Christian Gerhaher: Ferne Geliebte (Distant Beloved)
Christian Gerhaher’s recordings of the art songs and song cycles by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Mahler have been awarded many major prizes. His awards include the 2009 BBC Music Magazine Award for Vocal Performance, a Gramophone award in 2006, and in 2011 he won the Olivier Outstanding Achievement in Opera award.
Gerhaher now presents an interesting album of songs by multiple composers.
Here is his program on this CD:
Beethoven:
- An die ferne Geliebte (To the distant beloved), Op. 98
- Adelaide, Op. 46
Berg:
- 5 Orchesterlieder nach Ansichtskartentexten von Peter Altenberg, Op. 4
Haydn:
- Trost unglucklicher Liebe, Hob. XXVIa:9
- Geistliches Lied, Hob. XXVIa:17
- Das Leben ist ein Traum, Hob. XXVIa:21
Schoenberg:
- Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten, Op. 15
Performed by Christian Gerhaher, baritone, and Gerold Huber, piano
The album titled ‘Ferne Geliebte’ (Distant Beloved) juxtaposes compositions from the two great Vienna schools: Viennese Classicism on the one hand, represented by Haydn and Beethoven, and the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schönberg and Alban Berg on the other. The connection between these songs is their preoccupation with sadness, loneliness, and hopeless love.
Here are some press comments:
The Guardian, 14th June 2012
“He treats the cycles with the same care for the meaning of every word, beauty of tone, subtle emphasis and shading…Both the Schoenberg and the Berg are usually sung by a soprano or mezzo…But hearing them juxtaposed in such poised performances – Gerold Huber is Gerhaher’s acutely sensitive partner – seems totally logical.”
And The Observer, 17th June 2012:
“Rather than a purely beautiful voice, Gerhaher’s approach is intently text-focused, making the consonants sound as strongly as the vowels, responsive to every twist and turn of the poetry.”
Here is “An die ferne Geliebte” with Baritone Christian Gerhaher
http://youtu.be/IrCPa_3GI3M
And here you have 50 minutes of Mahler’s music:
- Gustav Mahler “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” performed by Magdalena Kozená, Christian Gerhaher, and conducted by Pierre Boulez
http://youtu.be/keEHCa6Q998
Tags: Christian Gerhaher, Baritone, Ferne Geliebte, Gerold Huber