Schubert: Abschied D475 (Mayrhofer)

Following their highly acclaimed Hugo Wolf lieder album, Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano have renewed their musical partnership with a recording of Franz Schubert’s Schwanengesang, the third and last of the composer’s song cycles, and literally his swan song, as he succumbed to illness shortly after its completion in 1828.

In addition to Schwanengesang, the CD also includes Schubert songs Abschied (D475); Geheimnis (D250); An Schwager Kronos (D369) and Widerschein (D639).

Bostridge and Pappano performed Schwanengesang in recital at the Schwarzenberg (Austria) Schubertiade, at the Edinburgh and Aldeburgh festivals and in Glasgow before committing it to disc: “[a recital] characterised by unaffected intimacy and reverence to the music … The two gave a performance as intense and intriguing as it was timeless.” (The Scotsman); “Each song is a mini-drama … [Bostridge] is a performer of extremes who, at the moment of delivery, convinces you that this is how it must be.” (Evening Standard)

Schwanengesang ("Swan Song”) was published posthumously. This title is attributed to Schubert’s publisher, Haslinger, who, in his attempt to maximize profits after the composer’s death, presented the work as the composer’s final musical testament. In contrast with Schubert’s previous song cycles, Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, each composed to verses by a single poet, Schwanengesang draws on the work of two poets, Ludwig Rellstab (1799-1860) and Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). In the original manuscript, all 13 songs (seven by Rellstab, six by Heine) were copied in Schubert's handwriting on consecutive manuscript pages and appear in the standard performance order. There are thematic connections between the Rellstab and Heine verses in terms of subject matter and musical motifs.

Taubenpost, to a text by Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804-1875), is often performed as a finale to Schwanengesang. However, research indicates that, rather than being intended as such by Schubert, this tradition was initiated by the publisher, who appended the song to the first edition. While the song is not technically part of Schwanengesang, it is considered to be Schubert's last lied.

Ian Bostridge is firmly established in the opera house, concert hall and recital room, and much sought after internationally as one of the finest of his generation of tenors. He is one of today’s leading interpreters of Schubert lieder, repertoire that he names as his first love. Bostridge’s Schubert cycles and song explorations on EMI Classics began in 1998 with the release of a lieder disc with Julius Drake. Subsequent Schubert lieder albums, most recently The Wanderer, a collection of Schubert lieder and fragments released in summer 2008, and cycles of Der Winterreise and Die schöne Müllerin have seen Bostridge in partnership with Leif Ove Andsnes and Mitsuko Uchida.

“Ian Bostridge continues to be the most striking Schubert tenor of the day. When he is joined by Antonio Pappano as accompanist, the effect is intensified.” The Herald

“Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano bring out the best in each other.” BBC Music Magazine

+bonus DVD interviews with Goerne and Metzmacher

Matthias Goerne has received worldwide praise for his warm, fluid baritone and his profound interpretations. Highly respected as a Lieder singer, he is a frequent guest at renowned festivals and prestigious venues like the New York Carnegie Hall and London Wigmore Hall. Famous pianists such as Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Leif Ove Andsnes, Alfred Brendel, Christoph Eschenbach and Elisabeth Leonskaja are among his musical partners. From 2008 to 2011, Matthias Goerne will perform and record the most beautiful songs by Franz Schubert on eleven CDs for Harmonia Mundi, and important venues including the Wigmore Hall will present the complete series of eleven Schubert recitals with Matthias Goerne in the coming seasons.

"It's a journey any singer would leap at: Matthias Goerne is travelling through Schubert's songs with a new recording contract and a series of live recital bookings as far as the eye can see. It's invaluable for a singer in mid-career. " The Times

The Naxos Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition: Schubert set the poetry of over 115 writers to music. He selected poems from classical Greece, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from eighteenth-century German authors, early Romantics, Biedermeier poets, and Heine. The Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition presents all Schubert’s Lieder, over 700 songs, grouped according to the poets who inspired him.

Thanks to Bärenreiter’s Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (New Schubert Edition), Tübingen, which uses primary sources, the performers have been able to benefit from the most recent research of the editorial team. This disc is the third of a series devoted to Schubert’s friends, including Mayrhofer.

Volumes One and Two are available on 8554799 and 8557171, while two discs devoted exclusively to Mayrhofer are available on 8554738 and 8554739.