Showing posts with label Schumann. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Schumann. Show all posts

Friday, September 4, 2015

Gratuitous Friday – Mixed Reactions to Dorothea Röschmann

Really, it's a mixed reaction to this email from Spotify:




Looking at the picture, I assumed the whole album was there. Hooray!!! Looking at the actual message, I realized one song was there. Boooo!! Well, Hooray for that, too, since it's a lovely song and a beautiful performance:



It was kind of a kismet moment, since just yesterday I'd listened to Ms. Uchida's Schumann recital with the secret Dorothea Röschmann track. (I sort of remembered DR was on this disc, but it still came as a (pleasant) surprise to hear her beautiful voice pop in for a minute or so after all that amazing piano playing.)



Well it may go without saying, that all this limited DR/Schumann exposure was a bit frustrating. So I went to this disc (not Schumann, but hey, Schubert did some pretty melodies, too!) as a consolation prize.


At this point, it also probably goes without saying that every time I think I’m not that into Lieder, I happen upon performances like these recordings from DR, that make my ears (and mind and heart) perk up. 

Finally, apropos of nothing really: I never thought about how tragic Gretchen am Spinnrade (#6 above) is, until I listened DR sing it this morning. Based on my experiences accompanying all my soprano buddies in my undergrad years, I always thought of this more as a really annoying finger exercise. I really should stop thinking that I'm just not that into Lieder, and just listen to more!

I have more to say about Schumann Lieder, but I will save that for another post. 

P.S. Yes I am still around. I am in the throes of moving house (again!) I hope to post more regularly again once we are re-settled. 

Friday, December 13, 2013

Aus der Inbox – Schumann’s Faust on Digital Concert Hall On Sunday – Roschmann, Pisaroni, Gerhaher, et al.

  • Sunday, Dec. 15, 2 PM Eastern US

  • Robert Schumann
    Scenes from Goethe's Faust

    Dorothea Röschmann Soprano (Gretchen, Una Poenitentium),Anna Prohaska Soprano (Marthe, Care, Angel, Soprano solos),Andrew Staples Tenor (Ariel, Pater Exstaticus, Tenor solos),Christian Gerhaher Baritone (Faust, Pater Seraphicus, Dr. Marianus)Luca Pisaroni Bass-Baritone (Mephistopheles)Franz-Josef Selig Bass-Baritone (Pater profundus, Bass solos)Wiebke Lehmkuhl Contralto (Guilt, Mater Gloriosa, Maria Aegyptiaca, Contralto solos)Rundfunkchor BerlinRobin Gritton Chorus MasterBoys of the Staats- und Domchor BerlinKai-Uwe Jirka Chorus Master
Over time how many composers have had a try at Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust – and have failed more or less honourably! Robert Schumann is generally named as one of them. After all, with Scenes from Goethe’s Faust he wrote a work between 1844 and 1853 that until the present has led a shadowy existence in the concert business. But wait! Did Schumann truly shipwreck in compositional terms in grappling with the German tragedy – for that reason alone? Or was his music quite simply not (yet) understood – then or now – by his contemporaries and by ensuing ages?
For the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who originally was to lead the three concerts in the Berlin Philharmonie, Schumann’sFaust Scenes “are among the greatest music that there is.” Unfortunately, the conductor has had to cancel his guest appearance with the Philharmoniker. We are grateful to Daniel Harding, who recently performed Mahler’s Tenth Symphony with the orchestra, who has agreed to stand in for him.
Christian Gerhaher, Dorothea Röschmann and Luca Pisaroni will slip into the roles of Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles. Besides additional high-caliber soloists, the Rundfunkchor Berlin can also be experienced in the performances of Schumann’s composition, which oscillates between incidental music, cantata and secular oratorio. These are optimal prerequisites to (re-)discover – in Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s words – “the enigmatic, transcendental, ambiguous” in Schumann’s Faust music.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Gerhaher Sings Schumann in Hohenems

Gerold Huber and Christian Gerhaher in Salzburg
Just in case you can't get enough of Christian Gerhaher (accompanied by Gerold Huber) singing Schumann (I can't), here is a broadcast of his Liederabend from the lovely Markus-Sittikus-Saal in Hoenems, Austria. This was recorded on September 22, 2013. It was transmitted this morning on Ö1 Radio, so it should be available for another seven days. The program is listed below.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Markus Werba at Wigmore Hall – on BBC3 (only 5 more days)


Austrian barihunk Markus Werba (with Gary Matthewman, piano) sings Schubert, Wolf, and Schumann live from Wigmore Hall, London. 

This one-hour program will be available on BBC3 iPlayer for about five six more days. (updated 3/2/31)


  • Schubert Gesänge des Harfners Op. 12, Nos. 1,2,3
  • Wolf Michelangelo Lieder
  • Schumann Dichterliebe


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