Credits:

Schoeck (1886-1957)

Description:

Gerhaherr, one of the finest Lieder singers of our time, takes on the masterpiece by the Swiss composer Scheck, which can be considered the end point of German Lieder. Under the direction of Heinz Holliger, who weaves a perceptive sound palette, this is the definitive performance of the famous song cycle that allows the audience to indulge in an intimate and fertile sound world. Otmar Scheck, a 20th century Swiss composer who studied composition in Zurich and Leipzig, studied under Reger. Although Scheck's song cycle is less influenced by Reger, he left more than 300 works in the field of vocal music, especially in the German Lieder tradition. He is an important composer, especially in the German Lieder tradition. His style was conservative, characterized by a quiet but passion-filled romanticism. The song cycle "Elegy," based on poems by Eichendorff, Rainau, and others, is Scheck's earliest work, following his opera "Venus. The composition is said to have originated from a romantic relationship between Scheck and pianist Marie de Sanger. The two met in 1918 and overcame various quarrels and reconciliations until 1923. Written the year before, the work can be said to tell the "story of a dying love" and is impulsively autobiographical in content. This song cycle is written for baritone and chamber orchestra, but from the very first notes, the listener is drawn into Scheck's world.The 24 imaginative songs are full of originality and subtle colors. For example, the third song, "Stille Sicherheit" (Quiet Certainty), is only a minute and a half long, but it is packed with concentrated emotion. The same can be said for the eleventh piece, "Vesper" (Evening Division). Scheck's harmonies and orchestral palette are the epitome of delicacy, and the baritone melodies floating above them are beautifully rendered, singing out the inner workings of the poem. Baritone Christian Gerhaherl is now firmly established as one of the best in the German Lieder world. He was so enchanted by Scheck's Lieder that in 2009 he recorded another of Scheck's masterpieces, the song cycle "Not Urno" with the Rosamunde Quartet for ECM. Gerhaherl's beautifully clear German diction brings out vividly the thoughts and scenes of the composer in each word. As a 21st century interpreter of Scheck's works, which his mentor Fischer-Dieskau excelled at, there is no one better suited than Gerhaherl. The orchestra will be accompanied by the Basel Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Heinz Holliger, who last year completed a superb complete cycle of Schubert symphonies and won the "Record Academy Award. Scheck's "Elegy" was featured in the final installment of the Holliger/Basel Schubert Cycle, along with the "Unfinished" Symphony and others.Holliger's astute conducting, together with Gerhaher, delicately captures the wavering emotions contained in the work. Sony Music

Tracklisting:

1.Elegie, Op. 36~Wehmut
2.Elegie, Op. 36~Liebesfruhling
3.Elegie, Op. 36~Stille Sicherheit
4.Elegie, Op. 36~Frage Nicht
5.Elegie, Op. 36~Warnung und Wunsch
6.Elegie, Op. 36~Zweifelnder Wunsch
7.Elegie, Op. 36~Waldlied
8.Elegie, Op. 36~Waldgang
9.Elegie, Op. 36~An Den Wind
10.Elegie, Op. 36~Kommen und Scheiden
11.Elegie, Op. 36~Vesper
12.Elegie, Op. 36~Herbstklage
13.Elegie, Op. 36~Herbstgefuhl
14.Elegie, Op. 36~Nachklang
15.Elegie, Op. 36~Herbstgefuhl
16.Elegie, Op. 36~Das Mondlicht
17.Elegie, Op. 36~Vergangenheit
18.Elegie, Op. 36~Waldlied
19.Elegie, Op. 36~Herbstentschluss
20.Elegie, Op. 36~Verlorenes Gluck
21.Elegie, Op. 36~Angedenken
22.Elegie, Op. 36~Welke Rose
23.Elegie, Op. 36~Dichterlos
24.Elegie, Op. 36~Der Einsame