Includes song(s) by Robert Schumann. Soloists: Håkan Hagegård, Thomas Schuback.

Schumann: Piano Quartet, Op. 47 - Piano Quintet, Op. 44

Classical Music

Classical Music

Twilight is the third album of tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Saskia Giorgini, dedicated to Robert Schumann song cycles, all written in the miraculously productive year of 1840. The album title and cover photography were inspired by the song Zwielicht, which together with Mondnacht from the same Op. 39 cycle is often considered to be the epitome of German nineteenth-century Romanticism. It is also a fitting metaphor for Schumann's troubled soul, constantly oscillating between light and dark, between hope and despair. Shedding a fascinating light on Schumann's dark inner world, the recorded songs are both an expression of his profound love for his wife Clara and of euphoria after having overcome a period of severe mental disturbance. It is hard to think of better ambassadors for this repertoire than Ian Bostridge and Saskia Giorgini, whose acclaimed partnership has made them seasoned champions of the German lied. Ian Bostridge is one of the most celebrated tenors and lied interpreters of his generation. His PENTATONE recording of Schubert's Winterreise (2019) was crowned with the ICMA Vocal Music Award 2020. Bostridge has since released Schwanengesang (2022), The Folly of Desire (2023) as well as Die schone Mullerin (2020) and Respighi Songs (2021), both together with Saskia Giorgini, on the label. Giorgini's Liszt recordings Harmonies poetiques et religieuses (2021) and Consolations (2023), as well as her Debussy recital album Images (2024), have all received extensive praise.

For the Fourth Volume of their Schumann Collection, Pierre and Theo Fouchenneret, along with their fellow musicians in Quatuor Strada, take us through the year 1842. It was a prolific period for the composer being the year of the three String Quartets, Opus 41, and the Quintet for Piano and Strings, Opus 44.

Gustav Kuhn is aware of the eloquence of the scoring throughout the work and responds with great immediacy to nuance, making the listener aware of Schumann's exotic touches of color.

Schumann, at 33, put his whole heart and soul into Das Parodies und die Peri, his first venture—and what a bravely unconventional one—into the world of oratorio... Whereas Gerd Albrecht's overall timing, with a Czech team for Supraphon/Koch International, was 90 minutes and Armin Jordan's for Erato/Warner Classics, with the Swiss was 96, Gustav Kuhn, with his Germans, allows himself 99. There is no resulting loss of excitement in more rousing contexts, like the battle music in the Peri's first Indian search for "the gift most dear to heaven". But always Kuhn tries to squeeze just that much more out of the score's more personal heart-tugs, like the choral lament for the slain hero, "Weh, weh" (No. 8) towards the end of the first part. He is also aware of the eloquence of Schumann's scoring throughout the work, and responds with great immediacy to every dot, slur, dash and dynamic gradation in his phrasing. Listen, for instance, how "Verlassener Jüngling" (No. 15) emerges here not as a mezzo-soprano solo but an uncommonly expressive duet for singer and cello. You are also made very much aware of the more exotic touches of colour, like the piccolo in the battle music and the triangle in the choruses of the Genii of the Nile and the Houris in Parts 2 and 3.

The penalty to be paid is a far too forwardly balanced orchestra, sometimes at the expense of the generally pleasing soloists—not forgetting the American baritone, Alan Titus, so mellifluous in his Part 3 solo, "Jetzt sank" (No. 21) yet completely engulfed in orchestral wind as the repentant sinner (at the end of No. 24) whose tears eventually win the Pen her long-sought return to Paradise. From Sharon Sweet in the title-role there is the occasional operatic squall under pressure (as in No. 11) but infinitely more genuine warmth of tone and feeling when under control. Eberhard Bnchner, as the tenor narrator, just occasionally hits his notes in excitement, but is vibrant and vivid, and I enjoyed his female storytelling counterpart, Marga Schiml as the Angel, so free of traditional alto over-fruitiness and wobble.

-- Joan Chissell, Gramophone [1/1992]
reviewing the original release of this recording, Eurodisc 69105

Kurt Masur approaches the symphonies easily and gracefully. He is capable of a gesture of proper grandeur, as at the opening to No. 1, but on the whole he treats them more lightly... The delightful Scherzo to No. 3, marked moderato, is played rather solemnly by Sawallisch, where Masur touches elegantly on its Leindler grace and its easy flow up and down the arpeggios. Opening No. 4, Sawallisch responds to the very Beethoven-like scoring with similar grandeur of utterance; Masur is quieter, seeking out the Romantic tinge in the bassoon and middle string phrases...

-- Gramophone [9/1976]
reviewing the original LP release

Robert Schuman is one of a number of 19th century artists whose creativity was dogged by mental illness. The works he wrote at the end of his life have particularly suffered from being seen soley through his prism. Madnenss in no way helps us understand his late style. A common misconception is that Schumann the composer was mad however it was Schumann the man, who was mad. Soo Park goes in depth with Schumann, finding the harmonies and sanity in his works.

Schumann wrote 26 songs and called them “Myrten,” which means “Myrtles,” as a wedding gift to Clara Wieck. Schumann, who grew up between piles of books in his father’s bookstore, had developed a diverse taste in literature, and in Myrten his choice of poetry is not only adventurous, but above all remarkable. All texts of the cycle are in German, but three of the poets are English, Scottish or Irish: Lord Byron, Robert Burns, and Thomas Moore. Most English texts Schumann used for his Myrten were translated by Wilhelm Gerhard, a German salesman and poet, who lived in Leipzig and was friendly with many leading poets and composers. The other poems are written by Goethe, Ruckert and Heine, who are each represented in several songs. Only one text, which inspired Schumann to write one of his most beloved songs, was written by Julius Mosen: Der Nussbaum.

Schumann: Fantasie - Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor

Schumann: Cello Concerto - Adagio and Allegro - Fantasiestüc

Schumann: Album für die Jugend

ROBERT SCHUMANN: PIANO WORKS

SCHUMANN: WALDSCENEN, ETC CAS