Robert Schumann

For her first Lieder recital, respectes soprano Anja Harteros has made a personal choice, spanning a wide arc from Haydn to Strauss. “Anja Harteros is a tall, dark beauty whose smoldering emotions erupt into cascades of gorgeously produced tone, all right on the mark and thrilling to hear.” New York Magazine.

This is Vol.22 of the Edition Ruhr Piano Festival and features outstanding young pianists giving their debut recital.

Rare and unreleased material recorded 1939-1958.

In April 2008 Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra executed a series of performances of Schumann's rarely heard masterpiece Szenen aus Goethes Faust.These successful performances were recorded live and edited into the release that you have before you. Nikolaus Harnoncourt made his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1975, where his St John and St Matthew Passions opened a whole new chapter in the Amsterdam tradition of performing these works. With the RCO, he directed a number of impressive opera productions, including the Mozart operas by librettist Da Ponte and Strauss' Die Fledermaus, and a great number of symphonic concerts, including symphonies by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Dvorák. Much of the repertoire Harnoncourt conducted with the Concertgebouw Orchestra has been recorded and has also received many awards. He was made a Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion in 2006. Nikolaus Harnoncourt was appointed honorary guest conductor in October 2000.

Nikolaus Harnoncourt on Schumann's Faust-Szenen:

"When I think of Schumann, I picture him at the café in Dresden where he would meet Wagner and Mendelssohn every week.They were about the same age, and all three were from Saxony. Luckily for Wagner's reputation, both the others died young; had they lived longer, simultaneously with Wagner, music history would have been very different indeed. I consider Schumann the greatest genius of the three - Wagner's genius was not primarily musical, but theatrical. One of the things that make Faust so incredible is Schumann's ability to select precisely those scenes from such a huge drama which illustrate that one aspect of redemption. In music, there are two or three famous sunrises - in The Creation and The Seasons by Haydn, and in Schumann's Faust-Szenen: Faust finds himself in a deep cavern. Day breaks, and Faust awakens to see how the sun shines upon the highest mountain tops. He himself still lies in darkness. Once the sunlight reaches him, he says, "So let the sun remain behind me!" because his eyes cannot bear the light. I think this sunrise with its oscillating changes of colour is one of the most beautiful moments in the history of music."

2CDs for price of 1

The first edition of Schumann's Fantasie in C has a number of differences from the edition more commonly used today. Most notably, at the top of the first movement "Throughout fantastically and passionately sustained", Schumann had originally written 'Throughout with violent feeling and continually free'. David Wilde has reinstated this and many other significant interpretative details resulting in a revelatory reading of this tumultuous love poem to the young Clara. In contrast, Kinderszenen, a touching and vernal evocation of childhood, is given a performance of artless innocence that chimes with Wilde's conviction that 'it shouldn't sound mature'. Carnaval's colourful cast of characters is viscerally and imaginatively brought to life, culminating in David's fearsome 'March against the Philistines'.

A veteran of the romantic piano tradition,Wilde brings seven decades of intense experience to this recital. His playing harks back to a time when audiences expected much more from the performer.This is Schumann with personality - listeners searching for a 'safe' experience will be disappointed.

“Here is a singer-actor who has it all…” The Sunday Times

“In a league of his own…” The Sunday Telegraph

“The king of barnstorming performances…” The Independent

Sony Music Entertainment UK is pleased to present the first of three albums by British baritone Simon Keenlyside, who has recently signed a new exclusive recording contract with the Sony UK company.

The first recording under this exciting new agreement features Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Op.48, and a selection of Lieder by Brahms, sensitively accompanied by pianist Malcolm Martineau.

Simon Keenlyside was born in London and studied zoology at Cambridge before attending the Royal Northern College of Music for vocal studies. One of the world’s most sought-after and charismatic singers, he has appeared at many of the world’s major opera houses and concert halls, and is noted for his versatility and highly charged performances. Highlights of his career so far include his acclaimed performance of Billy Budd at the ENO, Prospero in the world premiere of Thomas Ades' The Tempest, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Count Almaviva in Milan and Vienna under Muti; Don Giovanni in Ferrara under Abbado and Pelleas in San Francisco, Geneva and Paris.

Simon Keenlyside won the 2006 Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in Opera for his performance of Billy Budd at ENO and Winston in the world premiere of 1984 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and in 2007 he won a Gramophone Award for Tales Of Opera, his album of operatic arias recorded for Sony Music in Germany.