Barbara Bonney!
This CD, titled “Schubert Lieder” will be released on August 3, 2010 in Britain on the Apex label. There were many earlier Schubert recordings by Ms. Bonney; a similar one in 1995. I can’t ever hear enough of Barbara Bonney!
Even though these songs are wonderful enough just to listen to, I feel that to get the full enjoyment, you must read the lyrics which, of course, came before Schubert set these poems to music. Unless you understand the German language, reading the words and the translations will only enhance your appreciation of these amazing songs, and the way Barbara Bonney interprets them.
What a marvelous musician she is! What phrasing, what control over dynamics, and a total commitment to her view of the composer’s intentions! And… Bonney still finds time to teach classes in many of the cities she visits. Whereas most master classes are designed for students with professional careers in mind, Bonney gears her classes entirely toward amateur singers.
Over her career Ms. Bonney has made 90 recordings, spanning the Baroque period to 20th-century music, by such artists as Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mozart, Sibelius, and others. She has performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Berlin Radio Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. Ms. Bonney now lives and teaches at the Salzburg Mozarteum in Austria.
Here is Barbara Bonney with Geoffrey Parsons, piano, singing “Auf dem Wasser zu singen” by Franz Schubert:
And here are the same two artists as above, performing “Gretchen am Spinnrade” by Franz Schubert:
Finally, here is Barbara Bonney performing the aria “Ach, Ich Fühl’s” from the opera The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: