SCHUMANN, R.: 20 Lieder und Gesange aus dem Lyrischen Intermezzo / 12 Gedichte, Op. 35 (Hampson, Rieger)
Soloist:
Hampson, Thomas
Soloist:
Rieger, Wolfram
Composer:
Schumann, Robert
12 Gedichte, Op. 35
20 Lieder und Gesange aus dem Lyrischen Intermezzo (original version of Dichterliebe, Op. 48)
Venue: Prinzregententheater, Munich
Playing Time: 01:23:20
Television Director:
Weiss, Christian Kurt
Catalogue Number: A055122610000
If there is one genre of music which baritone Thomas Hampson is exceptionally passionate about, it is the lied. To Hampson, song and singing are "the diary of our existence" and he has invested a great amount of time, work and love into luring this genre out of the shadow of the more spectacular opera. One composer he particularly cherishes is Robert Schumann. Hampson begins this Schumann recital, recorded at Munich's Prinzregententheater with Wolfram Rieger at the piano, with the cycle Zwolf Gedichte, Op. 35 on poems by Justinus Kerner. The second part of the recital is devoted to the original version of the popular Dichterliebe, Op. 48. While Hampson was preparing his first performance of the cycle based on poems by Heinrich Heine, he consulted the composer's manuscript, only to find that the original cycle of 1840 was a completely distinctive work containing many musical and textual differences. Among the most notable differences was the presence of four songs that were omitted from the later cycle. These works – "Dein Angesicht so lieb und schon," "Lehn deine Wang an meine Wang," "Es leuchtet meine Liebe" and "Mein Wagen rollet langsam" – are featured here as first-ever recordings of these rediscovered works.
Today's baritone landscape would be barren without Thomas Hampson. He has provided unforgettable accounts of the title roles in Don Giovanni, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Eugene Onegin, Massenet's Werther and Busoni's Doktor Faust, and he added a unique warmth to the role of Germont pere in the celebrated Netrebko-Villazon La Traviata of the Salzburg Festival. Through his encounter with Leonard Bernstein, he became a leading interpreter of the music of Gustav Mahler and recorded several Mahler cycles.
