Dichterliebe Op. 48 / Lenau-Lieder und Requiem Op. 90 / Wesendonck Lieder by Christoph Prégardien / Michael Gees

Christoph Prégardien / Michael Gees

Dichterliebe Op. 48 / Lenau-Lieder und Requiem Op. 90 / Wesendonck Lieder

Price: € 20.95
Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917278828
Catnr: CC 72788
Release date: 06 September 2019
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917278828

Catalogue number
CC 72788

Release date
06 September 2019

"Conveyed with dignity but with little nostalgia by both Prégardien and Gees."

Fanfare, 21-2-2020

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Robert Schumann was the most confessional of composers. And many of the songs from his great Liederjahr of 1840 were in essence love songs to Clara Wieck. In them he could express overtly what had been merely implicit in his piano music: his fears and longing, his passion and devotion, his pain at their separation, his vision of sexual and spiritual fulfilment, and his recurrent fears of losing her.

In Dichterliebe (‘Poet’s Love’) Op.48, he turns again to the pithy verses of Heinrich Heine’s Buch der Lieder.
On one level, Dichterliebe can be heard as his most piercing recreation of the fluctuating emotions he had experienced during his long courtship of Clara.

Characteristically of Schumann, it is the piano that controls the musical narrative in Dichterliebe.
Characteristic, too, of Schumann’s 1840 songs is the piano postlude that encapsulates and deepens a song’s meaning. Dichterliebe takes this to the furthest extreme.

Schumann’s late Lieder have too often been dismissed as the products of an increasingly tired, sick mind. True, they tend to be more elusive than the songs of 1840, with piano parts that are often self-effacing and/or tortuously chromatic. But there are more than enough fine songs among them to challenge the cliché that Schumann’s genius declined irredeemably after the early 1840s. If the songs of 1849-52 are sometimes less ‘melodious and direct’ than their predecessors, that does not automatically make them inferior.
In August 1850, Schumann set six poems by the unstable and ultimately insane Austrian poet Nikolaus Lenau (1802-1850), whom he had briefly met in Vienna in 1839. Like Schumann and Wolf, Lenau spent his last years in an asylum, his mind destroyed by syphilis. Schumann was ill and dejected at the time, and his mood is reflected in these poems of satiety, oppressiveness and transience.

As a tribute to the dying poet (who he initially believed had already died), Schumann appended to the Lenau group one of his rare religious songs: Requiem, a setting of Héloïse’s lament for Peter Abelard. For this quasi-operatic music of solemn grandeur and mounting exaltation, Schumann devised a swirling keyboard accompaniment that takes its cue from the poem’s image of angelic harps.

During the autumn of 1857 Wagner began a set of five songs to poems by Mathilde Wesendonck, written in evident imitation of Wagner’s hothouse Tristan manner – one of the very rare occasions when he set words other than his own. The Wesendonck Lieder, as they are now known, were revised and completed in 1858, and first performed as a cycle in July 1862 at a country house belonging to the publisher Franz Schott.

Each of the songs shares with Tristan the concept of ‘endless melody’, a saturated, dissolving chromaticism – the musical emblem of unstilled desire – and a feverish, oppressive atmosphere.

Het onvolprezen duo, tenor Christoph Prégardien en pianist Michael Gees, brengt een heerlijk album uit met prachtige liederen van Robert Schumann en Richard Wagner. Het zijn twee echte klassiekers: Schumanns Dichterliebe en Wagners Wesendonck Lieder. Daarnaast bevat de opname een minder bekend meesterwerk van Schumann, zijn late Lenau-Liederen met Requiem.

Liefdesliederen

Robert Schumann was een uiterst confessionele componist. Veel van zijn liederen die hij in 1840 zijn 'Liederjahr' componeerde, waren eigenlijk liefdesliederen voor Clara Wieck. Liederen waarin hij openlijk kon uitdrukken, wat in zijn pianomuziek alleen impliciet kon: zijn angsten en verlangens, zijn passie en toewijding, zijn lijden om hun gedwongen scheiding, zijn visie op seksuele en geestelijke vervulling en zijn terugkerende angst om haar te verliezen.

In Dichterliebe Op. 48 keert Schumann terug naar de kernachtige versies van Heinrich Heines Buch der Lieder. In zekere zin horen we in dit werk zijn indringende weergave van de wisselende gevoelens die hij had tijdens zijn lange hofmakerij aan Clara. Karakteristiek voor Schumann is dat de piano in Dichterliebe het muzikale verhaal controleert en het eindspel van de piano de betekenis van een lied verklaart en verdiept.

Schumanns late liederen

De late liederen van Schumann worden te vaak afgedaan als het product van een toenemend vermoeide, zieke geest. Toegegeven, met de vaak bescheiden, soms tergend chromatische pianodelen lijken ze ongrijpbaarder dan de liederen uit 1840. Maar er zitten meer dan genoeg mooie liederen tussen om het cliché te weerleggen dat Schumanns talent na de vroege jaren 1840 onherroepelijk afnam. Als de liederen uit 1849-1952 soms wat minder melodieus en direct zijn dan wil dat niet automatisch zeggen dat ze slechter zijn.

In augustus 1850 verklankte Schumann zes gedichten van de labiele en uiteindelijk krankzinnig geworden Oostenrijkse dichter Nikolaus Lenau, die hij kort ontmoet had in 1839 in Wenen. Net als Schumann bracht Lenau zijn laatste jaren door in een psychiatrische inrichting, zijn geest verwoest door de syfilis. In die tijd was Schumann ziek en neerslachtig. Zijn stemming werd weerspiegeld in Lenaus gedichten vol onvrede, beklemming en vergankelijkheid.

Als eerbetoon aan de stervende dichter, van wie hij aanvankelijk geloofde dat hij al gestorven was, voegde Schumann een van zijn schaarse religieuze liederen toe aan de Lenau serie: Requiem, een verklanking van Héloïses weeklacht voor Peter Abelard. Voor deze opera-achtige muziek vol plechtige grandeur en toenemende vervoering bedacht Schumann een wervelende pianobegeleiding, geïnspireerd door de engelachtige harpen die de dichter in zijn werk verbeeldde.

Wagners Wesendonck Lieder

In de herfst van 1857 zette Richard Wagner een serie van vijf gedichten van Mathilde Wesendonck op muziek, in duidelijke navolging van zijn broeierige Tristan. Het was een van de weinige keren dat hij andere woorden dan zijn eigen gebruikte. De Wesendonck Lieder, zoals we ze nu kennen, werden herzien en voltooid in 1858, en voor het eerst uitgevoerd als een cyclus, in juli 1862 in een landhuis van uitgever Franz Schott. Elk van de liedjes heeft met Tristan het concept van de eindeloze melodie gemeen, een verzadigde, smeltende chromatiek – het muzikale symbool van ongestild verlangen – en een koortsachtige, beklemmende atmosfeer.
Al met al een heleboel ingrediënten die dit album tot een genot maken om naar te luisteren.

Robert Schumann war ein äußerst bekennender Komponist, und viele der Lieder seines großen Liederjahres 1840 waren im Grunde Liebeslieder an Clara Wieck. Darin konnte er offen zum Ausdruck bringen, was in seiner Klaviermusik lediglich stillschweigend inbegriffen war: seine Ängste und Sehnsüchte, seine Leidenschaft und Hingabe, sein Schmerz angesichts ihrer Trennung, seine Vision von sexueller und geistiger Erfüllung, und seine wiederkehrende Sorge, sie zu verlieren. In Dichterliebe, Op.48, wendet er sich abermals den prägnanten Versen aus Heinrich Heines Buch der Lieder zu. Auf einer Ebene kann man Dichterliebe als durchdringendste Neuschöpfung der fluktuierenden Gefühle hören, die er im langen Werben um Clara erlebt hatte. Typisch für Schumann ist es das Klavier, das in Dichterliebe die musikalische Narrative kontrolliert. Charakteristisch für Schumanns Lieder aus 1840 ist auch das Klaviernachspiel, das die Bedeutung eines Liedes auf den Punkt bringt und vertieft. Dichterliebe führt dies ins Extrem.Schumanns späte Lieder werden zu oft als Produkte eines zunehmend müden, kranken Geistes abgetan. Es ist wahr, sie sind schwerer fassbar als die 1840er Lieder, haben Klavierpartien, die oft zurückhaltend und/oder quälend chromatisch. Doch es gibt unter ihnen genügend ausgezeichnete Werke, um das Klischee anzufechten, Schumanns Genie hätte nach den frühen 1840er Jahren unwiederbringlich nachgelassen. Wenn die Lieder aus den Jahren 1849-52 auch oft weniger „melodiös und direkt“ sind als ihre Vorgänger, so macht sie das doch nicht automatisch minderwertig. Im August 1850 vertonte Schumann sechs Gedichte des labilen und schlussendlich wahnsinnigen österreichischen Dichters Nikolaus Lenau (1802-50), den er 1839 in Wien flüchtig getroffen hatte. Wie Schumann und Wolf verbrachte auch Lenau seine letzten Jahre im Irrenhaus, sein Geist von Syphilis zerrüttet. Schumann war zu dieser Zeit krank und niedergeschlagen, und seine Stimmung spiegelt sich in diesen Gedichten von Sattsein, drückender Last und Vergänglichkeit. Als Hommage an den sterbenden Poeten (von dem er anfänglich angenommen hatte, er wäre bereit verstorben) fügte Schumann der Lenau-Gruppe eine seiner seltenen, religiösen Lieder an: Requiem, eine Vertonung von Héloïses Klage um Peter Abelard. Für diese opernähnliche Musik von feierlicher Größe und zunehmenden Hochgefühls ersann Schumann eine wirbelnde Klavierbegleitung, die von den Engelsharfen-Vorstellungen des Dichters inspiriert ist.
Im Herbst 1857 begann Wagner eine Reihe von fünf Liedern zu Gedichten von Mathilde Wesendonck, verfasst in deutlicher Nachbildung von Wagners treibhausartiger Tristan-Manier – und einer der wenigen Anlässe, zu denen er Texte vertonte, die nicht seine eigenen waren. Die Wesendonck-Lieder, als die man die Stücke heute kennt, wurden 1858 überarbeitet und abgeschlossen, und erlebten ihre Erstaufführung als Zyklus im Juli 1862 in einem Landhaus, das dem Verleger Franz Schott gehörte. Jedes der Lieder hat mit Tristan das Konzept der endlosen Melodie gemein, eine gesättigte, sich auflösende Chromatik – das musikalische Bild des ungestillten Verlangens – und eine fieberhafte, drückende Atmosphäre.

Artist(s)

Christoph Prégardien

Michael Gees

Christoph Prégardien
Precise vocal control, clear diction, intelligent musicality and an ability to get to the heart of everything he sings ensures Christoph Prégardien’s place among the world’s foremost lyric tenors. Especially revered as a Lieder singer, he can be heard this season at the Phiharmonie de Paris, the Palace of Arts Budapest, and the Wigmore Hall in London, as well as in Zurich, Lucerne, Kyoto, Tokyo and Bogotá. He will also perform at the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg Hohenems, as well as part of the “Schubert!” concert series with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Christoph Prégardien appears regularly with renowned orchestras the world over. He has worked with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as well as the Boston and San Francisco Symphonies, and with conductors such as Barenboim, Metzmacher and Thielemann. His wide orchestral repertoire includes the great baroque, classical and romantic oratorios and passions, as well as works from the 17th and 20th centuries. In opera, his roles have included Tamino (The Magic Flute), Almaviva (Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Fenton (Verdi’s Falstaff), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and the title roles in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito and Idomeneo as well as Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria.

His long experience singing the Evangelist roles, and his close working relationship with conductors such as Nagano, Chailly, Herreweghe, Harnoncourt, Luisi and Gardiner have provided him with the perfect basis for his increasing work conducting the works of Bach. Following the success of his conducting debut in 2012, leading Le Concert Lorrain and the Nederlands Kammerkoor in Bach’s St. John’s Passion, he has also become in-demand as a conductor this repertoire. In 2015 he led Le Concert Lorrain and the Balthasar-Neumann Choir, this time in the St. Matthew’s Passion, and in the following years returned to lead Le Concert Lorrain and the Dresdner Kammerchor on tour with Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. At a celebration concert for Philippe Herreweghe’s 70th birthday he also led the Collegium Vocale Gent. He will make his debut leading a symphony orchestra in spring 2019, when he will lead the Duisburg Philharmonic in works including Mozart’s Requiem.

The singer has recorded much of his repertoire on a discography which numbers over 150 records, which have received awards such as the Orphée d’Or of the Académie du Disque Lyrique, the Edison Award, the Cannes Classical Award and the Diapason d’Or. For the label Challenge Classics he has recorded Schubert’s Schwanengesang with Andreas Staier and Die schöne Müllerin with Michael Gees – selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine and awarded the MIDEM Record of the Year – followed by Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with Julia Kleiter, Between Life and Death, Wanderer and the Grammy-nominated Winterreise disc – all with Michael Gees – as well as Father and Son with his son Julian Prégardien. His Schubert CD Poetisches Tagebuch (with Julius Drake) was awarded the German Critics’ Award 2016. His most recent CD releases include A Matter of Heart – songs for voice, horn and piano with Olivier Darbellay and Michael Gees – as well as a recording of passion cantatas by Telemann and Bach with the Vox Orchester for Sony, where he appears as a baritone for the first time.

Teaching remains a very important part of Christoph Prégardien’s musical life, and in addition to his concert engagements he gives masterclasses worldwide for young singers. Following many years at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Zurich, he has been a professor at the Academy of Music in Cologne since 2004.

Michael Gees
“Throughout the entire evening, Gees played as though he were the creator of the compositions, making sure that everything would come together as he had envisaged it. His eyes were not just those of a reproducing artist, but the flaring ones of one who is on fire, as we imagine a creative composer.”
N. Campogrande

Aged three, the piano is his favourite toy; from the age of five he receives formal lessons; aged eight, he wins the Steinway Competition as well as a scholarship enabling him to study at the Salzburg Mozarteum.

Hailed as the “Westphalian Mozart”, he trains at the Vienna and Detmold conservatoires and it seems as though nothing can stand in the way of a career as a pianist. The talented child, however, doesn’t want to be limited to technical exercises but instead longs to explore the world of sounds on his own terms, rediscovering it again and again, note by note.

At the age of fifteen, the “prodigy” flees the pressures of his predestined career, leaving behind his school, conservatoire and home, earning a living through odd jobs, as an archaeological assistant, and also by going to sea for two years.

In 1974, he is unexpectedly offered a place to study at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover. He develops his pianistic talent individually, composes and gains international renown as a first-class lieder accompanist, performing across the globe.

Through his playing he revives the long-forgotten tradition of using the work as an opportunity for extemporisation.

He goes on to found the Consol Theater which opens in 2001: here, children, teenagers and adults are encouraged and inspired to discover and realise their own creative impulses.

His own Forum Kunstvereint, alongside CPO and EMI, have issued numerous CDs with Michael Gees. As of 2007, he is associated with Challenge Classics: the recording of Die schöne Müllerin with Christoph Prégardien wins the 2009 MIDEM Classical Award and also Recording of the Year. Releases since then, including song recitals with Julia Kleiter, Anna Lucia Richter and Julian Prégardien, as well as solo recordings ImproviSatie, Beyond Schumann and Bach – Mendelssohn – Adaptations increasingly show Michael Gees in his element, treating the scores creatively.

Michael Gees programmes solo and song recitals between tradition and new ground. He has been teaching Vocal Improvisation and Song Invention at the Cologne Musikhochschule since 2009.

Composer(s)

Richard Wagner

Robert Schumann

Press

Conveyed with dignity but with little nostalgia by both Prégardien and Gees.
Fanfare, 21-2-2020

Since the first time I heard him many years ago I have been enamored of Christoph Pregardien’s voice. It is sweet and supple. His readings are almost always spot-on. His partnership with Michael Gees has been fruitful over the years.
American Record Guide, 19-2-2020

Another fine release from this superb singer.
Gramophone, 30-1-2020

Truly impressive!
Music web International, 13-1-2020

In his interpretation of the famous lieder cycle [Dichterliebe], he still follows a very vitalistic approach where he joins a youthful excitment to a flawless knowledge of each text inflection... the voice has less flexibility than before but it has gained in breadth and scale, which are ideal features for Wagner's Wesendonklieder... [Lenau-Lieder] Pregardien wonderfully conveys the composer's fragility and intensity, thanks to a most refined technique - impressive is the quality of the pianissimi in every pitch - and an impeccable elocution. Michael Gees, careful partner with a beautiful tone, plays a meaningful role in this recording great lyrical flying.
Scherzo, 29-11-2019