Loewe, C: Süßes Begräbnis, Op. 62 No. 4

On this CD reissue, five songs are added to the original collection that were omitted from the LP owing to the limited playing time. They appear for the first time. "Musicality, creativity, sensitivity and emotional involvement" – these were the qualities attributed to the Baritone Wolfgang Anheisser even at the outset of his tragically brief career, and they made him one of the most interesting Loewe interpreters.

In his lifetime the German composer Carl Loewe was often referred to as the ‘Schubert of North Germany’. He is frequently credited with the development of the romantic ballad into a powerful art form, and his prolific output of ballads and songs amounts to some four hundred works. Loewe’s treatment of long narrative poems in a clever and powerful mixture of dramatic and lyrical styles, has been a template for many subsequent composers.

Many of the ballads on this disc are masterpieces of their genre and they are performed here in a magisterial Hyperion debut by Austrian baritone Florian Boesch. In these refined performances it is clear why Boesch has been labelled as ‘one of the finest interpreters of Lieder of his generation’. His ability to create characters and enact stories brings the dramatic texts vividly to life, while he maintains musical coherence with astonishing lyricism.

Loewe’s daring and imaginative accompaniments are played here by the incomparable Roger Vignoles, in another addition to his acclaimed discography of Hyperion recordings. His eloquent pianism and penetrating musicianship match Boesch’s artistry to perfection.

Henk Neven studied with Maarten Koningsberger and Margreet Honig at the Conservatory of Amsterdam where he graduated cum laude in 2003. In 2002 he received a diploma cum laude from the New Opera Academy. He followed masterclasses with Graham Johnson, Graham Clark, Rudolf Jansen, Hartmut Höll, Jard van Nes and Robert Holl.

He was awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Fellowship in 2009, and is a BBC New Generation Artist 2009-2011.

Henk Neven has performed at the BBC Proms and at the Wigmore Hall. He also has a busy career in the opera houses of Europe, including Leporello in Don Giovanni in De Doelen Rotterdam, Patrocle in Iphigénie en Tauride by Gluck at La Monnaie in Brussels, Ottokar in Der Freischütz in Theater an der Wien, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette at De Nederlandse Opera and Gralritter in Parsifal in Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

As a recitalist he will appear with Hans Eijsackers in de ‘Vocale Serie’ of Het Concertgebouw, La Monnaie Brussels and de Beurs van Berlage Amsterdam.

This is his debut recording, and he has selected Lieder by Carl Loewe to programme with Schumann’s Liederkreis op22, repertoire he loves performing. Neven is a major new vocal talent.

Carl Loewe was born in Löbejün, studied in Halle, toured through Germany in his mid-20s and then secured an appointment as professor and Kantor at the Gymnasium and seminary in Stettin (formerly in Prussia, now in Poland), where he remained for the rest of his life. A contemporary of Schubert, he was a central figure in Stettin's musical life, and was a prolific composer of songs and oratorio to cater for the increasing musical appetite of the late-19th-century German bourgeoisie.

Loewe is today remembered for his treatment of the ballad, a relatively new genre at that time which took the form of a lengthy story comprising many verses, characters and dramatic events. Country life, olden or idealised times, love and the passing of time are often the subject matter for his works, which are set to a variety of then-contemporary poets ranging from classical masters Rückert and Schiller to more forward-looking ones such as Chamisso - while Prinz Eugen (1844) recounts the victory of Prince Eugen of Savoy during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18, for instance, Süßes Begräbnis describes the final resting place of a shepherdess (1837).

Also included on the release is Loewe's intimate setting of Goethe's Erlkönig, a direct contrast to Schubert's infamous and much more extrovert rendition of the text, composed just one year earlier.

Performing these often over-looked works are the tenor and bass singers Eberhard Büchner and Theo Adam, accompanied by Norman Shetler and Rudolf Dunckel respectively. The two duos cover all manner of moods in what are highly atmospheric pieces, and in doing so offer a strong case for why Loewe - nicknamed the 'Schubert of North Germany' in his day - deserves to be better known.