Brahms: An eine Äolsharfe, Op. 19 No. 5

Following the iconic series of the complete songs of Schubert and Schumann, Graham Johnson further demonstrates the phenomenal depth of his knowledge in the expert programming of this recital. Each disc in the series represents a different journey through the repertoire, and thus through Brahms’s life. This new volume is sensitively balanced, the opening and closing folksong transcriptions possessing beguiling charm and the five songs of Op 49 being performed in their entirety.

Hyperion is thrilled to welcome the young German tenor Simon Bode to the label. At home in the opera house and the recital hall, Bode possesses a controlled voice of great beauty, and gives performances of immediacy and conviction. Johnson, as accompanist, is immaculate and his usual scholarly notes are of course included.

‘You sing as if you had written it yourself!’ Jean Cocteau once told Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. This anthology of lieder by Brahms and Schumann is a prime example of the great singer doing just that, mining every nuance of emotion from a song while, at the same time, sounding as spontaneous and free as if he were making it up on the spot. One of the hallmarks of Fischer-Dieskau’s legacy is the ease with which he creates the spell of each individual song, drawing the listener – apparently effortlessly – into the drama created by the words and the music.

Fischer-Dieskau recorded extensively for Deutsche Grammophon, and the bulk of his archive has been mined on CDs. These recordings, however, are rarities. The songs on CD1 appeared only as part of the Fischer-Dieskau Edition for his 75th birthday. The Brahms songs on CD2 make their first appearance on CD. And the 1957 recording of Schumann’s Dichterliebe with his long-time pianist Jörg Demus, only appeared as part of Deutsche Grammophon’s centenary edition. CD2 includes the Four Duets, Op. 28 in which Fischer-Dieskau is partnered by an artist not heard enough on records, the contralto Kerstin Meyer.

This release marks the launch of an Eloquence series of notable recitals of songs and opera arias by some of the great voices of Decca and Deutsche Grammophon.

This highly regarded recording of a collection of lieder by Brahms was first released in 1982 and features one of the outstanding singers of her generation, the German mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender. The pianist is Irwin Gage, and they are joined on two of the songs by the viola player Thomas Riebl.

Brigitte Fassbaender’s international career took off when she appeared as Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1971. Since then she has appeared in all of the major opera houses around the world in roles such as as Clairon in Capriccio, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Fricka in Die Walküre, Carmen in Carmen, Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, Amneris in Aïda, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Eboli in Don Carlos, and Klytemnestra in Elektra. Brigitte Fassbaender has also been successful as a lieder singer. In 1987, she won a Gramophone Award for her Deutsche Gramophon disc of songs by Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss.

Johannes Brahms was a prolific composer of Lieder and wrote around 200 during his lifetime. The first collection appeared in 1853, when Brahms had just turned 20, and the last was published in 1896, just a few months before his death.

The bonus recital in this collection was recorded in Berlin in 1956.

Compared to Elisabeth Grümmer’s rank as a singer, her recordings are shamefully few in number, giving these radio recordings a special documentary significance. “Whoever has heard Elisabeth Grümmer singing cannot forget the way this lovely voice, at once ethereal and yet full sounding, effortlessly flows along,” wrote Lafranco Rasponi.

“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.