Sunday, 9 August 2009

296. Robert Schumann - Liederkreis, op.39 (1840)


















Recording

Title: Eichendorff Lieder
Performer: Wolfgang Holzmair. Imogen Cooper
Year: 1999
Length: 24 minutes

Review

So we come to the final lieder recording in a sequence of four Schumann lieder collections. The problem with having four in a row is that they kind of get slightly mixed up in my head. It would have been better to have a bit more of spacing.

Still, that being said, I have quite enjoyed them. They generally have the very Schumannian thing of a calm/passionate alternance going on, and if the singer is great, this can work very well.

In this sense these lieder are more emotionally expressive than Schubert's. However, Schubert had a much bigger talent for melody than Schumann which is also reflected. In the end I much prefer Schubert's lieder, but Schumann is an interesting experience in itself. This album is another set of Liederkreis, quite similar to the themes in the previous album, I actually prefer Bostridge's register to Holzmair and that is what really marks the difference in grade to both albums.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Schumann wrote two cycles of this name—the other being his opus 24—so this work is also known as the Eichendorff Liederkreis.

Herman Prey does Opus.39:

2 comments:

Larry said...

Is there a way to download these important recordings?

Francisco Silva said...

Hi Larry,

You can look for them online through eMule or Soulseek... this one I had to buy and there are loads I actually have to buy. They are really hard to find.