Schumann: In der Fremde (No. 1 from Liederkreis, Op. 39)

The first of four 2-CD “Flagstad Recitals” features Kirsten Flagstad in Brahms and Schubert on CD1 as well as CD premieres of songs by Schumann (including her previously unpublished “Zum Schluss”), Strauss, Wolf and Sinding on CD2. Her great power and control placed her among those with the natural capacity for success in the ‘big’ songs with its special thrill, but there is no want of gentleness in the quieter ones. The American critic, Virgil Thomson, probably spoke for the whole audience when he wrote on Flagstad’s return to the United States in 1947: ‘Never in this writer’s concert-going lifetime has there been available any other vocal artistry of such sumptuous natural acoustics, such perfect technical control and such sound musicianship’.

"Throughout, one is stirred by the sheer beauty of the sound." Gramophone

“deeply felt … wonderfully radiant tone … very touching” [Brahms] “the operatic drama of Der Erlkönig is as memorable as the gently ravishing cantilena of Am Grabe Anselmos” The Penguin Guide to Bargain Compact Discs

"…worth having for the Wolf group alone." Gramophone

Ensemble Kontraste has taken Schoenberg’s arrangement of Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen as the starting point for a musical collaboration with the tenor Christoph Prégardien called ‘Wanderer’. The disc also includes 16 lieder by Robert Schumann, arranged for this project by Marcus Reißenberger, and four lieder by contemporary composer Wilhelm Killmayer, written by the composer with instrumentation to fit in with that used in the Mahler and Schumann pieces.

Christoph Prégardien started a new long-term collaboration with Challenge Classics in 2008 with the release of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin (CC72292). The pianist on this disc is Michael Gees. It was soon followed by Schwanengesang (CC72302) with Andreas Staier as accompanist. Die schöne Müllerin was awarded the Midem ‘Record of the Year’ 2009 at Cannes, and the duo Christoph Prégardien and Michael Gees also received the MIDEM ‘Vocal Recitals’ Award 2009. Throughout 2008 the recording received critical acclaim from many national and international magazines (Gramophone Editor’s Choice & ‘Best of 2008’ accolades among others). Since then he has recorded Between Life and Death, a collection of songs and arias with Michael Gees, and the Italienische Liederbuch of Wolf with Julia Kleiter and Hilko Dumo which has been shortlisted for a 2011 Gramophone award.

Les Violoncelles Français first appeared in concert together in 2006: eight leading figures of the French school of cellists, they perform here as a consort in homage to violists of an earlier period. They play an entirely new set of transcriptions taken from mainstream repertoire in this, their first recording, arranged by Roland Pidoux.

This CD is devoted to music for violin and piano by Robert Schumann, and includes the first two sonatas, opus 105 in A minor and opus 121 in D minor, alongside four song arrangements. The performers are the German violinist Lionel Roth, a protégé of Anne-Sophie Mutter, and the Argentinean pianist José Gallardo.

Written in 1851, Robert Schumann’s first Violin Sonata in D minor was premiered by his sister Clara and the violinist Ferdinand David a year later. Schumann himself expressed a certain amount of displeasure with the work at the time, and claimed that he wrote the Sonata No 2 in D Minor to make up for his disappointment with the earlier work. Both pieces are now staples of the chamber music repertoire. Four beautiful song settings, three of which have been arranged by the artists themselves, make a unique addition to this disc. Linus Roth studied music at the Music Academies of Zurich and Munich during which time he received major support from Anne-Sophie Mutter and her Foundation. As a soloist he has performed with many of the greatest music ensembles around the world, including with the Orchestra of Stuttgart State Opera, Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Orchestras of SWR and Berlin, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and the Vienna Chamber Philharmonic. Argentinean pianist José Gallardo has won many national and international awards, and appeared at many major music events including the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, the Asiago Festival in Italy, and the Rheingau Music Festival.

recorded in 1956

The 1953 recording features the spectacular twenty-six year old Leontyne Price, accompanied by Samuel Barber at the Library of Congress. The duo's entire recital is issued whole for the first time. In this recital the soprano and composer give the world premiere performance of Barber's "Hermit Songs", and perform Henri Sauguet's "La Voyante" (The Fortune Teller) and other songs by Barber, Poulenc and Fauré.

This remarkable 1938 recording, released to the public for the first time, gives us the 28 year old baritone, Samuel Barber in 12 songs, accompanying himself at the piano. These little known performances reveal Barber as a singer/player of uncommonly deep communicative power. The performances (issued in cooperation with Mr. Barber's estate and the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia) include folk songs from England, America, the Tyrol and Tuscany as well as lieder by Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn, C.P.E Bach and Schubert.

Schumann’s passionate, hypersensitive nature makes him one of the great romantic German composers. He created a body of work that reveals, according to Gilles Cantagrel, "a world of dusk and twilight where reason topples into madness, of tragic nuptials, of sating yet wretched love affairs, of soul carnivals and noxious dreams and vistas." This inspired pair of artists is totally committed to sharing an offering of Schumann’s “lyrical poetry.”