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Schumann: Dichterliebe

& other Heine settings (CD)

September 2008 release

 

5 out of 5 Stars: Classic FM

"Gerald Finley is both intelligent and gripping, and sings with a tone that has never sounded more luxurious" Classic FM magazine

“Grotesquerie, beauty, irony, sentimentality and overwhelming passion mingle to breathtaking effect…” Metro

Performers:

Recording details: October 2007, All Saints, Durham Road, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom
 Release date: September 2008
Total duration: 69 minutes 5 seconds

Label: Hyperion CDA67676
 
 
TRACKS: Click on tracks  to hear a sample

        Romanzen und Balladen IV, Op 64

1  No 3a: Tragödie I 'Entflieh' mit mir und sei mein Weib'  [1:26]

2  No 3b: Tragödie II 'Es fiel ein Reif in der Frühlingsnacht'  [2:10]

        Romanzen und Balladen II, Op 49

3  No 1: Die beiden Grenadiere 'Nach Frankreich zogen zwei Grenadier''  [3:54]

        Romanzen und Balladen I, Op 45

4  No 3: Abends am Strand 'Wir saßen am Fischerhause'  [3:25]

        Romanzen und Balladen II, Op 49

5  No 2: Die feindlichen Brüder 'Oben auf des Berges Spitze' [2:27]

        Romanzen und Balladen III, Op 53

6  No 3a: Der arme Peter I 'Der Hans und die Grete tanzen herum'  [1:13]

7  No 3b: Der arme Peter II 'In meiner Brust'  [1:22]

8  No 3c: Der arme Peter III 'Der arme Peter wankt vorbei'  [2:19]

9  Belsatzar, Op 57 'Die Mitternacht zog näher schon'  [4:56]

        Myrthen, Op 25

10           No 07: Die Lotosblume  [1:52]

11           No 21: Was will die einsame Träne?  [2:06]

12           No 24: Du bist wie eine Blume  [1:57]

        Vier Gesänge, Op 142

13           No 2: Lehn' deine Wang' an meine Wang'  [0:46]

        Fünf Lieder und Gesänge, Op 127

14           No 3: Es leuchtet meine Liebe  [1:52]

15           No 2: Dein Angesicht so lieb und schön  [2:20]

        Vier Gesänge, Op 142

16     No 4: Mein Wagen rollet langsam  [3:20]

        Dichterliebe, Op 48

17           No 01: Im wunderschönen Monat Mai  [1:45]

18           No 02: Aus meinen Tränen spriessen  [1:01]

19           No 03: Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne  [0:38]

20           No 04: Wenn ich in deine Augen seh'  [2:01]

21           No 05: Ich will meine Seele tauchen  [0:57]

22           No 06: Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome  [2:39]

23           No 07: Ich grolle nicht  [1:41]

24           No 08: Und wüssten's die Blumen, die kleinen  [1:15]

25           No 09: Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen  [1:33]

26           No 10: Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen  [2:19]

27           No 11: Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen  [1:08]

28           No 12: Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen  [2:52]

29           No 13: Ich hab' im Traum geweinet  [2:26]

30           No 14: Allnächtlich im Traume  [1:37]

31           No 15: Aus alten Märchen  [2:45]

32           No 16: Die alten, bösen Lieder  [5:03]

From the Hyperion website

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67676&f=Gerald%20Finley

Why another Dichterliebe recording? Because Gerald Finley has simply one of the greatest voices of his generation, and is an artist at the peak of his powers. He brings to this noble song cycle the supreme technical ability and penetrating musical understanding that characterize all his performances, whether on the concert platform, in the recording studio or on the great opera stages of the world. This is his fourth disc with collaborator Julius Drake, and the partnership has proved to be a uniquely rewarding one.

This fine recital also includes many of Schumann’s other Heine settings. The extremes of elation and despair in Heine’s poetry stimulated Schumann to write some of his most poignant and unforgettable songs. This is truly a disc to treasure.

 

Click on photo below to read an interview about this CD in Classic FM Magazine, October 2008

 

 

What the critics say

 

Warwick Thompson, Metro, 7 August 2008

http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/music/article.html?in_article_id=255153&in_page_id=25&in_a_source=

Grotesquerie, beauty, irony, sentimentality and overwhelming passion mingle to breathtaking effect in Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley's all-Schumann disc Dichterliebe & Other Heine Settings (Hyperion).

Finley is an unforgettable communicator on a grand scale, as anyone who has seen him at one of his frequent Royal Opera appearances knows. But on this disc, he proves himself equally memorable in the more intimate arena of the Lieder recital. That his voice is luxuriously warm, even and smooth almost goes without saying.

What sets him apart here is his uncanny ability to conjure up a state of mind or an atmosphere that is instantly recognisable in purely auditory terms. In the amorous song cycle Dichterliebe, he begins with breathless hope and longing, travels through despair, and ends on a note of ironic acceptance of loss. In the song Die Beiden Grenadiere (The Two Grenadiers) he suggests a note of complex bitterness in the tale of a simple soldier who dreams of violence and glory. His in-the-moment honesty is matched note-for-note by pianist Julius Drake, who partners him with a superb sense of drama and detail. It's a recital which can stand comparison with the greatest Schumann recordings.

 

 

Warwick Thompson, Classic FM Magazine, October 2008

Rating: Five out of Five stars

In 1840, his 'year of song', Schumann was involved in a distressing court case to marry his beloved Clara, and he poured out his hopes and fears in his many Lieder. On this disc of settings of poems by German Romantic Heinrich Heine - which includes the song -cycle Dichterliebe ('The Poet's Love') - acclaimed baritone Gerald Finley is both intelligent and gripping, and sings with a tone that has never sounded more luxurious. With in-the-moment honesty, he brings passion, longing, terror, love and bitterness to his interpretations, without ever losing sight of his overall emotional journey. Accompanist Julius Drake partners him with a superb sense of drama and detail.