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Complete Wunderhorn Songs
Gustav Mahler

Dietrich Henschel / Boris Berezovsky

Complete Wunderhorn Songs

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Evil Penguin
UPC: 5425008373126
Catnr: EPRC 0013
Release date: 12 April 2013
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Label
Evil Penguin
UPC
5425008373126
Catalogue number
EPRC 0013
Release date
12 April 2013

"From a strictly musical point of view, nothing compares to Dietrich Henschel’s exceptional interpretation of the Wunderhorn. His powerfully expressive voice provides us with a precious key into Mahler’s universe. By exploring all aspects of the language and emotions of these songs, Dietrich Henschel gives us a particularly authentic and poignant interpretation of the Wunderhorn."

Classicagenda.fr, 08-10-2014
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Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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About the album

The performance of the complete Wunderhorn Lieder requires an artist who understands the musical and vocal import of these songs, but also their dramatic content. What is needed, therefore, is a singer-actor. And on this album Dietrich Henschel is the one. A major talent of Henschel's is to extend his theatrical abilities to the lied recital.

Mahler's piano versions of the Wunderhorn lieder represent the sole option for those desirous to record the complete set, but the piano option is not merely a negative choice. According to Donald Mithcell, "the orchestra is there, locked with the piano accompaniments andy struggling to get out". The piano versions are so suggestive of the orchestral texture and coloring, and they are so much more transparent with respect to Mahler's contrapuntal interlacing, that nothing is lost in the hands of a good piano player.

This is where Boris Berezovsky enters the picture. Boris has performed in the most prestigious concert series of our time, and he is reputed for his colorfully grandiose playing which is just the thing to show the orchestral sonorities and textures. Since Mahler’s orchestral lied settings do not always converge with a singer’s needs (or rather: since few orchestras know how to tailor their performance to a singer’s needs), the piano version is a more viable alternative, if at least it is performed by a player who knows to bring out both the grandeur and the poetry in Mahler’s music.

Click here to watch the release concert.
Sämtliche Wunderhornlieder in Mahlers eigener Fassung für Singstimme und Klavier mit dem wunderbaren Bariton Dietrisch Henschel.

Dietrich Henschel besitzt die dramatische Darstellungskraft eines Opernsängers, die er in Liedinterpretationen ebenso wunderbar einsetzt. Die verschiedenen Facetten in den Wunderhornliedern arbeitet er ohne Mühe heraus und wird vom farbenreich begleitenden Pianisten Boris Beresovski unterstützt.
Les 24 lieder que Mahler composa sur des poèmes de tradition populaire issus de l’anthologie du « Wunderhorn » ne sont généralement pas considérés comme un recueil autonome, encore moins comme un cycle (contrairement aux Kindertotenlieder, par exemple). Les intégrales discographiques, comme celle que vous tenez entre les mains, sont extrêmement rares, et peu de concerts et d’enregistrements sont exclusivement consacrés au thème du Wunderhorn. Le plus souvent, les Wunderhorn-Lieder viennent étoffer une soirée de concert ou un enregistrement, en complément de programme.
La publication des compositions liées au Wunderhorn sous différentes formes jalonne la première partie de la vie de Mahler. Un premier groupe de 9 lieds parut en février 1892 dans un volume intitulé Lieder und Gesänge für eine Singstimme und Clavier. Un deuxième groupe de 12 lieds, plus connu dans sa version avec orchestre, fut publié par Josef Weinberger en 1899, simultanément dans cette version et dans la version originale de Mahler pour voix et piano. Les derniers lieds (Revelge et Der Tambourg’sell), composés en 1899 et 1901, furent publiés en 1905 avec les Rückert Lieder.

Ce qui distingue l'interprétation de Dietrich Henschel et en fait un interprète du Lied exceptionnel, c'est cette alliance très fine entre une grande sensibilité musicale et une égale sensibilité à la langue et au message véhiculé par le texte : Dietrich Henschel incarne ses personnages en profondeur et donne ainsi à voir ce qui relève de l'invisible. Le piano de Boris Berezovsky, qu'il s'agisse d'évoquer le martèlement du sol par une troupe de soldats ou au contraire la finesse d'un trille d'oiseau, qu'il souligne l'intensité dramatique d'une phrase ou retienne son souffle à l'approche de l'abîme, est remarquable d'efficacité dans la peinture de ces différents univers.
Classica
Dietrich Henschel, uno dei maggiori baritoni dei nostri giorni è qui accompagnato dal grande pianista Boris Berezovsky in un CD dedicato a tutti i Wunderhorn Lieder di Mahler. Essi rappresentano più della metà della produzione liederistica mahleriana, ma non sono mai stati considerati come un corpus. Henschel ne fa quasi un ciclo dal tono antibellico, un (anti-) War Requiem, dove la guerra è vista come il male che sconfigge ogni amore e la felicità.

Artist(s)

Dietrich Henschel

Baritone Dietrich Henschel’s repertoire extends from the beginning of baroque opera to modern day avant-garde. He debuted at the Münchener Biennale in 1978 with the title role in Michaels Reverdy´s opera Le Precepteur. In his first and only permanent engagement, at the opera in Kiel, he performed classics such as Papageno, the count in Nozze de Figaro, Pelleas in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande, Monteverdi´s Orfeo and Henze´s Prinz von Homburg. Mr Henschel´s international career began with Busoni´s Doktor Faust in Lyon and Henze´s Prinz von Homburg at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Invitations followed from most of the important opera houses in Europe to sing in (amongst others) Rossini´s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Wagner´s Tannhäuser (Wolfram), Monteverdi´s Il ritorno d´Ulisse in...
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Baritone Dietrich Henschel’s repertoire extends from the beginning of baroque opera to modern day avant-garde. He debuted at the Münchener Biennale in 1978 with the title role in Michaels Reverdy´s opera Le Precepteur. In his first and only permanent engagement, at the opera in Kiel, he performed classics such as Papageno, the count in Nozze de Figaro, Pelleas in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande, Monteverdi´s Orfeo and Henze´s Prinz von Homburg. Mr Henschel´s international career began with Busoni´s Doktor Faust in Lyon and Henze´s Prinz von Homburg at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Invitations followed from most of the important opera houses in Europe to sing in (amongst others) Rossini´s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Wagner´s Tannhäuser (Wolfram), Monteverdi´s Il ritorno d´Ulisse in Patria, Krenek´s Karl der V, Mozart´s Don Giovanni, Wagner´s "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Beckmesser), Berg´s Wozzeck, in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande (Golaud), and in Stawinsky´s The Rake’s Progress (Nick Shadow). His most recent engagements were the title roles in Enescu's Oedipe (La Monnaie) and Manfred Trojahn's Orest (De Nationale Opera). In addition to opera, a wide range of acclaimed recordings testifies to Dietrich Henschel’s success as a lied interpreter and an oratorio singer (with a special focus on the music of Bach). Mr. Henschel has sung with the world’s most famous orchestras, and his collaboration with great conductors such as Gardiner, Harnoncourt and Herreweghe is documented on many CD's and DVD's. Mr. Henschel is currently extending his artistic profile beyond his original vocal calling. Being a trained pianist and conductor, Dietrich Henschel has led several ensembles and orchestras this last decade, collaborating in particular with the Sinfonietta Leipzig. In a daring attempt to visualize the literary and emotional content of the lieder he sings, Mr. Henschel has also been exploring the intersection between art music, theatre, and the visual media. In 2010 he performed a staged version of Schubert’s Schwanengesang, which was featured in major European theatres such as La Monnaie, Theater an der Wien, and der Komische Oper. In his most ambitious project up to now, Mr. Henschel will be starring in Irrsal, a movie (directed by Clara Pons) which envisages the ramifications of love, guilt and sacrifice in the symphonic songs Hugo Wolf set to the haunting poems by Eduard Mörike. The Irrsal project – in which the movie is combined with a live performance of the songs – will be premiered in Düsseldorf and Rotterdam in September 2013. Dietrich Henschel has recently been signed to the Belgian record label Evil Penguin Classics, with whom he is scheduled to record the integral Wunderhorn songs by Gustav Mahler.
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Boris Berezovsky

“Here, surely, we have the truest successor to the great Russian pianists” (Gramophone) Boris Berezovsky has established a remarkable reputation, both as the most powerful of virtuoso pianists and as a musician of unique insight and sensitivity.
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“Here, surely, we have the truest successor to the great Russian pianists” (Gramophone) Boris Berezovsky has established a remarkable reputation, both as the most powerful of virtuoso pianists and as a musician of unique insight and sensitivity.

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Composer(s)

Gustav Mahler

During his own time, Gustav Mahler was considered as one of the major conductors of Europe, but nowadays he is considered to a major composer who bridged the Late Romantic period to the modern age.  Few composers are so connected with the symphonic repertory as Gustav Mahler. Composing symphonies was his 'core business': in every aspect he developed the symphony towards, and sometimes even over, its absolute limits. Almost all of Mahler's symphonies are lenghty, demand a large orchestra and are particularly great in their expressive qualities. With rustic and mythical atmospheres (the start of the First Symphony), daunting chaos (the end of his Sixth), grand visions (end of his Second), cheerful melodies (opening Fourth), romantic melancholy (the famous adagio of...
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During his own time, Gustav Mahler was considered as one of the major conductors of Europe, but nowadays he is considered to a major composer who bridged the Late Romantic period to the modern age.

Few composers are so connected with the symphonic repertory as Gustav Mahler. Composing symphonies was his "core business": in every aspect he developed the symphony towards, and sometimes even over, its absolute limits. Almost all of Mahler's symphonies are lenghty, demand a large orchestra and are particularly great in their expressive qualities. With rustic and mythical atmospheres (the start of the First Symphony), daunting chaos (the end of his Sixth), grand visions (end of his Second), cheerful melodies (opening Fourth), romantic melancholy (the famous adagio of his Fifth), evocations of nature (his Third), megalomanic eruptions in the orchestra (his Eighth), and the clamant atonality of his unfinished Tenth, Mahler's musical palette seemed inexhaustible.

His symphonies are captivating, but some could find it a bit 'over the top' at times. For those, his orchestral songs could undoubtedly show there is an incredibly subtle and refined side to his compositional style as well.

In the Netherlands, Mahler is particularly popular due to its close bond with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, which was already established during his lifetime!


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Press

From a strictly musical point of view, nothing compares to Dietrich Henschel’s exceptional interpretation of the Wunderhorn. His powerfully expressive voice provides us with a precious key into Mahler’s universe. By exploring all aspects of the language and emotions of these songs, Dietrich Henschel gives us a particularly authentic and poignant interpretation of the Wunderhorn.
Classicagenda.fr, 08-10-2014

The sound quality captures both artists with perfect clarity. 
Fanfare, 19-4-2014

partly negative
Fono Forum, 01-2-2014

His declamatory singing creates true psychological roentgenograms
Kulturspiegel, 01-10-2013

Master pianist Boris Berzosky manages to convince in these Mahler 'Lieder' (originally composed for orchestra) and Henschel's years of experience are heard in every single note.
Platomania, 07-6-2013

Dietrich Henschel and Boris Berezovsky have guided us in masterly fashion towards the Mahlerian eternal life and we can only be grateful to have had the opportunity to wander in their company.
Music Web International

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