Olivia Vermeulen | Jan Philip Schulze
Hello Darkness
- Type CD
- Label Challenge Classics
- UPC 0608917288728
- Catalog number CC 72887
- Release date 14 January 2022
About the album
Dedicating a CD to the dark side of the Lied might seem inappropriate in these times of Covid, climate change and refugee crises, but as a mezzo-soprano Olivia has always been drawn to the darker roles in opera, the sad arias in oratorio and the deep laments in song. After our recent recording (‘Dirty Minds’), which focused on ‘la petite mort’, it seemed a natural progression to turn our attention to ‘la grande mort’!
Darkness in the outside world and the inner self has always been – alongside Love – one of the chief themes of vocal music, and compositions and songs about death are legion during every period of musical history. The music on this recording is extremely diverse and we relished the idea of programming songs from different centuries in different styles and genres. We begin with a collection of songs about melancholia, inner abysses, longing for death and murderous lust. But the CD is also rich in songs about comfort and hope, light instead of despair – with lashings of black humour!
Composers down the ages have used innovative approaches to render the theme of death. Chromaticism is used tellingly by Monteverdi and Schubert. Duparc’s sensuous ‘Extase’ (1878), is nothing short of a miniature Liebestod. Korngold and Wolfgang Rihm play with translucent semitone sighs, Schumann’s ‘Nachtlied’ is characterized by hovering harmonies; Strauss and Korngold use late-romantic opulence; while tonality with Charles Ives and Alban Berg begins to lose its hold, while Berg, abandons tonality entirely. John Cage goes a step further and directs the pianist to drum the notes on the lid of a completely closed piano. Randy Newman’s ‘In Germany before the war’ is wreathed in mystery.
-
11Lasciatemi morire (Rinuccini) from 'L'Arianna“ 1608
01:19 -
12Listen before i go
04:33 -
13Der Tod und das Mädchen Op. 7/3 D. 531 (Claudius)
02:15 -
14The curse of Millhaven from “Murder Ballads” 1996
04:49 -
15Der Jüngling und der Tod D. 545 (Spaun)
03:44 -
16Dance of the moon in Santiago (García Lorca trad. Crumb) from “Sun and Shadow” 2009
03:02 -
17In Germany before the war (Newman) From “Little Criminals” 1977
03:55 -
18The crow (Lang) from “The cold Trip pt. 2” 2015
01:44 -
19Ode an den Mord (Daniel Pongratz) From “Das ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt” 2021
02:23 -
110Charlie Rutlage S. 226 (traditional, collected by J. A. Lomax)
02:35 -
111Death is just around the corner (Lippa) from “The Adams Family”
04:10 -
112The wonderful widow of eighteen springs (Joyce)
02:41 -
113Nachtlied Op. 96/1 (Goethe)
02:02 -
114Zwei Gedichte von Marina Zwetajewa 2016 (trad. Waldemar Dege) ...bist fort
01:56 -
115Zwei Gedichte von Marina Zwetajewa 2016 (trad. Waldemar Dege) Zeit sich vom Bernstein zu trennen
01:17 -
116Urlicht (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
04:03 -
117Befreit Op. 39/4 (Dehmel)
05:03 -
118Extase (Lahor)
03:07 -
119Vier Gesänge Op. 2 Aus Dem Schmerz sein Recht (Hebbel)
02:32 -
120Vier Gesänge Op. 2 Schlafend trägt man mich in mein Heimatland (Mombert)
00:59 -
121Vier Gesänge Op. 2 Nun ich der Riesen Stärksten überwand (Mombert)
00:57 -
122Vier Gesänge Op. 2 Warm die Lüfte (Mombert)
02:29 -
123Als ik dood ben lig ik onder gras
00:35 -
124from Lieder des Abschieds Op. 14 Sterbelied (Rosetti trad. Kerr)
03:35 -
125from Lieder des Abschieds Op. 14 Dies eine kann mein Sehnen nimmer fassen (Ronsperger)
02:39 -
126from Lieder des Abschieds Op. 14 Mond, so gehst Du wieder auf (Lothar)
03:15
Edmund Mark George Manfred Hawksworth