Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann.
- “Brahms Beloved 2”
While we may never know the extent of their personal relationship, there is no doubt that Johannes Brahms and pianist Clara Schumann had a long relationship over several years, before and after Robert Schumann’s death.
Brahms had enormous respect for Clara, and she was asked regularly to comment on Brahms’ latest musical creations.
Now John Axelrod returns to the podium and to the piano to complete his much admired cycle of Brahms symphonies and Clara Schumann songs – joined for this volume by celebrated soprano Dame Felicity Lott and distinguished Lieder specialist Wolfgang Holzmair.
This is the second and final volume of ‘Brahms Beloved’, in which conductor John Axelrod pairs the Brahms Symphonies (in this set, the First and the Third) with songs by his muse, Clara Schumann.
We get to hear the following works and their relationship to Brahms’ life:
Brahms:
- Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
- Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
Schumann, Clara:
- Volkslied
- Sie liebten sich beide, Op. 13 No. 2 (Text: Heinrich Heine)
- Warum willst du and’re fragen, Op. 12 No. 11 (Text: Friedrich Rückert)
- Mein Stern
- Die gute Nacht, die ich dir sage (text: Friedrich Rückert)
- Das Veilchen
- Sie liebten sich beide, Op. 13 No. 2 (Text: Heinrich Heine)
Lorelei (Text: Heinrich Heine)
Ich hab’ in deinem Auge, Op. 13 No. 5
Beim Abschied (Text: Friederike Serre)
Performed by Wolfgang Holzmair (tenor) and Dame Felicity Lott (soprano), with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, John Axelrod conductors.
Volume 1 of “Brahms Beloved” stimulated healthy debate among Brahms scholars as to how deeply enmeshed the presence of Clara is in the songs of the man who always had a love for her. Now this second volume takes the discussion further with an insightful booklet essay by Jan Swafford, author of a standard-reference Brahms biography.
Keeping with the idea of using different voice-types for each ‘set’ of Clara’s songs, the better to explore the notion of different sides of their composer’s character, this volume introduces the two final “Claras,” the great Lieder singers Dame Felicity Lott and Wolfgang Holzmair (for the more masculine side of Clara).
The orchestra is again the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, of which John Axelrod is Principal Conductor, and Axelrod once more does double duty as conductor and pianist.
Here is a totally interesting video which sets the stage for this fascinating recording:
And next, here is D. Fischer-Dieskau and J. Varady in “Er und sie” <”He and she”> by Schumann:
And finally, here is Christiane Karg in “Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit” by Johannes Brahms, from his ‘Ein Deutsches Requiem’ (version for two pianos, choir and soloists):
Tags: Johannes Brahms, John Axelrod, Clara Schumann, “Brahms Beloved 2”, Felicity Lott