Schubert: Am Strome, D539 (Mayrhofer)

The Sea, songs of water and the sea, diverse in colour and emotion. Henk Neven on his new ONYX recording: "During the recordings of my debut album 'Auf einer Burg' in Suffolk, I visited, after a day’s work, the coastal town of Aldeburgh. It was winter-time and at six o’clock pitch dark already. I was walking along the sea. Darkness all around.

Nevertheless I heard, smelt and felt the sea. Not visible but very present.

We sat by the water for ages and indulged in fancies, philosophised, and written poetry lustily about the endless deep of the sea, about the horizon and what is behind it, about the similarity to our spiritual lives, about the currents that are as our lives; about the sea that takes us with it when we are tired of living; about the restless sailor who revives between storm and waves; about the solitary wife who, rocking her baby, is left alone; about the sea in which you pour out your heart… Have all these tears made the seawater so bitterly salt?

The sea and the water have been a source of inspiration for many poets and their poems inspired the composers likewise. The songs that were created that way have inspired me".

Henk’s debut album 'Auf einer Burg', lieder by Loewe and Schumann, ONYX4052, was praised by BBC Radio 3: "songsettings by Loewe, beautifully brought to life by baritone Henk Neven and pianist Hans Eijsackers... A world of fantasies and dreams and reflections on the passing of time and the transience of life. That’s what it says on the sleeve, and that’s exactly what they deliver so successfully. It’s the CD Review Disc of the Week and you’ll find it on ONYX Classics.”