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Track(s) taken from CDA67055

Klage, WoO113

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: 3 minutes 6 seconds

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

Other recordings available for download

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)
An early setting that, despite its deceptively simple outlines and such delightfully ‘naive’ effects as the doubling of right hand and voice during the first verse, touches an emotional nerve in the young composer’s psyche that was to be amongst his most enduring expressive traits – an exemplary handling of the minor mode. Following the amiable opening, the music suddenly turns dark and introspective, its quality rising proportionately. The reflective piano postlude – avoiding the hollow victory of a tierce de Picardie ending – was later to become a strong feature of Schumann’s songs in particular.

from notes by Julian Haylock © 1999

Malgré ses contours fallacieusement simples et ses subtilités délicieusement naïves, tel le doublement de la main droite et de la voix durant la première strophe, cette mise en musique ancienne touche un point émotionnel de la psyché du jeune compositeur, qui devait compter parmi ses traits expressifs les plus durables: un traitement exemplaire du mode mineur. Passé l’ouverture amène, la musique se fait soudain sombre et introspective, d’une qualité sans cesse croissante. Le postlude pianistique réfléchi – évitant la vaine victoire d’une conclusion en tierce de Picardie – devait devenir une des forces caractéristiques des lieder de Schumann, en particulier.

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

Diese frühe Vertonung rührt ungeachtet ihrer trügerisch simplen Konturen und herrlich „naiven“ Zügen wie der Verdoppelung von rechter Hand und Gesangsstimme während der ersten Strophe an einen emotionalen Nerv in der Psyche des jungen Komponisten und ruft etwas hervor, das zu einem seiner dauerhaftesten Ausdrucksmerkmale werden sollte – der beispielhafte Umgang mit Molltonarten. Nach der liebenswerten Einleitung wird die Musik unvermittelt finster und in sich gekehrt, und ihre Qualität steigert sich proportional. Das besinnliche Nachspiel für Klavier – das den Scheintriumph einer Picardischen Terz vermeidet – sollte später ein wesentliches Merkmal von Schumanns Liedern werden.

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
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