Brahms: Da unten im Tale (No. 6 from Deutsche Volkslieder, WoO 33)

A new and exquisite collection of German songs from counter-tenor Andreas Scholl, providing a perfect balance between text and music. The choice of music reflects Scholl’s belief that music need not be confined in performance to a particular voice type, as long as “the singer’s approach is true.”

Scholl pulls off a bravura display in Schubert’s An Mignon, singing in both the counter-tenor and baritone register. The performance of these songs reveals an intuitive understanding between singer and accompanist, Andreas Scholl and Tamar Halperin.

Kirchschlager amd Lehrbaumer take us on a “lieder journey” across Austria.

They have included the songs which they feel particularly close to in this collection.

Their survey of Austro-German Song also includes works by Schumann, Liszt and Richard Strauss.

On this Hybrid SACD recording ‘Folk Stories’, young multi-award winning mezzo-soprano Cora Burggraaf is joined by the pianist Simon Lepper, cellist Floris Mijnders, and highly-regarded violinist Liza Ferschtman. The disc features folk songs and arrangements by composers ranging from Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler to some of the most important figures of the 20th century, including Britten, Bartók, and Sibelius.

The Dutch mezzo-soprano Cora Burggraaf graduated with distinction from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague in 2002. She pursued her vocal studies in London at the Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio. She has been the recipient of many prizes including the 2009/2010 ECHO Rising Star Award, the 2006 Elizabeth Everts Prize, the second prize in the International Vocalist Competition Den Bosch 2004, the 2003 Maggie Teyte Prize and the Miriam Licette Scholarship. Her studies in London were funded by the Dutch Fonds voor de Podiumkunsten and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. In opera, Burggraaf has appeared at the Salzburg Festival, the Royal Opera House in London (for which she was named “Most Promising Newcomer of the Year” by The Observer), San Francisco Opera, Welsh National Opera, The Netherlands Opera, Garsington Opera, Opéra de Bordeaux and at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, BBC Proms and the Gergiev Festival.

'By replacing the piano with the guitar, Christoph Prégardien and Tilman Hoppstock have changed the mood of the songs. The tension between voice and instrument changes, forms a different colour-mixture. (Peter Härtling)

'Never has the guitar sounded so absolutely right for these songs.' (Classical Guitar)

American Record Guide described the Vocalensemble Rastatt; “Its sound is akin to pure gold.” Under their conductor Holger Speck, the ensemble has developed into a top-class chamber of international standing. Their performances are distinguished by their spirited, compelling and historically informed interpretations in the most varied styles.

Graham Johnson’s complete Schubert and Schumann songs series for Hyperion are landmarks in the history of recorded music. Now this indefatigable performer and scholar turns to the songs and vocal works of Brahms. Each disc of this Hyperion edition takes a journey through Brahms’s career. The songs are not quite presented in chronological order but they do appear here in the order that the songs were presented to the world. Each recital represents a different journey through the repertoire (and thus through Brahms’s life). In a number of these Hyperion recitals an opus number will be presented in its entirety (in the case of this disc, Op 48). The folksongs of 1894 will be shared between all the singers in the series.

Hyperion is delighted to present the celebrated mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager in this first volume of the series. She enjoys an international career as one of today’s most important singers, dividing her time between recitals and opera in Europe, North America and the Far East.