Mozart Lieder; Piano Works

Piano solos are welcome in a song recital over-insistent on words

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Label: Harmonia Mundi

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 64

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: HMC901979

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(Der) Verschweigung Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(Das) Lied der Trennung Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Wie unglücklich bin ich nit Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Sei du mein Trost, 'An die Einsamkeit' Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Fantasia Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Lied zur Gesellenreise Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(Die) Betrogene Welt Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Gigue Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(Der) Frühling Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(Das) Veilchen Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Rondo Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(Das) Traumbild Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Dans un bois solitaire Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(6) Variations in G on 'Mio caro Adone' by Salieri Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
An Chloe Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
(Die) Zufriedenheit Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Abendempfindung Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Christoph Berner, Piano
Werner Güra, Tenor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
While listeners who have known Mozart’s songs well over maybe a period of years would feel uneasy about a formulation such as “charming but slight”, many would admit to a time when they would have accepted that as a fair description; and many more, I daresay, would question whether they are sufficiently substantial to make up a satisfying programme entirely on their own. Certainly I found the interpolation of four piano pieces a welcome feature of this CD. Christoph Berner plays them all with sensitive fingers and an imaginative mind.

And the selection of songs is excellent, very properly leaving Abendempfindung, the most profound, for last. But all of this, I realise, is a kind of prevarication. It has to be stated that my admiration for Werner Güra’s singing is less wholehearted than the glowing reviews I generally read and the enthusiasm of his London audiences at the Wigmore Hall. For some time now it has seemed to me that in the perpetual act of balancing rival claims that commonly beset the Lieder singer, he is giving too much weight to those of text and verbal expression.

In reviewing this disc I went back to a comparable recital by Peter Schreier and András Schiff (Decca, 8/92 – nla). There, in that highly expressive singer, I found a distinctly more satisfying preservation of the melodic line and (in “Das Traumbild” for example) a greater abilty or willingness to capture mood and meaning through musical rather than verbal means. Güra’s voice is an exceptionally attractive instrument; it seems a pity that his art should apparently be directed in a way that works against its being heard to best advantage.

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