Strauss: Four Last Songs, Arias / Anne Schwanewilms
Orfeo
CD
$20.99Nov 13, 2012
"Anne Schwanewilms is one of the leading Strauss sopranos of our times. Here she offers some plums from the composer’s huge output for the soprano voice.
The trio from the last act of Der Rosenkavalier is one of the most sumptuous passages in all Strauss. It’s very well sung here - and, not for the first time on the disc, the Gürzenich-Orchester is inspired by Markus Stenz to some gorgeous playing. My only complaint is that the extract is tantalisingly short. Given the short playing time of the disc could not the remainder of the closing scene have been included, even if Miss Schwanewilms would not have been involved?
There’s ample compensation, however, in the form of the closing scene from Capriccio. There’s some wonderful singing here, especially during the rapturous music to which Strauss sets Olivier’s sonnet when the Countess reads it. Miss Schwanewilms is particularly passionate in tone at ‘Du wirst geliebt und kannst dich nicht’. Then, as the scene draws to a close she’s rapt at ‘Du Spiegelbild der verliebten Madeleine’, spinning a delectable vocal line. From this point until the end of the track the orchestral playing is notably distinguished.
She’s also excellent as Arabella. At the start of the solo her singing is touching and with a hint of vulnerability to it. Later, from ‘Dann aber, wie ich Sie gespürt’, she becomes more impassioned, as the music and the sentiments of the text demand."
Doderer: Symphony No. 2; Violin Concerto No. 2 "In Breath of Time" / Matiakh, Schwanewilms
Capriccio
CD
$21.99Nov 13, 2015
The great niece of the largely unsung early-mid 20th century Austrian writer Heimito von Doderer whose book "Die Wasserfalle von Slunj" brought him rare recognition and was conceived as a novelistic counterpart to Beethoven's 7th Symphony, this premiere of Johanna Doderer's 2nd Symphony 'Bohinj' is an artistic memorial to Lake Bohinj in Slovenia, around 300 km away from the Croatian waterfalls her great uncle wrote about to great effect. Doderer has said she "was fascinated above all by the superb scenery. In the course of time, I found out what happened there during the First World War. In short, the idyll utters a silent scream. My three-movement work also touches on this sound." With the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz conducted by Ariane Matiakh, the release also features teh soprano Anne Schwanewilms as well as the violinist, Yury Revich and is an excellent introduction to U.S. audiences of this prolific and much commissioned contemporary composer.
Messiaen, O.: Poemes Pour Mi / Les Offrandes Oubliees / Un S
Naxos
CD
$19.99Oct 27, 2009
Love and faith, mortality and eternity are the abiding themes of these three important and beautifully shimmering works by one of the 20th century' most innovative composers. Les offrandes oubliees, Messiaen' first published orchestral work, is a symphony.
Anne Schwanewilms ranks among the greatest Strauss and Wagner interpreters today, but for her new album she deliberately chose songs by Schumann and Wolf. In Anne’s words, “The tranquility that can emerge with Schumann and Wolf is incredibly intense and fascinating for me.”
A live recording from Leipzig featuring soprano Anne Schwanewilms, pianist Manuel Lange and actor Wolf-Dietrich Rammler is now being released by GENUIN. The program of this top-class evening included the Seven Early Songs by Alban Berg, the poems of Hilde Domin, and the song cycle Dennoch by Stefan Heucke. The latter is also based on poems by Hilde Domin and is presented here as a world-premiere recording. Anne Schwanewilms, Manuel Lange and Wolf-Dietrich Rammler take us on an intensive journey, carefully arranged in a sequence of music and text: From personal life journeys to the universal – a humanitarian appeal of great poetry and music!
