[ Alpha Classics / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 14 February 2025
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Benjamin Appl met Hungarian composer György Kurtág in 2019 and has worked with him ever since. 'He has shaped me both as a musician and as a human being, perhaps more than anyone else,' says Appl. This album alternates Romantic German lieder by Schubert and Brahms with vocal pieces by Kurtág, five of which are world premiere recordings. Kurtág himself is at the piano for two of the songs by Schubert and Brahms; while the German baritone's old and trusted friends Pierre-Laurent Aimard and James Baillieu join him for the other works in this programme, all under the artistic direction of Kurtág, ending with a fascinating recorded interview with Gyuri bácsi ('Uncle George') by Benjamin Appl, who tells us: 'My aim in this album is to give listeners a glimpse into the infinite universe of György Kurtág, a shy procrastinator, stern self-critic, hesitant researcher, introverted questioner, unpretentious intellectual, brilliant composer and an extraordinary human being.'
GYÖRGY KURTÁG
1. CIRCUMDEDERUNT...
FRANZ SCHUBERT
2. GANYMED, D.544
GYÖRGY KURTÁG
3. FRIEDRICH HÖLDERLIN: DAS ANGENEHME DIESER WELT...
FRANZ SCHUBERT
4. TOTENGRÄBERS HEIMWEH, D.842
GYÖRGY KURTÁG
5. FRIEDRICH HÖLDERLIN: NUN VERSTEH' ICH...
FRANZ SCHUBERT
6. IM FRÜHLING, D.882
7. DASS SIE HIER GEWESEN, D.775
GYÖRGY KURTÁG
8-13 HÖLDERLIN-GESÄNGE OP. 35A
FRANZ SCHUBERT
14. DER WANDERER AN DEN MOND, D.870
15. LITANEI AUF DAS FEST ALLERSEELEN, D.343
GYÖRGY KURTÁG
16. ULRIKE SCHUSTER: DIE ROSEN
17. ULRIKE SCHUSTER: DIE ZEIT
18. ULRIKE SCHUSTER: ICH WEISS NICHT...
19. ULRIKE SCHUSTER: PHYSALIS ALKAGENGI
FRANZ SCHUBERT
20. DER JÜNGLING AN DER QUELLE, D.300
JOHANNES BRAHMS
21. SONNTAG OP. 47/3
22. INTERVIEW WITH GYÖRGY KURTÁG