MATTHIAS GOERNE & THE DEUTSCHE KAMMERPHILHARMONIE BREMEN – Schubert Revisited

Decca (UMO) / Classics / Deutsche Grammophon

£12.56

Format: CD
Catalogue No.: 4839758
Barcode: 0028948397587
Release Date: 06 Jan 2023
Genre: Classical

Matthias Goerne, one of the most high-profile Schubertians of his generation, has recorded a selection of Schubert’s songs not in their original versions with piano but in orchestral arrangements by Alexander Schmalcz, Goerne’s accompanist of many years’ standing.

Goerne says about Alexander Schmalcz’s arrangements: “His creativity in adapting these songs for the orchestra is enormous, while his stylistic sensibilities and his subtle approach in deploying the right instruments at the right moment are truly astonishing.”

“Schubert’s ability to empathize makes him one of the most important composers in the whole of human history. (…) He created “a perfect balance between intellectuality and the greatest naturalness. With Schubert, even the most complicated melodies and forms sound entirely natural.” (Goerne)

And yet what we hear on this album is “pure Schubert”, Alexander Schmalcz insists. “I have added nothing. Sometimes I fill out the voices by doubling the octave, for example. Or I write sustained chords in the orchestra in order to simulate the sound-surfaces that are the result of the use of the sustaining pedal on the piano. But my goal is to be as original as possible.”

TRACKLIST:
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)
arr. Alexander Schmalcz

An Silvia D 891
William Shakespeare (from “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”)

Schäfers Klagelied D 121
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ganymed D 544
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Fahrt zum Hades D 526

Johann Mayrhofer
Schatzgräbers Begehr D 761

Franz von Schober
Der Tod und das Mädchen D 531

Matthias Claudius
Erlkönig D 328

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Wandrers Nachtlied (»Der du von dem Himmel bist«) D 224

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Grenzen der Menschheit D 716

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Gesänge des Harfners D 478–480

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (from “Wilhelm Meister”)
I. Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt
II. Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß
III. An die Türen will ich schleichen
Das Heimweh D 851

Johann Ladislav Pyrker (from “Tunisias”)
Pilgerweise D 789

Franz von Schober
Abendstern D 806

Johann Mayrhofer
Alinde D 904

Johann Friedrich Rochlitz
Stimme der Liebe (“Meine Selinde”) D 412

Friedrich Leopold Gaf zu Stolberg
Des Fischers Liebesglück D 933

Carl Gottfried Ritter von Leitner
An die Entfernte D 765