I am more of a non vocal music Classical Music listener, but I am devoted to Schubert, Der Wintereisser, Schone Mullerin, Swansong, and individual songs such as The Tout and Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel, etc. I like Mahler’s cycles, and having come to them after being immersed in the Symphonies am always fascinated when a familiar tune shows up in a song.
Since I love Debussy I was thinking of exploring his chansons.
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Hey David - Long time. I never thought I would be listening to leider, but I somehow acquired a Tacet CD of Mozart's lieder sung by Ibolya Verebics and it is absolutely wonderful. I recently retired and I think I want to expand my musical universe into some different genres like this and maybe some medieval music. Gregorian chant and the like. I have a little of it in my collection now, but there is a lot out there, so I hear.
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I have a disc of Elly Ameling doing Schubert Lieder, Dalton Baldwin on piano, a stunning stunning recording of unbelievably great composition. I understand zero of what she is singing, but its sooo lovely.
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Yep, for me Schubert Lieder are beautiful beyond words. Strauss is a respectable second, and everyone else is trailing by a considerable margin. I tried to warm to the Brahms Lieder, but just couldn't make it happen.
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I got my share of lieder on my shelves. I whistle/hum/yodel several lieder tunes when I drive my car...like Schubert's "Im Frueling." I love Ellie Ameling. It doesn't matter what tune she's singing. I even dig Schoenberg's Gurrelieder. What can I say?
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My first exposure to lieder was listening to my grandmothers recordings after her graduation from CCM, about 1924. Schumann, Schubert and Brahms. I believe that Schumann is my favorite. Arias are much easier to come by than lieder, given there shear volume.
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My favourite lieder recitalist is Dietrich Fischer-Deskau singing Schubert's Wintereisse , so beautiful.
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Since we’re mentioning singers, I’d say that Gerard Souzay is one of my favorites. I like Fischer-Deskau but prefer Souzay’s tone.
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Nothing better than Wintereisse with Deskau !
I totally agree that Ellie Ameling is great , a voice as clear as a mountain spring .
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I’m very frustrated when it comes to lieder. They can be listened to for the beauty of the music, but that’s only half the picture. A lied is comprised of music AND words. It’s an artistic entity in which the words have to be a part. Since lieder by virtue of the name are in German, one must read the words in translation when listening. It takes some effort to do this which I’m not always willing to put in.
So when I just listen to lieder I know I’m missing out on that vital union of words and music.
The music and singing by itself can be quite beautiful, but I always feel I’m missing out on the total experience.
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Normal for a 1st class musician which rv is .
I have heard the same thing more or less from 20 Germans in one of the best orchestras in Germany .
I would think it be even worse for those doing solos.
Also, I agree that knowing the language really helps !
At one time I dreamt in German and most Germans thought I was a German .
Now , over a decade not speaking it and old age takes much away from me , esp.in Bach Cantatas . It hurts .
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There's a recording of Beethoven lieder by Matthias Goerne on DG that I like quite a bit.
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I too can see Rvs' point of view and totally concur. I don't listen to much lieder or opera for precisely that point , I usually read the notes or synopsis first and then listen to it for the beauty of sound. It usually is a great bonus as in jim5559's case of a second language and luckily German so you can better understand what is going on.
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I have about a dozen versions of Winterreise, and I listen mostly to Goerne because I like his performance and it is one that has been ripped to my server. Strauss' Four Last Songs has so many great performances; I tend to listen mostly to Schwartzkopf and Janowitz. My other often played lieder recordings is Mahlers Das Lied von der Erde with Brigitte Faesbaender.
There are some very good modern lieder composers that are worth looking into. I think you could pick up any Eric Whitacre recording and find something you will like.
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I don't care if I can't understand the words that are being sung. It's the sound, more accurately the noises that are produced, that do it for me. Yeah I have a passing familiarity with most of the languages that lieder are sung in, but even when I don't it's no problem for me to fill in the emotional blanks and just ride with it.
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I don't understand the languages of most of the lieder I listen to, but, I do know what the songs are about from having read the translations. I think this does ad to the experience.
There are plenty of songs that are sung in English, such as those of Eric Whitacre that I mentioned above. Another living American song composer that is quite interesting is Craig Urquhart. British mid-century composers, like Britten, also wrote some interesting songs too.
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I agree with you regarding The Four Last Songs in that I love Gundula Janowitz singing them but I also love the great Jessye Norman in them also. I remember one year going to the Usher Hall in Edinburgh for a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony The Resurrection and as the four soloists were coming on to the stage I saw this magnificent presence coming into view and it was The great Jessye Norman She was first heard in the Uhrlicht and then in the Finale and I thought she was awesome with her voice floating over that huge orchestra effortlessly. Well she is the other soloist I love in The Four Last Songs. She also was magnificent in lots of Strauss's Lieder.
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I also love the Norman Four Last Songs.
One more suggestion: Cantaloube “Songs of the Auverne.”
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I get so tired of the war horses and the mutable times they end up getting rereleased. When I go to the record stores and I see the classical bins flooded with Bernstein on Columbia, I think, do people really believe Bernstein to be better than the hundreds of other conductors during his generation or do they just not know any different? I will go out of my way to find music that is anomalous.
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How can I have forgotten Songs of the Auverne, Kiri Te Kanawa or Vittoria de Los Angeles for me.
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I like the Te Kanawa and Victoria de Los Angeles versions too, but the utterly unique singing style and voice of Davrath makes her version my choice. Being so lazy, I don’t listen to it much because it is on lp and not on my music server (I should subscribe to a service).
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Record stores?
Where're there record stores anymore?
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One in St Paul 3 miles from my house and is open 24/375 .
Owned by a Polish guy , I would guess with 20,OOO records .
Perhaps 2 hundred are classical but they are good ones , with good turnover .
Jim204, All you have to do is go to Berlin in Army and find a German Wife and
then do your Doctorate in a German Uni, nothing to it .
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Seriously , many of the words and elements are the same ,
German and English are bother and sister as is Swedish.
A young man can learn a normal conversation in 4-5 months.
About a year , 3-4 hours a day all hands on deck should { Your tongue goes
on auto in German .}
give you fully correct German . Few use correct any thing .P.S .
Almost every really dirty words are the same.
From what I have seen and done, it is very hard to learn any language after 55 or so.
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rvpiano, there are about ten record stores within the Cincinnati ring. Maybe half of those carry used classical. One of them, Plaid Room, carries new remastered reissues along with used. The new vinyl is generally from Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, Analogphonic and other large labels. A great store to visit if you’re in the area!
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goofy, how's it going in Cincy after the ref's gave the game to Vegas ?
What do you think about life there in general ?
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Jim, people are disappointed but still glad the Bengals made it as far as they did. The Bengals just need to find a way to win a Super Bowl to refute this notion that they’re cursed. The ref made a questionable call but that’s in the past. I plan on going to some Reds games this summer. Baseball is more deeply rooted here than anything else. CCM and Music Hall are special too but all in all, I miss Paris and Köln till it hurts.
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Man I hear that , Check this ;
As a young soldier you were given train tickets to where you were going getting off the ship at Bremerhaven , 2 AM I got mine to Berlin with 6 hour stop at Koln .
Natch, the Koln Station is 24 /365 open . I’m reading , decide I’ll have some eats.
I sat looking at the huge glass wall , something started to be funny as the sun
arises " how can there be a huge hill here’ .
I sat for a hour watching the Greatest Church in the World rise before my 20-10,
clueless there was such a thing ! Had to ask the waiter .
I’m Stiil a Berlin Guy , but with a do-up from God I would be a Klon one given things these days.
I’ve watched a lot of football , never saw a ref blow his Teewwer as he watched the
ball in mid-air .
You can’t explain to folks when a man gets German Fever ,, no place like it , no place else you want to be.
EVERY day I wake up wanting Berlin , always hurts and sometimes tears run down my face .
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