Mozart: Complete Songs for Voice and Piano

Asti, Eugene, Karthäuser, Sophie, Loges, Stephan

CYP 1650

Will this complete recording of Mozart's songs be like one cherry too many, punctuating an already very copious dinner? In other words, will the Mozart year have stuffed the discophile to the point of nausea with projects concerning the Divine Wolfie? It is of course because we do not believe this to be the case that we offer you this disc. For, as Sylvain Fort so well remarks in his introduction, Mozart's songs have been thoroughly neglected; too often thought to be the poor relation in his output. • In fact, though the quality is unequal, some wonderful pieces are to be found, mischievous, tender and nostalgic pieces. It is also a fascinating pathway through the whole of Mozart's creative life, one that ran, as is well known, from a very early childhood to the brink of death. • In order to give substance to this project we have chosen three formidable artistes whose destinies have continually criss-crossed: the Belgian Sophie Karthäuser and the German Stephan Loges met as students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where a certain Eugene Asti was teaching. The two singers later came across each other in the prestigious Wigmore Hall Song Competition: whereas he was the winner, she received the public's prize. Then it was La Monnaie that brought them together in The Magic Flute. Eugene Asti has had the brilliant idea of uniting them once more for the songs of Mozart. A trio was born.

CD x 1

Cypres

1.01.1980

5412217016500