, Aus banger Brust (‘From anxious heart’) is an impassioned one, and Sibelius subsequently scored it, but the real masterpiece here is its companion, Die stille Stadt. This has the concentration and atmosphere of a tone-poem: indeed, its serenity, beauty of line and sense of repose mark it out from the others. It is a grievously neglected song and has great distinction and refinement of feeling. Its subtle shifts of harmonic emphasis resonate in the memory. The last of the set, Rosenlied (‘Rose Song’), though not in the same league, has great charm and an almost Viennese lilt.

from notes by Robert Layton © 2002