Episode 173. Orchesterlieder I

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This week is the first of a series of episodes focusing on songs with orchestral accompaniment. The genre is almost a contradiction in terms: the intimacy and textual focus of art song with the sometimes strenuous vocal demands of singing over an orchestra. The most celebrated and successful of such songs (by Berlioz, Mahler, Ravel, Barber, Strauss, and others) are heard over and over on symphonic concerts when vocal soloists are the featured guests. And rightly so, for they are among the most glorious classical music written for the human voice. Typically for Countermelody, however, today’s episode, however, will focus on repertoire and composers that are less celebrated, sometimes to the point of being virtually unknown. Composers heard include Frank Martin, Alexander Zemlinsky, Jean Sibelius, Giuseppe Martucci, Franz Schreker, Othmar Schoeck, Antonín Dvořák, Alberto Ginastera, Alphons Diepenbrock and the two Andrés, Jolivet and Caplet, alongside many others, performed by such favorites as Gwyneth Jones, Phyllis Curtin, Peter Schreier, Gundula Janowitz, Yi-Kwei Sze, Mirella Freni, Francisco Araiza, Elisabeth Söderström, and Bernard Kruysen. Also heard are Helen Donath and Andrzej Hiolski, singers soon to be featured on their own episodes, alongside lesser-remembered names such as Arthur Loosli, Irene Gubrud, and Colette Herzog. Conductors include Kurt Sanderling, Antal Doráti, Herbert Kegel, Bohumil Gregor, Hermann Scherchen, and Lorin Maazel. I “guarantee” that your ears will be enchanted and your musical horizons will be expanded by this episode.

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Edvard Grieg, Hans Christian Andersen: Jeg elsker dig, Op. 5/3. Elisabeth Söderström, Andrew Davis, New Philharmonia Orchestra [1976]

Richard Strauss, Karl Friedrich Henckell: Winterliebe, Op. 48/5. Francisco Araiza, Roberto Abbado, Münchener Rundfunkorchester [live Richard Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1994]

Alphons Diepenbrock, Charles Baudelaire: Les chats. Bernard Kruysen, Willem van Otterloo, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra [unknown date, ca. 1965]

Ned Rorem, Walt Whitman: Sundown Lights (Sun). Irene Gubrud, Lorin Maazel, Cleveland Orchestra [live 25.IV.82]

Alberto Ginastera, Franz Kafka: Del amor (Milena, Op. 37/2). Phyllis Curtin, Brian Priestman, Denver Symphony Orchestra [1973]

André Jolivet, Antoine Goléa: Soleil (Songe à nouveau rêvé, No. 1). Colette Herzog, Alain Lombard, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg [1978]

Antonín Dvořák, Psalm 97: Um ihn her ist Wolken und Dunkel [Clouds and darkness are round about him] (Biblical Songs, Op. 99/1). Yi-Kwei Sze, Christoph von Dohnányi, Kölner Rundfunkorchester [03.I.66]

Frank Martin, anonymous 15th century morality play, translated and revised Hugo von Hofmannsthal: So wollt ich ganz zernichtet sein (Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann, No. 4). Theo Adam, Herbert Kegel, Dresdner Philharmonie [1988]

Alexander von Zemlinsky, Rabindranath Tagore [translated Hans Effenberger]: Vollende denn das letzte Lied (Lyrische Symphonie, Op. 18/6) Karan Armstrong, Bohumil Gregor, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra [1990]

Franz Schreker, Walt Whitman [translated Hans Reisinger]: Wurzeln und Halme (Vom ewigen Leben). Helen Donath, Hermann Scherchen, unknown orchestra [Austrian Radio broadcast, 1963]

Othmar Schoeck, Nikolaus Lenau: Nachhall (Nachhall, Op. 70/1). Arthur Loosli, Theo Loosli, Kammerensemble von Radio Bern [1973]

Tadeusz Baird, William Shakespeare [translated by Maciej Słomczyński]: Sonet 97 [How like a winter hath my absence been] (Cztery sonety miłosne do słów Williama Szekspira [Four Love Sonnets on words of William Shakespeare, No. 4). Andrzej Hiolski, Jan Krenz, Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Krakow [1978]

Giuseppe Martucci, Rocco Emanuele Pagliara: Un vago mormorio (La canzone dei ricordi). Mirella Freni, Riccardo Muti, Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala [1995]