Schumann (Der) Rose Pilgerfahrt
Schumann’s rustic folk fairy-tale in a recording that is true to the composer
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Robert Schumann
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Carus
Magazine Review Date: 3/2011
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CARUS83 450

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(Der) Rose Pilgerfahrt |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Anna Lucia Richter, Soprano Christoph Prégardien, Tenor Gerhard Jenemann, Conductor Michael Dahmen, Bass Michael Gees, Piano Robert Schumann, Composer South German Chamber Choir |
Author: Richard Wigmore
While Schumann felt that the original version with piano was better suited to the “delicate subject matter”, his cantata undeniably gains in colour and atmosphere from his subsequent orchestration, as heard on the recordings by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (EMI, 12/83R) and Gustav Kuhn (Chandos, 7/95). Still, if you want Schumann’s folk fairy-tale presented as an intimate Liederspiel – a play-in-song – Gerhard Jenemann and his forces catch the work’s spirit with charm and skill. As the narrator, Christoph Prégardien (whose son Julian makes his mark in the small part of Max) finely balances simplicity and a Lieder singer’s subtlety of inflection. Anna Lucia Richter exudes virginal innocence as the Rose, and the other solos are decently taken by members of the tightly knit chorus. Michael Gees, playing on what sounds like an overtone-rich late-19th-century piano, is always alive to character and atmosphere. The recording of the voices is closer than I find ideal, to the detriment of really soft singing. The sole direct rival is a slightly more polished, operatically sophisticated performance directed by Marcus Creed (Harmonia Mundi, 7/99). Enjoyable as that is, this new recording is arguably truer to Schumann at his most bucolically ingenuous.
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.

Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.