Pfitzner Complete Lieder, Vol 4
CPO reaches the fourth volume in its complete Pfitzner Lieder series and with it some of his greatest works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Hans (Erich) Pfitzner
Label: CPO
Magazine Review Date: 2/2000
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 62
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CPO999 490-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (5) Lieder, Movement: In Danzig (wds Eichendorff) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Andreas Schmidt, Baritone Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Rudolf Jansen, Piano |
| (5) Lieder, Movement: Tragische Geschichte (wds Chamisso) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Andreas Schmidt, Baritone Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Rudolf Jansen, Piano |
| (5) Lieder, Movement: Schön' Suschen (wds Bürger) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Andreas Schmidt, Baritone Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Rudolf Jansen, Piano |
| (5) Lieder, Movement: Gegenliebe (wds Bürger) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Andreas Schmidt, Baritone Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Rudolf Jansen, Piano |
| (5) Lieder, Movement: An die Bienen (wds Bürgen) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Donald Sulzen, Piano Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Julie Kaufmann, Soprano |
| (4) Lieder, Movement: Unter der Linden (wds W von der Vogelweide) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Donald Sulzen, Piano Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Julie Kaufmann, Soprano |
| (4) Lieder, Movement: Gewalt der Minne (wds W von der Vogelweide) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Robert Holl, Bass Rudolf Jansen, Piano |
| (4) Lieder, Movement: Sonnet XCII (wds Petrarch) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Andreas Schmidt, Baritone Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Rudolf Jansen, Piano |
| (4) Lieder, Movement: Abendrot (wds anon) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Axel Bauni, Piano Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Iris Vermillion, Mezzo soprano |
| (5) Lieder, Movement: Gebet (wds Hebbel) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Donald Sulzen, Piano Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Julie Kaufmann, Soprano |
| (5) Lieder, Movement: Trauerstille (wds Bürger) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Donald Sulzen, Piano Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Julie Kaufmann, Soprano |
| (5) Lieder, Movement: Nachts (wds Eichendorff) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Andreas Schmidt, Baritone Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Rudolf Jansen, Piano |
| (5) Lieder, Movement: Neue Liebe (wds Eichendorff) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Christoph Prégardien, Tenor Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Michael Gees, Piano |
| (5) Lieder, Movement: Mailied (wds Goethe) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Christoph Prégardien, Tenor Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Michael Gees, Piano |
| (4) Lieder, Movement: Abbitte (wds Hölderlin) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Axel Bauni, Piano Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Iris Vermillion, Mezzo soprano |
| (4) Lieder, Movement: Herbsthauch (wds Rückert) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Axel Bauni, Piano Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Iris Vermillion, Mezzo soprano |
| (4) Lieder, Movement: Die stille Stadt (wds Dehmel) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Axel Bauni, Piano Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Iris Vermillion, Mezzo soprano |
| (4) Lieder, Movement: Wilkommen und Abschied (wds Goethe) |
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer
Hans (Erich) Pfitzner, Composer Robert Holl, Bass Rudolf Jansen, Piano |
Author: Michael Oliver
These are the songs of Pfitzner's high maturity (his great opera Palestrina was written between Op 24 and Op 26) and they maintain a remarkable standard. Although the vocal lines are sometimes so expressively inflected that they are no longer conventionally 'tuneful', and although Pfitzner's harmonic language has by now become very daring, his fidelity to the often simple, strophic texts saves him from abstruseness. Op 22 No 3, for example, Schon' Suschen, has a folk-like poem by Burger about someone falling deeply in love but then falling out again. The simplicity of Pfitzner's setting becomes much less straight-forward as the lover's emotion intensifies, but of course he is not unchanged by the experience, and the music reflects that. In the same poet's Gegenliebe (Op 22 No 4), a simple form almost burst asunder by the tempestuous keyboard writing very closely reflects the passion the text describes (if his love were to be returned, the poet says, 'Oh! Then my breast would no longer be able to contain its flames').
By now Pfitzner's piano writing has become very rich, sometimes virtuosic. To describe Op 24 No 3 (a setting of Petrarch's Sonnet No 92, in German translation) as a complex polyphonic study in which one of the keyboard's lines is intermittently taken over by the voice would be off-putting (though accurate), but it would quite understate the song's magical beauty and its extraordinary responsiveness to a far from easy text. Likewise, Op 26 No 2 (Nachts, to a poem by Eichendorff) could be defined as a piece in which a bell-like ostinato is rhythmically transformed and then reverts to its original form. But the precision with which this device parallels the poem's image (bells heard at night in the forest prompt a vision of God hovering over the tree tops, 'blessing the silent land') is very moving.
As before with this important series I have little but praise for the singing. Kaufmann is once or twice taxed by a high-lying passage, and in his single song Holl is not in his best voice, but Schmidt is superb throughout, Vermillion and Pregardien are excellent, as are all four pianists. The recordings are very good, though for some reason Pregardien is rather more closely balanced than his colleagues.'
By now Pfitzner's piano writing has become very rich, sometimes virtuosic. To describe Op 24 No 3 (a setting of Petrarch's Sonnet No 92, in German translation) as a complex polyphonic study in which one of the keyboard's lines is intermittently taken over by the voice would be off-putting (though accurate), but it would quite understate the song's magical beauty and its extraordinary responsiveness to a far from easy text. Likewise, Op 26 No 2 (Nachts, to a poem by Eichendorff) could be defined as a piece in which a bell-like ostinato is rhythmically transformed and then reverts to its original form. But the precision with which this device parallels the poem's image (bells heard at night in the forest prompt a vision of God hovering over the tree tops, 'blessing the silent land') is very moving.
As before with this important series I have little but praise for the singing. Kaufmann is once or twice taxed by a high-lying passage, and in his single song Holl is not in his best voice, but Schmidt is superb throughout, Vermillion and Pregardien are excellent, as are all four pianists. The recordings are very good, though for some reason Pregardien is rather more closely balanced than his colleagues.'
Pfitzner Complete Lieder, Vol 4
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