CD
1
Drei Gedichte von Emanuel Geibel op.
29
Zigeunerleben
Lied
Ländliches Lied
Vier Gesänge für gemischten
Chor op. 59
Nord oder Süd
Am Bodensee
Jägerlied
Gute Nacht
Hirtenknabengesang
Sechs Lieder op. 33
Der träumende See
Die Minnesänger
Die Lotosblume
Der Zecher als Doktrinär
Rastlose Liebe
Frühlingsglocken
Fünf Lieder von Robert Burns op.
55
Das Hochlandmädchen
Zahnweh
Mich zieht es nach dem Dörfchen
hin
Die alte gute Zeit
Hochlandbursch
Beim Abschied zu singen op. 84
CD 2
Die rote Hanne op. 31, No. 3
Der deutsche Rhein
Ritornelle op. 65
Zum Anfang
Die Rose stand im Tau
Lasst Lautenspiel u.Becherklang
Blüt'oder Schnee
Gebt mir zu trinken
Zürne nicht des Herbstes Wind
In Sommertagen rüste den Schlitten
Hätte zu einem Traubenkerne
In Meeres Mitten ist ein offner Laden
Drei Männerchöre aus dem Revolutionsjahr
(1848)
Deutscher Freiheitsgesang
Zu den Waffen
Schwarz-Rot-Gold
Drei Gesänge für Männerchor,
op. 62
Der Eidgenossen Nachtwache
Freiheitslied
Schlachtgesang
Jagdlieder, Fünf Gesänge op.137
Zur hohen Jagd
Habet Acht!
Jagdmorgen
Frühe
Bei der Flasche
CD 3
Romanzen und Balladen für Chor
Heft I op. 67
Der König von Thule (Goethe)
Schön-Rohtraut (Mörike)
Heidenröslein (Goethe)
Ungewitter (Chamisso)
John Anderson (Burns)
Romanzen und Balladen für Chor
Heft II op. 75
Schnitter Tod (altdt. Lied)
Im Walde (Eichendorff)
Der traurige Jäger (Eichendorff)
Der Rekrut (Burns)
Vom verwundeten Knaben (altdt.)
Romanzen und Balladen für Chorgesang
Heft III op. 145
Der Schmidt (Uhland)
Die Nonne (unbek. Dichter)
Der Sänger (Uhland)
John Anderson (Burns, 2.Bearb.)
Romanze vom Gänsebuben (span.)
Romanzen und Balladen für Chorgesang
Heft IV op. 146
Brautgesang (Uhland)
Bänkelsänger Willie (Burns)
Der Traum (Uhland)
Sommerlied (Rückert)
Das Schifflein (Uhland)
Der Handschuh (Schiller) 5'53
CD 4
Romanzen für Frauenstimmen Heft
I op. 69
Tamburinschlägerin (Eichendorff)
Waldmädchen (Eichendorff)
Klosterfräulein (Kerner)
Soldatenbraut (Mörike)
Meerfey (Eichendorff)
Die Kapelle (Uhland)
Vier doppelchörige Gesänge
op. 141 (1849)
An die Sterne (Rückert)
Ungewisses Licht (Zedlitz)
Zuversicht (Zedlitz)
Talismane (Goethe)
Romanzen für Frauenstimmen Heft
II op. 91
Rosmarien (altdt.)
Jäger Wohlgemut (d.Kn.Wunderhorn)
Der Wassermann (Kerner)
Das verlassene Mägdlein (Mörike)
Der Bleicherin Nachtlied (Reinick)
In Meeres Mitten (Rückert)
Die Kapelle (Uhland) (1849)
Aus: Lieder für die Jugend op.
79 (1849)
Frühlingsgruß (Hoffmann v.
Fallersleben)
Weihnachtslied (Andersen)
Lieder für drei Frauenstimmen op.
114
Nänie (Bechstein)
Triolett (L'Egru)
Spruch (Rückert)
Glockentürmers Töchterlein
(Rückert)
Die Orange und Myrthe hier, Bei Schenkung
eines Flügels (Schumann)
Clara SCHUMANN
(1819-96)
CD 2
Drei gemischte Chöre (Emanuel Geibel)
Abendfeier in Venedig
Vorwärts
Gondoliera
Johannes BRAHMS
(1833-97)
CD 4
Dem dunklen Schloß der heilgen
Erde (Schiller).
Bearbeitung nach Schumanns ‘Gesänge
der Frühe’ op. 133/1
Studio Vocale Karlsruhe/Werner Pfaff
Renner Ensemble/Bernd Engelbrecht
Ira Maria Witoschynskyj (piano) CD2,
4-5 and CD4, 1-6, 11-15, 19-22, 24
Locky Chung (baritone) CD1, 1 and CD2,
4-5
Gesa Hoppe (soprano) CD1, 1-3
Gundula Schneider (mezzo-soprano) CD1,
1-3
Fumiko Hatayama (contralto) CD1, 2
Christian Lampert (horn) CD3
Daniel Lampert (flute) CD3
Recording:
Studio Vocale Karlsruhe/Werner Pfaff
Im Rosbaud-Studio, Sudwestfunk Baden
- Baden
27.10.1996 to 01.11.1996 (CD1 and 2),
01.041997 to 05.04.1997 (CD3),
Suddeutschen Rundfunk, Studio Karlsruhe
18.03.2001 to 05.04 1997 (CD4)
Renner Ensemble, Regensburg/Bernd Engelbrecht
In der Kirchemusikschule Regensburg,
04.04.1997 to 06.04.1997
The ever enterprising
Brilliant Classics label are to be heartily
congratulated once again for releasing
this excellent four CD collection of
Schumann’s choral works for unaccompanied
choir (a cappella) or with minimal
instrumental accompaniment.. This set
contains Schumann’s complete output
in the genre, including some world premiere
recordings. I should point out that
these are all secular works. With the
exception of the Requiem for Mignon
Op. 98a, Mass Op. 147 and
the Requiem Op. 148 Schumann
wrote only a small amount of music for
liturgical purposes.
In recent reviews of
the complete a cappella works
from Brahms
and Mendelssohn
on this series from Brilliant Classics
I wrote that the greatest composers
generally wrote the greatest music even
if it is only rarely in the public domain.
The greatness of these unaccompanied
choral works serves to reinforce my
viewpoint. However having listened to
these a cappella works by Schumann
they seem far too uneven in quality
to be put on a par with those of Brahms
and Mendelssohn even though Schumann
is generally considered a composer who
wrote several great works. It is no
coincidence that all three composers
founded and directed choral ensembles
with which they were able to practise
their ‘purpose-built’ compositions first-hand.
Unaccompanied choral
music, as illustrated by the small amount
of concert performances and the frequency
and number of deletions from the CD
catalogue, remains unfashionable and
has been so for many decades. Choral
works from Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann
et al were perennial favourites
of provincial choral societies until
the outbreak of the First World War
when an intensely hostile reaction against
things German prevailed. This is a terrible
shame as many of these Schumann unaccompanied
choral compositions are fine music.
They are for the most part unknown by
the average listener leaving several
precious gems to be unearthed.
Robert Schumann is
known for his revolutionary piano works,
an abundant output of lieder, Romantic
symphonies and concertos; particularly
his famous piano concerto. The works
recorded here show an alternative face
of Schumann; intimate, ironic, even
bourgeois are the characteristics which
spring to mind. As far as I can the
works are given in chronological order
and are based on texts of Romantic poets:
Emanuel Geibel, Robert Burns, Friedrich
Schiller, Friedrich Rückert et
al. They were recorded in collaboration
with the Robert Schumann Gesellschaft.
Several receive their world premiere
recordings although unfortunately they
are not identified.
Of all the Romantic
composers of Schumann’s time none carried
the written word with such impact. From
an early age Schumann immersed himself
in Romantic literature and became probably
the most poetic composer of the Romantic
era. Schumann’s Romanticism reveals
itself in the way literature affected
his thinking and innate creativity.
Schumann composed through
the late 1840s which was a time of intense
political struggle and terrible social
unrest owing to the popular liberal
revolution and uprisings that had spread
through the German States when German
people took to the streets to demand
freedom and unity. The extreme tension
and fear of this revolutionary contagion
clearly affected Schumann significantly
and for a time in 1848 he evacuated
himself and his heavily pregnant wife
Clara away from the brutality of the
troubles to comparative safety.
The four discs contains
nearly four hours of music and twenty
sets of songs that span from 1840 to
1849. In his earlier works Schumann
was clearly finding his feet as a composer
for the chorus with the ninety songs
varying considerably in quality and
greatly improving as the developing
Schumann matured as a composer.
It is not clear which
tracks the Studio Vocale Karlsruhe under
founder Werner Pfaff and Renner Ensemble
under their founder Bernd Engelbrecht
have recorded individually or singly.
Therefore for the purpose of this review
I shall mention Studio Vocale Karlsruhe
and Werner Pfaff as the performers throughout.
There is a certain
naivety and considerable exuberance
in the Drei Gedichte von Emanuel
Geibel op. 29 (CD1, tracks 1-3),
an early score dating from 1840. Particularly
engaging is the Zigeunerleben which
quickly became a popular song for its
colourful scoring (tambourine and triangle
parts) and astute evocation of Spanish
folklore and Gypsy Romanticism. The
mixed choir under Pfaff’s distinguished
direction give a fine performance with
just the right blend of melancholy and
joie de vivre.
Other significant works
from the first CD are the Fünf
Lieder von Robert Burns op. 55 from
1846 (CD1, tracks 15-19). The composer
dedicated the set and most likely wrote
the works specifically for his conducting
association with the Leipziger Liederkranz,
a choral society founded by Mendelssohn.
Schumann was a great admirer of the
work of the Scottish poet Robbie Burns;
who was extremely fashionable at the
time. In these five four-part settings
for mixed chorus Pfaff’s choir adroitly
and clearly allow Schumann’s firmness
of melodic talent to shine through.
Composed in 1848 Schumann
wrote the five Hunting Songs Jagdlieder,
Fünf Gesänge op.137 (CD2,
tracks 21-25) in 1848 in the midst of
the bloody revolution. For the Hunting
Songs Schumann utilised the texts of
Heinrich Laubes, the author, journalist,
theatre director and politician. The
impressive score was performed to considerable
critic acclaim and it was said that
these Songs would provide a welcome
surprise to all who find enjoyment in
noble things. The male voices deliver
warmly committed accounts that have
bite and vocal presence. The horns play
with real enthusiasm and energy displaying
a rich timbre which sounds pleasing
on the ear.
Schumann composed a
large number of choral songs for the
Chorgesangverein in Dresden, the choral
society that he founded in 1848 and
of which he became director. Schumann
carefully selected and arranged twenty
of the songs into four volumes of five
Romanzen und Balladen for mixed
voices. There are many wonderful tender
and joyous moments in these four volumes
of songs which take up virtually the
whole of CD3 (tracks 1-20). Particularly
fine is the song in Im Walde from
op.75 where an echo effect is achieved
by the voices and in Das Schifflein
from op. 146 which utilises horn and
flute. In compelling readings overflowing
with sheer musical artistry Werner Pfaff
ensures that the choir conveys the folk-like
simplicity of the songs while negotiating
Schumann’s stringent compositional demands.
Late in 1849 Schumann
felt so inspired with his work with
the Chorgesangverein that he attempted
more complex choral projects. The two
volumes of the Romanzen für
Frauenstimmen op. 61 and 91 (CD4,
tracks 1-6 and 11-17) with piano accompaniment
were intended for the women members.
Choral material for women’s only voices
is fairly scarce and as the men’s attendance
record at the Chorgesangverein was said
to be deplorable we have the reason
for Schumann’s motivation in expanding
the repertoire. The thirteen songs of
the Romanzen für Frauenstimmen
strive for folkloric simplicity.
The professional chorus of Studio Vocale
Karlsruhe make light work of the technical
difficulties that the amateur members
of the Chorgesangverein were said to
find difficult. The choir offer every
opportunity for the listener to sample
Schumann’s expressive and imaginative
scoring responding with praiseworthy
accounts of the songs.
After Schumann founded
the Dresden Chorgesangverein in 1848
his wife Clara Schumann played the piano
part in many of the rehearsals and concert
performances. Clara, who was to become
the leading woman pianist of the nineteenth
century, took advantage of the choral
facilities made available to her and
composed the Drei gemischte Chöre
(CD2, tracks 1-3) from texts by
Emanuel Geibel. The choral songs were
subsequently performed as a surprise
present for her husband’s 38th
birthday. This wonderful three song
set for mixed chorus is expertly performed
by the Karlsruhe choir. The first song,
Abendfeier in Venedig, is
particularly impressive, overflowing
with rich melody and is intensely moving.
As an epilogue to this
first complete recording of Schumann’s
complete secular choral works comes
a setting of the Schiller text Dem
dunklen Schloß der heilgen Erde
by Johannes Brahms. The work is an a
cappella arrangement of the first
of Schumann’s Gesänge der Frühe,
for piano, Op. 133. Brahms, who was
a lifelong friend of Robert and Clara
Schumann, composed the short song for
the unveiling of Schumann’s new memorial
in the Old cemetery at Bonn. However
the clergy refused to have this work
performed at the cemetery owing to its
secular text.
The comprehensive booklet
notes are interesting and informative
if somewhat difficult to understand..
Most of the poor translation and general
errors that we had come to expect from
Brilliant Classics are gratifyingly
absent. All the texts are included in
the forty-nine page booklet but no English
translations, which is a terrible disappointment
as they are clearly so important. Another
snag is the confusing recording information
where we are not sure which of the two
vocal ensembles are singing which song
either jointly or individually.
This four CD set from
Brilliant Classics is most attractively
presented utilising compact and well
designed card wallets. At super-budget
price the release is exceptional value.
Charming a cappella choral works
sensitively performed and recorded with
numerous precious gems to be unearthed.
A most appealing set!
Highly recommended!
Michael Cookson
BRILLIANT
CLASSICS 92148 [4CDs: 52:22 + 61:36 + 56:52
+ 61:36] 
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details