Schubert: Schwanengesang

Schubert: Schwanengesang

Schubert: Schwanengesang

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CD Details

Composer: Franz [Vienna] Schubert
Performer: Antonio Pappano
Performer: Ian Bostridge
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2009-03-10
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:

Geheimnis D491
An Schwager Kronos D369
Widerschein D949
Liebesbotschaft
Kriegers Ahnung
Frühlingssehnsucht
Ständchen
Aufenthalt
In der Ferne
Abschied
Der Atlas
Ihr Bild
Das Fischermädchen
Die Stadt
Am Meer
Der Doppelgänger
Taubenpost D965 A
Abschied D475

Music reviews of Schubert: Schwanengesang

Music Review: Ian Bostridge Sings Schwanengesang
Rating: 5 Stars

Franz Schubert wrote over 600 songs during his short life (1797 -- 1828). In their lyrical spontanaiety, intimacy and variety, Schubert's songs have never been surpassed. Schubert essentially created the genre of art song as well as its successor -- the modern popular song in all its forms.

In the extraordinarily productive final summer of his life, Schubert composed 14 songs for voice and piano which an enterprising publisher grouped together after his death under the name "Schwanengesang" (Swan song). In spite of their lack of musical or thematic unity, the final 14 songs have been performed as a unit ever since. Thus, "Schwanengesang" consists of seven settings of poems by Ludwig Relstab (1799 -- 1860), six by Heinrich Heine (1797 -- 1856) and a final poem, generally regarded as Schubert's last song, by Johann Seidel (1804 -- 1875). The songs have a valedictory character overall as they generally have bittersweet themes of lost love and of sadness. They never fail to refresh the spirit. I returned to the songs in part because I am working with a cellist friend in playing an arrangement of the "Serenade", the most famous single song in this collection. But it goes deeper than that. This cycle helps me as an antidote to melancholy.

In this recording, the English tenor Ian Bostridge is accompanied by the conductor and pianist Antonio Pappano. There is formidable recorded competition for "Schwanengesang" and most often the set is performed by a lower voice. Bostridge has a light voice which took some getting used to. This is a highly expressive, passionate and romantic performance. Each song is highly characterized, providing great contrast among the many moods captured by the music. The the setting of Relstab's "Abschied" (Farewell), with its energetic "clip-clop" accompaniment in the piano is taken at a fast pace indeed. The more melancholy, slower songs are taken with deliberation. Bostridge's phrasing and articulation are precise and clear, particularly in the short song "Atlas" over its thundering piano accompaniment.

The two most famous songs from this set are the "Serenade" set to Relstab and the "Doppelganger" set to Heine. Bostridge captures the flowing, unsettled character of the lover's quest in the former song together with the echoing lyrical responses of Pappano. "Der Doppelganger" remains an almost modernistic work with the troubled singer seeing himself before the home of the woman who has rejected him. With his tenor voice, Bostridge offers a strongly declamatory performance of this song, with its large angry climaxes over the rumbling minor key chords of the piano. The final song, Seidel's "Taubenpost" with its mixture of questioning whimsy and sadness, brings relief from the difficulties of "Der Doppelganger."

For those new to this music, I offer these brief comments on the remaining songs. Two early Relstab songs, "Love's Message" and "Spring Longing" capture the feel of a rippling brook and of dreams of love. "Abschied", the final Relstab song, tells of a singer leaving his native home, with a lively pace and an undercurrent of sadness. The remaining Relstab settings, "Kriegers Ahung","Aufenhalt" and "In der Ferne" are more tragic in tone.

The Heine settings tend to be more concentrated than the settings of Relstab. In addition to "Der Doppelganger", the settings of "Atlas", "Ihr Bild" and "Die Stadt" and "Am Meer" are songs of wandering, loneliness, and rejection. The mood of these songs is interrupted only briefly by the barcarolle, rolling setting of "Die Fischermadchen". Seidel's poem of the carrier pigeon brings the set and Schubert's song output to a conclusion.

The CD also includes four additional songs, including the early setting of Goethe's "An Schwager Chronos", two settings by Schubert's friend Mayrhofer (1787 -- 1836), "Gehimnis" and "Abschied" and a late setting of another poem titled "Abschied" by Schubert's friend, Franz von Schlecta (1796 -- 1875). All but the Goethe setting were unfamiliar to me. Schubert's over 600 lieder present endless possibilities for new discovery.

"Schwanengesang" consists of imperishable songs by a composer who died young. Lovers of Schubert and of art song will want to hear this CD by Bostridge and Pappano. Texts and translations of the songs are included.

Robin Friedman

More Schubert: Schwanengesang free music reviews:
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Description of Schubert: Schwanengesang

Following their acclaimed album of Hugo Wolf lieder, Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano once again unite, this time to perform Schubert's deeply moving cycle Schwanengesang, a posthumous collection of songs from poems by Ludwig Rellstab and Heinrich Heine.

Includes four other tracks (Abschied, Geheimnis, An Schwager Kronos, and Widerschein), plus the song Taubenpost (Schubert's last lied composition, which frequently used to conclude the cycle), round out the program.

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