Schubert: Ständchen 'Leise flehen meine Lieder', D957 No. 4 (Serenade)

He was already noted as a recitalist, and “a talent to cherish” as far back as 1989. Since appearing in La Scala in 1998 he has performed recitals all over the world, his repertoire including: Schubert, Schumann, Strauss, Brahms, Fauré, Wolf and Mahler. He has also recorded many English songs. Gramophone describe him as the finest baritone singer of Lieder this country has ever produced.

In Simon's own words “I've probably got around 15 years, and think I can see the end of the tunnel. I've done most of the roles that suit me and some, like Papageno, I'll never want to drop…” “In Wagner I shan't go beyond Wolfram in Tannhauser. I know there's Beckmesser, but I'm afraid it's not a role that excites or fascinates me. I'll never get tired of the stand-and-sing roles like Germont in Traviata and Posa in Don Carlos - parts where you really have to act with your voice and pin the audience to their seats with inflexion, nuance and colour. I probably shan't sing Billy Budd again… and am moving down from Pelleas to Golaud. The two new roles I'm most excited about are Wozzeck and Rigoletto, which are both great theatre and call on a huge palette of colours. Wozzeck in particular, is a mountain any baritone wants to climb…”

Mentors like Gerhard Schulz (Alban Berg Quartet) and Yuri Bashmet have already predicted that a great career lies ahead of the 30-year-old violist Nils Mönkemeyer. He is already one of his generation's leading viola players, with many competition wins to his name, including the UK’s Parkhouse Award in 2009, and the International Yuri Bashmet Competition in 2006.

For his Sony Classical début Ohne Worte (Without Words), the young musician from Bremen and his English piano partner Nicholas Rimmer have put together a recital programme that highlights the viola's 'voice-like' qualities. To this end, lieder by Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann have been arranged as songs without words for the viola. The recital is completed by Schubert's Arpeggione sonata in the version for viola and piano.

In selecting the songs to arrange, Mönkemeyer chose songs such as Schubert’s Ständchen, where the emphasis is first and foremost on the vocal line rather than the lyrics. The same applies to the songs by Schumann, which include lieder from well-known song cycles Liederkreis and Dichterliebe.

By way of contrast, the remaining works heard here by Mendelssohn and Schubert are arrangements of original instrumental pieces. Mendelssohn composed his Songs Without Words for the piano, while Franz Schubert originally wrote his Arpeggione sonata of 1823 for the six-stringed instrument of the same name. "There are fewer acrobatics involved on the viola", says Mönkemeyer; "the melodies flow more naturally and major leaps are avoided. That makes it all the more clear that the underlying idea that inspired this sonata is that of a song."

German tenor Daniel Behle has won several prizes at international singing competitions, notably First prize in the International Robert Stolz Competition 2004, First prize in the Queen Sonja Competition 2005 in Oslo and second prize in the International Competition - Cologne 2002.

On his first recording for Phoenix Edition he sings a collection of songs by Schubert, Beethoven, Grieg, Britten and Trojahn, beautifully accompanied by Oliver Schnyder.

Historic Masters Ltd. Is delighted to be associated with, and to have contributed to, this CD release of little known material by one of the truly great tenors of the twentieth century. In the course of our researches we have discovered original metal parts for three recordings by Jussi Björling which were not released by EMI at the time they were made. All three have now been issued as part of our Historic Masters series and we are delighted to be able to make copies available for transfer to this CD. The tenor solo from Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles was recorded in April 1947. Given that it is Björling’s only studio version of this aria, it seems surprising that it remained unissued until November 1977, late in the LP era. Only then was it included in an EMI boxed set entitled The Art of Jussi Björling. The other two items, the songs Mattinata and For you alone, rank amongst our most sensational discoveries in the EMI archive. These were the very first recordings made by Björling as an adult on 4 September 1929. Piano accompanied, they were almost certainly intended as tests to determine Björling’s suitability for a recording contract. Listening to these first recordings, there can be no surprise that Björling clearly passed this examination with flying colours. Three months later he was in the studio for what was in effect the launching of his hugely successful recording career with HMV and Victor. In the first few months of that career Björling repeated both songs – this time with full orchestral accompaniment. Perhaps this explains why the original tests were forgotten and, indeed, were marked in March 1930 as ‘destroyed’. In 1952, RCA, using the recently developed tape technology, decided to record a selection of the songs that Björling performed at his recitals. It is unlikely that all of these pieces would have been given at one time, but they were certainly included in his programmes over the years and give a very representative selection of the range of his repertoire. Apart from German Lieder, he always liked to sing some Swedish pieces, as well as works by the Finnish composer Sibelius, who complimented him on his interpretations of his songs, particularly those written to Swedish words. This recording from 1952 remained on the catalogue for many years as an LP in the USA, but it was less widely available in Europe and can now be heard here for the first time in a CD transfer from the original master tape. It finds Björling in particularly glorious voice.

Extract from the booklet