Romanzen aus Die Schöne Magelone
Roderick Williams
- Label
- Champs Hill
- Catalogue number
- CHRCD 108
- EAN / barcode
- 5060212591111
- Release date
- 5 October 2017
- Number of CDs
- 2
- Type
- Album
More info
Either I am a sucker for late-Romantic song or perhaps for histrionic fairytales of derring-do and blushing maidens, but I for one was enthralled by Brahms’s ‘Die schöne Magelone’ on first hearing. It was presented in such a way as to grip the audience from the outset: a narrator set the scene and linked the songs, all of this in an exciting, modern English précis, while the songs themselves were performed in German by a range of young singers and pianists, each one encapsulating the heightened emotion of each piece. I left the recital with the sort of heart-pounding best described by the likes of Berlioz. When the opportunity came for me to learn these songs, I relished the chance, finding along the way that Brahms’s glorious, sweeping vocal lines really suited my voice. I revelled in the ardour of emotion in Tieck’s lyrics, channelling my inner Romantic adolescent. Pianist Roger Vignoles enlisted the wonderful Julia Somerville to narrate between the songs using Roger’s own reduction of Tieck’s story and the three of us, like troubadours of old, presented this epic fairytale in concerts around the country. It is easy for us sophisticates in the twenty-first century to treat such material with a certain hauteur, or even ridicule. But what I noticed in concert, especially as Julia’s narration unfolded, giving me a chance slyly to observe the audience, is that people were very quickly spellbound by the tale. All of us, I observed, love to be told a story. I am hugely grateful to Champs Hill for allowing me the privilege of recording these songs and the Vier Ernste Gesänge. When the sessions were all but finished, I begged for the indulgence of those present and asked to record Roger’s English narration, pretty much on a whim. I hoped it might help persuade some audiences, perhaps unfamiliar with these songs and especially out of their context, that this really is a most terrific and enchanting work. I hoped it might connect with the wide-eyed child in us all, anyone who cannot resist “Once upon a time...”.
Tracklist
- 01 In der Provence 01:14
- 02 Keinen hat es noch gereut 03:27
- 03 Peter hörte still dem Gesange zu 01:46
- 04 Traun! Bogen und Pfeil 01:29
- 05 Er kam nach vielen Tagesreisen 02:42
- 06 Sind es Schmerzen, sind es Freuden 05:31
- 07 Peter schwur sich 01:52
- 08 Liebe kam aus fernen Landen 04:11
- 09 Dieses Lied rührte Magelone 01:35
- 10 So willst du des Armen 01:24
- 11 Peter hoffte, von der Geliebten 00:45
- 12 Wie soll ich die Freude 05:24
- 13 Jetzt war die Zeit da 01:00
- 14 War es dir, dem diese Lippen bebten 02:45
- 15 Peter hatte seine Geliebte indessen 01:20
- 16 Wir müssen uns trennen 04:13
- 17 Die Nacht war gekommen 01:25
- 18 Ruhe, Süßliebchen, im Schatten 05:19
- 19 Peter war durch seinen Gesang 02:42
- 20 So tönete denn, schäumende Wellen 02:12
- 21 Magelone erwachte und meinte 01:56
- 22 Wie schnell verschwindet 04:45
- 23 Als die Sonne eben 00:49
- 24 Muß es eine Trennung geben 03:17
- 25 So verstrich eine Woche 02:00
- 26 Geliebter, wo zaudert 01:41
- 27 Peter erschrak im Herzen 00:43
- 28 Wie froh und frisch mein Sinn 02:11
- 29 In der Ferne segelte ein Schiff 02:49
- 30 Treue Liebe dauert lange 04:41
Source: MusicBrainz
