Carolyn Sampson: A Soprano's Schubertiade
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FRANZ SCHUBERT
Carolyn Sampson: A Soprano's Schubertiade
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano)
[ BIS / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 20 April 2018
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Schubert's empathy with women is everywhere evident in his body of songs, which include songs to, by, about and for women. Devised by Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton, the present recital brings us each of those possibilities and more.
The playwright Helmina von Chézy wrote the text to the tender Romanze, intending it for her play Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus to which Schubert composed incidental music. Another female author, Marianne von Willemer, wrote the two Suleika poems for Goethe, who included them (under his own name) in the collection West-östlicher Divan. And no less than seven of the other songs on the disc are also associated with Goethe, and his characters Mignon (from Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre) and Gretchen (from Faust). Schubert was for a while almost obsessed with the mysterious and waif-like Mignon, making several settings of the poems associated with her. Less of an enigma but equally moving, Schubert's Gretchen sings of awakening desire (Gretchen am Spinnrade) and laments her coming disgrace (Gretchens Bitte).
Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have collaborated on several acclaimed projects for BIS, most recently with the counter-tenor Iestyn Davies as their companion. Here they close their Soprano's Schubertiade with three settings of poems by Walter Scott, albeit in German translations. The three 'Ellen Songs' are from the verse-romance The Lady of the Lake from 1810, with the last one, 'Schubert's Ave Maria', being one of the composer's best-known and most loved compositions.
"In this recital of Schubert lieder we hear Carolyn Sampson's voice radiating with a sumptuous full tone. There is such a clarity and body, emphasised on the recording with Joseph Middleton's fine accompaniment on piano. There is so much substance in these little gemlike songs. Four are notably longer in length, the highlight being the famous Viola. Sampson and Middleton are the perfect pair to steer us through this song. It is a journey of emotions: 'Snowdrop, snowdrop…'" Nicholas Butler/Marbecks
"There can be no argument with the statement that Carolyn Sampson is one of the great singers of our time, and many, including myself, have longed to hear a Schubert recital on disc. Expectation can often lead to disappointment, but not so here. This is a wonderful recording, demonstrating from both performers their customary probing intelligence and sensitive insight. Carolyn Sampson is blessed by the rare combination which blends such thoughtfulness with beauty of voice and diction." MusicWeb recording of the Month
Tracks:
Suleika I (Was bedeutet die Bewegung?), D 720
Suleika II (Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen), D 717
Romanze (Der Vollmond strahlt), D 797 No. 3b
Blondel zu Marien, D 626
Heiß mich nicht reden, D 877 No. 2
Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, D 877 No. 4
So lasst mich scheinen, D 877 No. 3
Kennst du das Land? D 321
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D 118
Gretchens Bitte/'Gretchen im Zwinger', D 564 (completion by Benjamin Britten)
Der König in Thule, D 367
Viola, D 786
Ellens Gesang I (Raste, Krieger!), D 837
Ellens Gesang II (Jäger, ruhe von der Jagd!), D 838
Ellens Gesang III (Ave Maria), D 839
