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Track(s) taken from CDA67392

Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!

composer
author of text

Stephan Genz (baritone), Roger Vignoles (piano)
Recording details: January 2003
Tonstudio Teije van Geest, Sandhausen, Germany
Release date: October 2004
Total duration: 1 minutes 28 seconds

Cover artwork: The Tomb of Böcklin (1901/2, detail). Ferdinand Keller (1842-1922)
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe / akg-images
 

Other recordings available for download

Dame Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano)

Reviews

‘This disc shows Stephan Genz entering his fourth decade with all the light suppleness and ardour of his youthful recordings, but now with darker colours and firmer bass ballast folding into his baritone. His intuitive musical partnership with Roger Vignoles is as sentient and perceptive as ever; and together they uncover the dark, sensual mysteries of the late-Rommantic response to the natural world’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘A rich sonorous eloquence from Genz, while Vignoles musters a full range of orchestral colours. Piano accompaniment lends these works a more personal, intimate feel, turning this generous disc into a pensive, rewarding journey through the many complex moods of Mahler's inner life’ (The Observer)

‘Even in this golden age of Lieder singers, Stephan Genz has few rivals for easeful beauty of tone and acuteness of insight’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Stephen Genz is an excellent light baritone whose timbre reminds me sometimes of one of his teachers, Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, and whose interpretations are like Fischer-Diskau's earlier ones,before he began to over-interpret … highly recommended’ (American Record Guide)

‘This is an extremely enjoyable disc, which casts a lot of light on even those songs of Mahler which were written to be accompanied orchestrally … Genz is singing a cycle to which he is utterly suited, and the effect is magical’ (International Record Review)

‘Stephen Genz relies on subtle shading, verbal refinement and a lightness of touch to interpret a generous selection of Mahlerian masterpieces’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘What surpassingly magnificent music this is, and what a superbly intelligent display of Western high-art at its most poignant from Genz and Vignoles. I just can't stop playing the disc. Endless pleasure, endless sorrow, endless beauty’ (Fanfare, USA)
The text of Blicke mir will have struck a chord with Mahler, who according to Alma couldn’t bear to be eavesdropped on while working. Rückert begs the reader not to look at his poems before they are finished. He argues that bees don’t allow anyone to observe their cell-building, and Mahler’s perpetuum mobile is a veritable hive of sotto voce activity.

from notes by Roger Vignoles © 2004

Le texte de Blicke mir aura touché Mahler qui, à en croire Alma, ne supportait pas d’être espionné quand il y travaillait. Dans cette pièce, Rückert prie le lecteur de ne pas regarder ses poèmes avant qu’ils soient achevés, arguant que les abeilles ne laissent personne observer la construction de leurs alvéoles, et le perpetuum mobile de Mahler est une véritable ruche sotto voce.

extrait des notes rédigées par Roger Vignoles © 2004
Français: Hypérion

Im Text von Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder wird Mahler sich selbst wiedererkannt haben, da er es laut seiner Frau Alma nicht ertragen konnte, während seiner Arbeit belauscht zu werden. Rückert bittet den Leser, seine Gedichte nicht anzuschauen, bevor sie fertig sind. Er argumentiert, daß die Bienen es auch niemandem erlauben, ihnen beim Bau ihrer Waben zuzuschauen, und Mahlers Perpetuum mobile ist ein wahrhafter Bienenkorb von geschäftigem sotto voce.

aus dem Begleittext von Roger Vignoles © 2004
Deutsch: Bettina Reinke-Welsh

Other albums featuring this work

Mahler: Rückert-Lieder
Studio Master: SIGCD741Download onlyStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
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