Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Click cover art to view larger version
Track(s) taken from CDA67055

Wonne der Wehmut, Op 83 No 1

composer
author of text

Stephan Genz (baritone), Roger Vignoles (piano)
Recording details: September 1998
Tonstudio Teije van Geest, Sandhausen, Germany
Produced by Teije van Geest
Engineered by Teije van Geest
Release date: February 1999
Total duration: 2 minutes 32 seconds

Cover artwork: Faust and Magaretha. after Ary Scheffer (1795-1858)
Sotheby’s Picture Library
 

Other recordings available for download

Michael Schade (tenor), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Iain Burnside (piano)

Reviews

‘Stephan Genz has one of the most beautiful voices around today, used with such authority and imagination that I have found myself playing his Beethoven recital over and over again. I have never heard these songs sung more beautifully. An instant classic’ (Gramophone)

‘This disc, immaculately recorded, should win many new friends for Beethoven's songs’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Perfectly sung’ (The Independent)

‘A voice of warm, velvety beauty. A disc to have one reassessing Beethoven as song-writer’ (The Guardian)

‘As good as any anthology of Beethoven songs on CD’ (Classic CD)

‘Strongly recommended’ (Hi-Fi News)
A warm-hearted, sublimely understated setting that finds Beethoven at his most poetically subtle, especially when at the end the suggestion of falling tears in the piano accompaniment becomes slightly less free-flowing than has formerly been the case. So too the constant breaks in the vocal line allow the piano to ponder further on what is being sung. Most effective of all is the major-key setting which perfectly encapsulates the poem’s central theme of finding joy through sadness.

from notes by Julian Haylock © 1999

Cette mise en musique chaleureuse, sublimement discrète, nous montre un Beethoven au mieux de sa subtilité poetique – notamment à la fin, lorsque l’évocation des larmes en train de couler, dans l’accompagnement pianistique, devient légèrement moins fluide qu’auparavant. En outre, les constantes interruptions de la ligne vocale permettent au piano de réfléchir davantage à ce qui est chanté. Le trait le plus efficace de ce lied est la mise en musique en mode majeur, qui appréhende parfaitement le thème central du poème: la découverte de la joie à travers la tristesse.

extrait des notes rédigées par Julian Haylock © 1999
Français: Hyperion Records Ltd

Diese warmherzige, herrlich zurückhaltende Vertonung zeigt Beethoven von seiner poetisch subtilsten Seite, vor allem wenn am Ende der Hinweis auf rinnende Tränen in der Klavierbegleitung weniger ungehindert fließt, als dies früher der Fall war. Im gleichen Sinn versetzen die ständigen Unterbrechungen der Gesangslinie das Klavier in die Lage, weiter über das Gesungene nachzudenken. Am wirkungsvollsten ist jedoch der Dursatz, der das zentrale Thema des Gedichts – im Kummer Freude finden – perfekt zusammenfaßt.

aus dem Begleittext von Julian Haylock © 1999
Deutsch: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller

Other albums featuring this work

Beethoven: Lieder und Gesänge
Studio Master: SIGCD145Download onlyStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Of ladies and love
CDA67315Last few CD copies remaining
Waiting for content to load...
Waiting for content to load...