Compact disc. Carolyn Sampson, soprano ; Joseph Middleton, piano. Recorded: January 2018 Potton Hall, Suffolk, England. "This hybrid disc plays on both CD & SACD players." Super audio compact disc. Duration: 74'50. Programme notes in English by Natasha Loges, with French and German translations. Lyrics in French or German with English translations in booklet inserted in container.
Contents:
Ophelia-Lieder (5): No. 4, Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloß / Johannes Brahms -- Herzeleid, Op.107 No.1 / Robert Schumann -- Drei Lieder der Ophelia Op. 67: No. 1, Wie erkenn ich mein Treulieb vor andern nun?, No. 2, Guten Morgen, 's ist Sankt Valentinstag, No. 3, Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloß / Richard Strauss -- Chansons de Bilitis, Op. 39: No. 1, Hymne à Astarté / Charles Koechlin -- Chansons de Bilitis, L97: No. 1, La flûte de Pan, No. 2, La chevelure, No. 3, Le tombeau des naïades / Claude Debussy -- Chansons de Bilitis, Op. 39: No. 5, Épitaphe de Bilitis / Charles Koechlin -- Romance de Mignon, Op. 2 No. 3 / Henri Duparc -- Mignon Lieder from Goethe-Lieder: No. 9, Kennst du das Land?, No. 5, Mignon I "Heiß mich nicht reden", No. 6, Mignon II "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt", No. 7, Mignon III "So lasst mich scheiden, bis ich werde" / Hugo Wolf -- Gretchen am Spinnrade, D118 / Franz Schubert -- Mädchenlied, Op. 107 No. 5 / Johannes Brahms -- Die Spinnerin, Op.107 No.4 / Robert Schumann -- La mort d'Ophelie / Camille Saint-Saëns -- Chanson d'Ophelie: No. 3, Chanson d'Ophélie / Ernest Chausson -- Ophelia-Lieder (5), WoO posth. 22: No. 1, Wie erkenn ich dein Treublieb? / Johannes Brahms -- Au pays ou se fait la guerre / Henri Duparc -- La Dame de Monte Carlo / Francis Poulenc.
Summary:
"Throughout history men have feared mad women, burning them as witches, confining them in asylums and subjecting them to psychoanalysis - yet, they have also been fascinated, unable to resist fantasizing about them. For their new disc, Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have created a programme that explores the responses of a variety of composers to women whose stories have left them vulnerable and exposed. As a motto they have chosen an aphorism by Nietzsche: 'There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness.' Brahms' Ophelia Songs, composed for a stage production of Hamlet, appear next to those by Richard Strauss and Chausson, while Ophelia's death is described by both Schumann (in Herzeleid) and SaintSaëns. Goethe's mysterious and traumatized Mignon appears in settings by Hugo Wolf as well as Duparc, while his ill-used Gretchen grieves by her spinning-wheel in Schubert's matchless setting. Sadness and madness tip into witchery and unbridled eroticism with Pierre Louÿs's poems about Bilitis, set by Kœchlin and Debussy. Sampson and Middleton end their recital as it began, with a suicide by drowning: in Poulenc's monologue La Dame de Monte-Carlo, the elderly female protagonist has been unlucky at the gambling tables and decides to throw herself into the sea."--Publisher's description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.