Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Ulrich Eisenlohr, Ruth Ziesak :: Schubert: Goethe Lieder, Vol. 2

Exploring the Schubert Lieder -- Goethe Lieder vol 2

Robin Friedman | Washington, D.C. United States | 10/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) set the poetry of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) to music more often than he did any other writer. On two occasions, in 1815 and 1821, Schubert tried to interest Goethe in his music by sending him copies of the settings. Unfortunately, Goethe failed to respond.



This budget-priced CD is the second in a series of a proposed complete set of the Schubert songs that is devoted to Schubert's settings of Goethe. The CD consists of lieder written specifically to be sung by women, a relative rarity in Schubert.



The album consists of 24 songs. The compiliation includes Schubert's song, "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel" D. 118, written when Schubert was only 18 with its spinning piano accompaniment and vocal line of frustrated sexuality. This is great music in brief compass. With it, Schubert essentially created the form of the art song and of modern popular song as well.



Throughout his short life, Schubert turned several times to setting the short poems written for Goethe's novel, "William Meister" (1795). These works are known as the "Mignon" lieder, as they are sung by a young child bringing romance to the cold world of reality. Of the 24 lieder in this collection, 12 are various settings of the "Mignon" poems Schubert composed at different times. They will repay repeated hearings. Robert Schumann and Hugo Wolf are among the later composers that set the "Mignon" poems to music. The interested listener may enjoy comparing Schubert's settings with those of Schumann and Wolf.



There are two wonderful songs on this CD whose texts are not by Goethe. These are the "Suleika" songs, D. 720 and D.721, written by Marianne von Willemer (1784 -1860), a romantic interest of Goethe's late in his life. The Suleika lieder are among the best that Schubert wrote.



The album also features some light, flirtatious songs with mild sexual double-entendres such as "Schweizerlied" D. 559 and "Die Spinnern" D247.



The Disc features Ruth Ziesak, soprano. Ms. Ziesak appears on other discs in the Naxos Schubert songs project. She has a light, expressive voice which fits well with the songs in this collection. Her accompanist is pianist Ulrich Eisenlohr, who also serves as the artistic advisor for the Naxos series. Eisenlohr's gives his piano a predominant role in many of the songs. Tenor Christian Elsner is featured in a number of the songs and is an outstanding singer in his own right. The CD features thorough program notes and texts and translations of the songs.



For anyone wishing to explore Schubert's lieder in depth, this disc, and Naxos' Schubert series, is an outstanding place to begin. The low price makes this series especially appealing to music lovers on a tight budget."