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Richard STRAUSS (1864–1949) Rote Rosen - Lieder 1. Rote Rosen, AV 76 (1883) [2:14] 2. Malven, AV 304 (1948) [2:58]
3. Leises Lied, Op. 39 No. 1 (1897-1898) [3:05]
4. Junghexenlied, Op. 39 No. 2 (1897-1898) [2:39]
5. Cäcilie, Op. 27 No. 2 (1894) [2:03] 6. Befreit, Op. 39 No. 4 (1897-1898) [5:22] Drei Lieder der Ophelia, Op. 67 (1918) [8:02] 7. I. Wie erkenn ich mein Treulieb vor andern nun?
[2:54] 8. II. Guten Morgen, 's ist Sankt Valentinstag
[1:13] 9. III. Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloß [3:47] 10. Allerseelen, Op. 10 No. 8 (1885) [3:05] 11. Ich schwebe, Op. 48 No. 2 (1900) [2:10] 12. Muttertändelei, Op. 43 No. 2 (1899) [2:28] 13. Einerlei, Op. 69 No. 3 (1918) [2:17] 14. Schlechtes Wetter, Op. 69 No. 5 (1918)
[2:24] 15. Das Rosenband, Op. 36 No. 1 (1897-1898)
[2:54] 16. Hat gesagt – bleibt’s nicht dabei, Op.
36 No. 3 (1897-1898) [2:21] 17. All mein’ Gedanken, Op. 21 No. 1 (1889-1890)
[1:12] 18. Du meines Herzens Krönelein, Op. 21 No.
2 (1889-1890) [2:02] 19. Meinem Kinde, Op. 37 No. 3 (1897-1898)
[2:31]
20. Mein Auge, Op. 37 No. 4 (1897-1898) [3:01]
21. Morgen! Op. 27 No. 4 (1894) [4:00]
Camilla Tilling
(soprano); Paul Rivinius (piano); Ulf Wallin (violin)(Morgen!)
rec. January 2008, Nybrokajen 11 (former Academy of Music), Stockholm,
Sweden
Sung texts with English translations enclosed BIS-SACD-1709
[59:10]
Just recently I reviewed a Strauss recital with the Danish soprano
Inger Dam-Jensen. Now here comes a similar recital with another
fairly young Scandinavian soprano, Swedish Camilla Tilling. I
had the pleasure to engage her for a couple of concerts with the
local symphony orchestra and chamber music society more than ten
years ago, when she was at the very outset of her professional
career. That career quickly gained momentum after her debut as
the Queen of the Night in Gothenburg in 1997. Appearances at Covent
Garden, the Metropolitan, La Scala, Chicago, San Francisco, Paris
and the festivals at Aix-en-Provence and Glyndebourne and a busy
schedule as concert and recital artist has endeared her to a wide
audience and she has also appeared in a number of major recording
projects but this recital is her first solo album.
Like her Danish
colleague she wanders occasionally off the beaten track and
actually lays out her toils even wider, opening the programme
with the early Rote Rosen from 1883, followed by Malven,
written sixty-five years later and unearthed only in 1982, when
it was found among soprano Maria Jeritza’s papers and subsequently
premiered by Kiri Te Kanawa in 1985. She also includes the three
Ophelia songs from 1918 and also two of the Op. 69 songs from
the same year, written with Elisabeth Schumann’s voice in mind.
Not having heard
Camilla Tilling in the flesh for some years – I think it was
in Beethoven’s ninth symphony – it was a pleasure to note that
the freshness and beauty of the voice is as tangible as before
and she has no doubt matured further and acquired more ‘bite’
which enables her to express a wide range of emotions. The first
two songs, juxtaposing both ends of Strauss’s compositional
career, are sung with suitable simplicity. I have long treasured
Kiri Te Kanawa’s recording of Malven, and returning to
the song now confirms what a beautiful creation it is. Leises
Lied and Junghexenlied, both from Op. 39, are relative
rarities and Ms Tilling sings the former with the sense of an
explorer, curious to find out what she is going to experience
in ‘the peaceful garden’. It is a lovely reading. In marked
contrast to the calm and serenity of this Dehmel setting Bierbaum’s
Junghexenlied isexuberant and alive, alive, alive!
Dehmel’s Befreit from the same group of songs is much
better known and again she finds the ideal ethereal tone, which
also goes for Cäcilie.
The Ophelia songs
are a different matter, knotty and dissonant and irregularly
structured. I had some doubts about Inger Dam-Jensen’s readings,
finding her too healthy, too normal. Camilla Tilling is certainly
healthy and normal but here she changes appearance, becoming
explosive and intense and one can sense, without too much imagination,
madness radiating from the poor girl. The nervous restlessness
of Guten Morgen is graphically depicted. In this reading
the songs stand out as some of the most outstanding things in
the composer’s total oeuvre – odd but outstanding.
With an intense
reading of my favourite song Allerseelen, an expressive
Muttertändelein, a lively and flexible Hat gesagt
– bleibt’s nicht dabei and an inward Morgen! the
recital is filled with wonderful things. In Morgen! violinist
Ulf Wallin participates, playing the solo violin part from the
orchestral version of the song – a nice novelty. Paul Rivinius
is a sensitive accompanist, the sound is warm and attractive
and Anna Lamberti’s liner notes give a lot of valuable background
information. There have been several excellent Strauss recitals
lately and the back catalogue can boast a lot of fine achievements
but this latest addition is without doubt worthy of a place
near the top. More, please, BIS!
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