Schubert: Schwanengesang

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

This is a wonderful recording, two supreme Schubertians working in perfect harmony. Odd as it might sound, I think that this disc is valuable above all for Paul Lewis's stupendous playing. Not... — BBC Music Magazine, November 2011, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 5th Sep 2011
Catalogue No: HMU907520
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 67 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

12th September 2011
Gramophone Magazine

Awards Issue 2011

Editor's Choice

Schubert: Schwanengesang, D957

Work length54:04

$14.00

$17.50

I. Liebesbotschaft

Track length3:02

$1.00

$1.25

II. Kriegers Ahnung

Track length5:08

$1.00

$1.25

III. Frühlingssehnsucht

Track length3:26

$1.00

$1.25

IV. Ständchen

Track length4:14

$1.00

$1.25

V. Aufenthalt

Track length3:12

$1.00

$1.25

VI. In der Ferne

Track length5:25

$1.00

$1.25

VII. Abschied

Track length4:49

$1.00

$1.25

VIII. Der Atlas

Track length2:10

$1.00

$1.25

IX. Ihr Bild

Track length2:58

$1.00

$1.25

X. Das Fischermädchen

Track length2:11

$1.00

$1.25

XI. Die Stadt

Track length3:06

$1.00

$1.25

XII. Am Meer

Track length4:45

$1.00

$1.25

XIII. Der Doppelgänger

Track length4:55

$1.00

$1.25

XIV. Die Taubenpost

Track length4:43

$1.00

$1.25

Schubert: Auf dem Strom, D943, Op. post. 119

Work length9:50

$1.20

$1.50

Schubert: Die Sterne, D939 (Leitner)

Work length3:20

$1.00

$1.25

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Recording of the Week, Schubert's Schwanengesang from Padmore and Lewis

12th September 2011

Padmore’s bright, light tenor is often hauntingly beautiful in Schubert’s ‘swan-song’, combining with Lewis’s imaginative and insightful playing in a performance of great musical integrity which is a worthy successor to their superb Winterreise and Schöne Müllerin.

Tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Paul Lewis conclude their acclaimed Schubert triptych with this revelatory account of Schwanengesang, the third and last of the great Schubert cycles, collected and published after the composer’s death.

Auf dem Strom for tenor, horn & piano, and the gently hopeful song Die Sterne complete the programme.

Reviews

November 2011

This is a wonderful recording, two supreme Schubertians working in perfect harmony. Odd as it might sound, I think that this disc is valuable above all for Paul Lewis's stupendous playing. Not only has he the technique - no mean feat, with some of Schubert's accompaniments - but he is also, with Mitsuko Uchida, one of the greatest Schubertians of our time. He has clearly immersed himself in these songs to an impressive degree

November 2011

His feeling for words, their meaning and expression form the bedrock of this performance, as Schubert himself would have wanted. The intensity of communication here flows from the ideal marriage of verbal and musical articulation, complex and rich in their relationship, with singer and pianist united as selfless matchmakers between poetry and music

Awards Issue 2011

Padmore's silvery, keen-edged tenor, grace of phrase and sensitivity to mood and verbal nuance are ideal [in Liebesbotschaft]; and how affectionately Lewis's left hand sings in gentle colloquy with the voice...In its fine balance of subtlety and devastating emotional directness, this is certainly a Schwanengesang in the Schreier-Schiff class, its attractions enhanced by the "bonus" items.

12th September 2011

Padmore has a bright, light and true tenor voice which at times is almost hauntingly beautiful. He maintains a singing line through the more reflective songs but isn’t afraid to break from this with dramatic effect when necessary.
Paul Lewis again demonstrates what a special pianist he is, playing with imagination and wonderful characterisation.

2nd September 2011

Tempos are generally slow and the emotional atmosphere introspective, imbuing even something as superficially cheerful as Ständchen with melancholy. Occasionally, as in Der Atlas, one longs for more power and colour than Padmore’s light bright tenor can authentically provide, but this is a performance of undeniable musical integrity.

22nd September 2011

Padmore’s very English tenor voice, so clean in articulation, so carefully coloured, penetrates these songs of love’s despair with memorable clarity. Subtlety, too...More than before, singer and pianist seem joined at the hip in thought and deed...Lewis spins his own poetry, whispering with the breezes, trotting his hoofs, whatever words and music indicate.

Schubert: Schwanengesang

Downloads

Contents

Recording of the Week, Schubert's Schwanengesang from Padmore and Lewis

Download queue