BRAHMS: Lieder vol. 2

Banse, Juliane, Deutsch, Helmut, Schmidt, Andreas

CPO 999442

Johannes Brahms preferred to compose single songs or smaller groups of 4 or 5 songs and to combine them into one opus number. Volume 2 of our cpo edition with all of the composer's songs offers the four song groups opp. 19, 23, 43 and 46, which were composed in the period from 1862 to 1868. Again and again, the idiosyncratic selection of texts and arrangement of the songs is fascinating. With the title "Gedichte" ("Poems") for the songs op. 19, Brahms wanted to emphasize the intrinsic value of the song texts, whereby he was primarily concerned with the musical conveyance of the mood content. The music of the "Vier Gesänge op. 43" and the "Vier Lieder op. 46," on the other hand, is more strongly influenced by the form and language of the originals. A more uniform selection of texts is to be found in the "Lieder und Gesänge op. 32" are based on a more uniform selection of texts, but there new musical-individual traits emerge, caused, among other things, by a differentiated, more complex piano accompaniment. This versatility of the great master is once again made audible by the singers Andreas Schmidt, Juliane Banse and the pianist Helmut Deutsch.

Works:

•Brahms: Gedichte, Op. 19, Nos. 1-5
• Brahms: Gesänge, Op. 43 Nos. 1-4
• Brahms: Lieder (4), Op. 46
• Brahms: Lieder und Gesänge (9), Op. 32

CD x 1

CPO

11/17/00

761203944224