Dorian Recordings

DOR-90132

Lieder of
SCHUMANN AND BRAHMS

VICTOR BRAUN, BARITONE
ANTONIN KUBALEK, PIANO
DOR-90132 Cover - 20164 Bytes

For Robert Schumann, 1840 was the Year of the Song. Of his more than 300 Lieder, almost half were composed in that period. It was also the year when he finally married Clara, after a long courtship made difficult by the obstacles thrown in his way be Clara's imperious father Friedrich Wieck. Whether the two events were related may be left to the psychohistorians; what is unarguable is the consistently high quality of these songs, most of which have been, ever since their publication, an important and permanent part of the Lieder repertory.

"Vier ernste Gesänge" (Four Serious Songs) is Brahms' last major composition, written almost literally in the shadow of his death. Yet it remains one of his most magisterial and inspired works; these may well be his greatest songs. They were composed in 1896 at a time when several of Brahms' closest associates had recently died, among them the famous conductor Hans Richter, his sister Elise and his close friend and admirer, Elisabeth von Herzogenberg, wife of a contemporary Austrian composer. Most painful of all, Clara Schumann, Robert's widow and Brahms' intimate friend and advocate for over 40 years, had recently suffered two strokes and lay mortally ill. No wonder the 63-year old composer turned to biblical texts that deal with man's mortality, the ultimate futility of his earthly strivings, and that which remains of all his endeavors, "faith, hope and charity the greatest of which is charity". And, it might well be added, a spirit of humility.
- Kurt Moses © 1990

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856)

LIEDERKREIS, Op. 24
[1] Morgens steh' ich auf und frage
[2] Es treibt mich hin
[3] Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen
[4] Lieb Liebchen
[5] Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden
[6] Warte, warte, wilder Schiffsmann
[7] Berg' und Burgen schaun herunter
[8] Anfangs wollt' ich fast verzagen
[9] Mit Myrten und Rosen

LIEDERKREIS, Op. 39
[10] In der Fremde
[11] Intermezzo
[12] Waldesgespräch
[13] Die Stille
[14] Mondnacht
[15] Schöne Fremde
[16] Auf einer Burg
[17] In der Fremde
[18] Wehmut
[19] Zwielicht
[20] Im Walde
[21] Frühlingsnacht

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)

VIER ERNSTE GESÄNGE
(FOUR SERIOUS SONGS), Op. 121
[22] Denn es gehet dem Menschen
[23] Ich wandte mich und sahe an alle
[24] O Tod, wie bitter bist du
[25] Wenn ich mit Menschenzungen

Dorian Recordings & Dorian Discovery
are distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading