BEETHOVEN Lieder and Bagatelles
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Ludwig van Beethoven
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: AW2015
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 63
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: HMC90 2217
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
An die Hoffnung |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Christoph Berner, Fortepiano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Werner Güra, Tenor |
Lied aus der Ferne |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Christoph Berner, Fortepiano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Werner Güra, Tenor |
6 Bagatelles |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Christoph Berner, Fortepiano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
Zärtliche Liebe, 'Ich liebe dich' |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Christoph Berner, Fortepiano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Werner Güra, Tenor |
An die ferne Geliebte |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Christoph Berner, Fortepiano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Werner Güra, Tenor |
Adelaide |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Christoph Berner, Fortepiano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Werner Güra, Tenor |
(Der) Kuss |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Christoph Berner, Fortepiano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Werner Güra, Tenor |
(3) Lieder, Movement: No. 1, Wonne der Wehmut |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Christoph Berner, Fortepiano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Werner Güra, Tenor |
Resignation |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Christoph Berner, Fortepiano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Werner Güra, Tenor |
Author: Richard Wigmore
Berner is also a discerning and poetic partner – never a mere sidekick – in the Lieder, which range in tone from the desolate ‘Resignation’ to the exuberant, mildly risqué ‘Der Kuss’. Güra’s mellifluous tenor has lost none of the freshness of a decade and more ago. He sings An die ferne Geliebte with a wondering, confiding intimacy, punctuated by surges of excited urgency. Nos 3, 4 and 5 are properly light and airborne. Singer and pianist conjure a trance-like stillness in the central verse of No 2 and at the sunset vision in the final song, before the unforced exultation of the end, enhanced by the ringing ease of Güra’s top register. Berner’s handling of the potentially tricky transitions between the songs seems spot-on, with Beethoven’s detailed dynamics and accents precisely observed and each song seeming to emerge naturally from its predecessor.
In ‘Zärtliche Liebe’ (aka ‘Ich liebe dich’) Güra tends to stress words at the expense of a pure legato line – simplicity is surely of the essence here. At the opening of the Italianate ‘Adelaide’ he likewise favours intensity of feeling over bel canto elegance. But with his quicksilver response to text and mood he always compels attention, whether in the two contrasting settings of ‘An die Hoffnung’ that frame the recital (the hushed awe of the later song beautifully caught), the restrained Innigkeit of ‘Wonne der Wehmut’ – here a true duet between voice and piano – or the sly pointing and timing of ‘Der Kuss’, abetted by volleys of keyboard laughter, a further reminder of Berner’s vivid contribution to the success of the whole delightful enterprise.
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