Brahms: Ständchen, Op. 106 No. 1

For many years, Barbara Hendricks has been communicating her love of the lied in concerts and on disc. After Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, Spanish songs and those of Poulenc, it is the turn of Brahms to find sublimation in this disc from the Swedish soprano, magnificently accompanied on the piano by her partner Roland Pöntinen and recorded between 2002-7.

Brahms composed more than 200 lieder throughout his career, though for the most part between 1851 and 1888. In the choice of texts he was generally guided by the climate or message of a poem, more than by its formal perfection; it was no doubt for this reason that he set very little Goethe to music, whose poems, he said, “are all so accomplished that music cannot be added to them”. His favourite theme was, naturally enough, love, in all its forms, whether evoking joy, optimism or nostalgia, loss, resignation, memory… One finds in these lieder authentic, personal experiences of Johannes Brahms. Caught between romanticism and classicism, he offered in his lieder music that is individual and consummate.

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.

Sony Classical ORIGINALS offer listeners outstanding enjoyment, authentically recapturing the fascination of legendary recordings from the age of long-playing records and preserving worthwhile releases from two labels with particularly long and distinguished traditions: RCA Red Seal and Columbia Masterworks. These superb recordings by great artists have enjoyed international acclaim ever since they were first released. Showered with critical plaudits, they are part of the 20th century’s cultural legacy. All have been remastered and carefully restored using the latest studio technology in order to reproduce the original interpretations as faithfully as possible. The CD covers are taken over from the original LPs. The original introductions and LP labels are also reproduced in full, making Sony Classical ORIGINALS unique documents in the history of recorded sound.

Featuring original LP cover artwork in full size and reproduction of original labels in mini LP design.

Contains original liner notes in 3 languages (English, French and German) Jewel case packaging with fully coloured booklets.

The Sony Classical Originals bring together for the first time at the Mid Price the greatest recordings from across all of the labels which are part of the Sony Classical umbrella, and are a perfect starting point for any classical collector.

These releases from the archives of the RIAS and the Sender Freies Berlin document the unequalled quantitative and qualitative spectrum which baritone Fischer-Dieskau acquired during the five decades of his career.

They offer a fascinating insight into the breadth of his repertoire as well as his artistic approach, with which he maintained a careful balance of development and continuity until the end. These recordings – spanning Beethoven’s sacred songs Op. 48 of 1806, through Schumann, Brahms, Mahler and Reger, to Heinrich Sutermeister’s expressive psalm setting of 1948 – demonstrate the essential Fischer-Dieskau.

Not only do they document the artistic partnership with pianists such as Hertha Klust, Daniel Barenboim, Cord Garben, Aribert Reimann and Tamás Vásáry, but also the delightful collaboration with the organist Ulrich Bremsteller.

Furthermore, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau can be heard together with his wife and musical partner, Julia Varady. This is a documentary edition both in the sense of a historic and an artistic legacy: it reveals the riches of lieder from the last two centuries which Fischer-Dieskau, in his role of musical chronicler, made accessible for the present age; and it is an impressive record of an incomparable interpretational art, according to which word and music were always treated and realised as a unit.

Measha Brueggergosman and pianist Justus Zeyen interpret well- and little-known songs of Duparc, de Falla, Hahn, Liszt, Schubert, and others chosen for their soulful depth, variety, and beauty.

Measha Brueggergosman about Night and Dreams: “We wanted something that was languid, sexy, romantic, different. Also, it’s repertoire that gives me the chance to really let go.”

She projects drama, passion, comedy, or charm as needed in any of the languages she speaks, essential for a Lieder and chanson singer who must make words come alive with meaning, color, and esprit as well as vocal quality

The fervent response to her “triumphant DG debut recital” (Gramophone) makes this follow-up album a must for fans of this rising star.

The recording conditions could hardly have been more dramatic, made in the bleak mid-war winter of 1942-3, lirico-spinto soprano Hilde Konetzni in a Romantic song programme with Josef Krips as her accompanist and mentor. Konetzni is best known as the Sieglinde in two complete recordings of the Valkyrie under Wilhelm Furtwängler; Krips had been banned from working by the Nazis, so his coaching activities had to be carried out underground, under a constant threat to his life.These private recordings were made by Hermann May, the then sound engineer of the Vienna State Opera, and can now be released on CD thanks to their careful restoration by the Eichinger recording studio in Vienna in collaboration with Gottfried Kraus. The result will delight more than just those interested in Josef Krips's legendary talent for carefully coaching singers, on account of the warmth and immediacy of the ensemble achieved by Konetzni and Krips.This is just as evident in the songs by lesser-known composers such as Robert Franz and Joseph Marx.The Gypsy Melodies by Antonín Dvorák are both the highpoint and the culmination of this recital, not just on account of the interpretative art they display, typical of the time, nor merely as a document of two artistic personalities. But as testament to a friendship that was sustained despite adversity.

Hans Mayer wrote “He knew exactly what he wanted to sing and how to go about it. The word ‘magnetism’ – so frequently misappropriated for all types of advertising – fully applied in his case.”

Beginning in the late 1940s “FiDi,” as he was already known in his Berlin years, elevated lied singing to an unparalleled level associated with his mellifluous baritone, superb vocal technique, and the credibility of his interpretations. Fortunately the persuasive powers of his early years are attested to not only by ear witnesses but by many radio recordings.

These two sets of lieder by Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven are taken from two recording sessions held at Berlin’s RIAS broadcasting company in 1951/52.

Beethoven’s lieder did not belong to the standard repertoire at the time, and it was Fischer-Dieskau who first popularized them.