Haydn: Die zu späte Ankunft der Mutter

Thomas Blondelle, who finished second in the prestigious Concours Reine Elisabeth 2011, was chosen by the competition’s partner BNP Paribas Fortis to record a song recital and give concerts on tour throughout Belgium and elsewhere.

This young tenor has an exceptional vocal range. He is currently a soloist with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, but he also appears at many international venues. Recent engagements include his début as Froh in a new production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the Bavarian State Opera (February 2012). With the pianist Daniel Blumenthal – the ideal partner for any young singer – he presents a programme of humorous French and German art songs, some of which nevertheless have an underlying seriousness. This unusual, and witty, recital has been put together very intelligently!

“This disc was originally the idea of the Ambronay team: our strong respective temperaments, our affinities for Baroque music were among the many arguments they put forward with infectious enthusiasm to encourage Aline Zylberajch and myself to embark on a duo recording project for Ambronay Éditions. We then met to read through some of the pieces. Little by little, a guiding thread evoking Schumann’s famous song cycle Frauenliebe und leben (A woman’s love and life) prompted us to choose from among Haydn’s finest works a programme of lieder and canzonettas illustrating the universal theme of the cycle of love: from the girl dreaming of love to her first experience of it, from the beloved woman to her abandoned sister… Haydn’s musical style, the psychological evolution of the protagonists of his songs, and the palette of colours, emotions, and expressions this stimulates, brought us rich emotions and joys during our work on the recording. For my part, I also had the good fortune to discover a delightful personality behind a remarkable musician in the person of Aline. In conclusion, ‘Das Leben ist ein Traum’ thanks to music!” Stéphanie d’Oustrac

In celebration of the Haydn year, MSM brings together two rising stars of the classical music world. The album combines selections from Haydn’s English and German love songs.

In the ‘Haydn Year’ PentaTone is pleased to release the complete Haydn songs first released on a Philips three LP set and now available on 2 CD’s at a special price.

Haydn’s lieder is sadly often relegated to the opening ‘warm-up’ sections of recitals, or, even worse, totally neglected. This is a pity, for as collectors of Brilliant Classics cycle of all his Scottish Songs will know, there is much wit, warm humour and not a little drama to found in these gems. The songs on this CD span 1781 –95, and the first two sets were written for the Viennese socialite Franz Sales von Greiner, who regularly advised Haydn on the choice of texts.

The third set is probably the best known works in this programme. The ‘English Canzonettas’ were written for Haydn’s friend Lady Anne Hunter, the widow of eminent surgeon Sir John Hunter. Anne provided the texts for the first group, and one for the second. Haydn turned to Metastasio for the remainder.

The ‘Pastoral Song’ became a firm favourite with the Victorians, and was a parlour song ‘hit’.

These Philips recording have long been unavailable: here they make a welcome return to the catalogue

‘Those who love them [Haydn’s songs], and love Elly Ameling, will not be disappointed in this generous recital…Ameling’s skill lies in her precise judgement of their scale…Jorg Demus’s accompanying is half the fun: he makes the keys speak as clearly and sweetly as any fortepiano…’ Gramophone

Full sung texts and booklet notes

A must for lovers of this popular and much-loved singer