All recordingsPrices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Schumann - Songs of Love and Loss
Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano) & Eugene Asti (piano) The British mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, twice nominated for a Grammy, here performs a collection of songs by Robert Schumann, which combines two song cycles from the extremely prolific song year 1840 with several songs from the composer’s last years. She is accompanied by Eugene Asti. Sarah Connolly fell in love with Schumann’s songs in her youth. She has sung them since her early days as a performer and in the booklet she and Eugene Asti write, ‘at the heart of Schumann’s music on this recording lie a profound melancholy and a personal and completely honest, open-hearted empathy for the poetry, which is totally disarming. All the stories and situations depicted in these songs were so much a part of the composer’s own life experience that we just cannot help but be touched and moved by them. Perhaps it is for these reasons that our love for Schumann is especially great, and we feel privileged to be able to share this extraordinary music with you’. It is often claimed that Schumann’s late songs, which include the first seven on this CD, show a composer in decline – a charge that is refuted by such wonderful Lieder as the Wilhelm Meister settings and ‘Nachtlied’ (Goethe), ‘Der Einsiedler’ (Eichendorff), ‘Aufträge’ (L’Egru), ‘Mein schöner Stern!’ (Rückert), ‘Requiem’ (Dreves), the Lenau settings of Op. 90 and the Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, all of which are as fine as anything Schumann wrote in 1840, his great ‘song’ year. The album’s key work is the rarely recorded Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, songs on five poems attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots. They were his last Lieder and the most austere that Schumann ever wrote. He composed the set in 1852 during a period of deep depression and offered the work as a Christmas present to his wife, Clara. It is also matched here by ‘Requiem’, setting a translation by Leberecht Blücher Dreves of an old sacred Latin text. This requiem, from Op. 90, was one of four that Schumann composed in the last years of his creative life, and it seems likely that the proliferation of such settings around 1850 had symbolic import – ‘requiems, after all, are written for oneself’, as Schumann once confided to a friend. | 
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Schumann - Lieder
Marianne Beata Kielland (mezzo-soprano), Christian Hilz (baritone) & Katia Bouscarrut (piano) Robert Schumann was a romantic par excellence. His life was nomadic, with longed-for fulfilment always elusively out of reach. For Schumann life, love and creative energy rolled themselves together in an unfolding drama, causing together with his long struggle with syphilis – moments of euphoria amidst constant anxiety and self-doubt. His wife and longest love Clara Wieck, though today a ‘moon in eclipse’, was during their lifetimes very much the celebrity of the pair. The three song cycles in this recital reveal Schumann’s deep sensitivity both to poetry heightened as sung melody, and to the piano, supplying its non-verbal accompaniment. It has always been a delicate balance for any composer: maintaining a piano party that is never banal or formulaic, yet not overwhelming. Schumann’s song-writing supports the voice, or more importantly the poetic gesture, with the native virtuosity of Carnaval or the Dävidsbundlertänze, but turned into the most exquisite commentary beneath the vocal line |
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings Mahler & Schumann
Mahler: | Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Recorded 24th-25th June,1952 in Kingsway Hall, London Philharmonia Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler Kindertotenlieder Recorded 20th-21st June, 1955 in Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe | Schumann: | Liederkreis, Op. 39 Recorded 10th March, 1954 in EMI Abbey Road
Studio 3, London Gerald Moore (piano) |
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) One the finest Lieder singers and one of the most prolific recording artists of his generation, the great German baritone, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, possessed a virtually flawless vocal technique, a remarkable ability to convey the right tonal colour and nuance of a musical phrase, as well as a wonderful command of rhythm. This re-issue brings together three of Fischer-Dieskau’s most famous recordings, that of Schumann’s Liederkreis with the pianist Gerald Moore, a partnership which would produce a remarkable artistic and creative fusion over the next quarter century. The 1952 recording of the song-cycle Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, conducted by Furtwängler, was made at a time when the music of Mahler was little known or heard outside German-speaking countries, a bold and inspired choice. “Together [Fischer-Dieskau and Furtwangler] recorded what remains an unsurpassed version of the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, the singer spontaneously overwhelmed by the meaning of the text, the conductor revealing more of the inner workings of the score than any of his successors and drawing a sensuous response from the young Philharmonia. The recording, amazingly, hardly shows its age and comes up on CD sounding natural, refined and as beautiful as the performance.” Gramophone Magazine (on the EMI reissue) |
| | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Melancholie
Christian Gerhaher (baritone) & Gerold Huber (piano) “The German baritone’s approach to Schumann’s lieder is eminently sensible, sensitive to every word, the curve of each phrase, carefully weighting emotions and colours, strongly supported throughout by Gerold Huber’s poetic piano accompaniments. The Liederkreis cycle is the prime offering, but watch out too for the Hans Christian Andersen settings (Op 40) – in these musicians’ hands, masterpieces of foreboding, death stalking sunshine.” The Times, 25th April 2008 **** “With his bright, burnished high baritone, expressive diction and alert, unexaggerated response to mood and nuance, Gerhaher confirms his credentials as one of the most probing Lieder singers of the younger generation.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2008 “Gerhaher twins the Eichendorff Liederkreis with Schumann's four settings of poems by Hans Christian Andersen - and reveals, in minutely sensitive, sometimes harrowing performances their emotional and musical kinship. And the Op. 39 Liederkreis itself? Well, Gerhaher's fusion of deeply pondered insight and unselfconscious enunciation, together with Gerold Huber's sentient piano allow this exceptional performance to become a benchmark in its own right.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 ***** | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
|
|
| |  | The Songs of Robert Schumann - Volume 10
Kate Royal (soprano), Graham Johnson (piano) with Felicity Lott (soprano), Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano) & Christoph Bantzer (reciter) Kate Royal is the soprano of the moment, at the start of her career yet an acknowledged great artist, and her performance here of the Eichendorff Liederkreis Op 39 is one where ‘imagination, intellect and vocal technique are inextricably fused in the single moment of a song’, as The Times wrote of her Wigmore Hall recital in January this year. Here’s the story. Kate Royal recorded an album of Lieder with Graham Johnson for EMI’s Debut series, but when it became clear just how exciting a prospect she is, the record company held the Lieder and went with a larger-scale debut recital. So it is good now to hear how Royal shapes up in miniatures by Schumann, again with Johnson. You can hear why the master accompanist is a fan. - Gramophone Magazine “The prime attraction for many here… Kate Royal in the popular Eichendorff Liederkreis… Royal's pure, pellucid tone, free-soaring top notes… and refined musicianship give constant pleasure.” Gramophone Magazine, Janurary 2008 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Robert Holl
Robert Holl (bass-baritone) and Roger Vignoles (piano) ‘At the end, Holl beamed with pleasure and grasped Vignoles in a bear-hug – and the normally sedate audience at the Wigmore rose and cheered’ The Telegraph | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Else Paaske: Live and Studio Recordings 1967-1983
Bach, J S: | Aria: Betörte Welt, betörte Welt! From Kantate 94 (BWV 94) "Was frag' ich nach der Welt" Bereite dich Zion (from Christmas Oratorio) | Berg: | Vier Lieder, Op. 2 | Brahms: | Heimweh, Op. 63, No. 8 An eine Äolsharfe, Op. 19 No. 5 Ständchen, Op. 106 No. 1 Die Mainacht, Op. 43 No. 2 Vergebliches Ständchen, Op. 84 No. 4 | Debussy: | Trois chansons de Bilitis | Heise: | Skønne fru Beatriz Gudruns Sorg | Lange-Müller: | Genboens første vise, Op. 13, 1 from I mester Sebalds have Yderst i slæbet, det lette, opus 48, no. 5 Åkande, opus 4, no. 2 Dybt i skumring, opus 20, no. 1 Der sang en fager fugl Himlen ulmer svagt i flammerødt, opus 19, no. 1 Sulamith og Salomon Op. 1 | Mahler: | Rheinlegendchen (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt (Des Knaben Wunderhorn) | Nørholm: | Tre Sange for Alt og Klaver, Op. 54 | Poulenc: | La grenouillère, Op. 5 Deux Mélodies FP162 Carte Postale - From Quatre Poèmes FP58 1904 from Quatre Poèmes FP58 | Reger: | Zwei Geistliche Lieder Op. 105 Wenn in bangen, trüben Stunden Geistliches Lied: Wohl denen | Schumann: | Liederkreis, Op. 39 |
| | | Usually despatched in 4 - 6 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Brahms/Schumann: Lieder
Brahms: | Von ewiger Liebe, Op. 43 No. 1 Therese, Op. 86 No. 1 Botschaft, Op. 47 No. 1 Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht, Op. 96 No. 1 Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer, Op. 105 No. 2 Meine Liebe ist grün, Op. 63 No. 5 Gestillte Sehnsucht, Op. 91/1 Geistliches Wiegenlied, Op. 91 No. 2 O komme, holde Sommernacht, Op. 58/4 Wie Melodien zieht es mir, Op. 105 No. 1 Die Mainacht, Op. 43 No. 2 Ständchen, Op. 106 No. 1 | Schumann: | Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42 Liederkreis, Op. 39 |
Jessye Norman (soprano), Geoffrey Parsons (piano) & Irwin Gage (piano) | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  |
Ian Partridge (tenor) & Jennifer Partridge (piano) | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
|
|
| |  |
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore, Hertha Klust “With his voice in its heady first bloom, Fischer-Dieskau dramatises rather than merely relates. In the third song, "Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen", he is dulcet at the opening, finds a disembodied colouring for the mysterious birdsong, and then uses a harder, darkened tone to convey the mingled disillusion and defiance of the close.
Elsewhere, Fischer-Dieskau combines a yearning legato with an edge of neurosis in "Schöne Wiegen meiner Leiden", hauntingly catches the numbed fear of "Lieb' Liebchen" - where Heine equates his heartbeat with a carpenter hammering his coffin - and sings the final "Mit Myrthen und Rosen" with rueful tenderness.” The Telegraph, 26th July 2008 | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
|
|
| |
|
Gramophone Magazine