COMPOSERS: Adolf Busch,Brahms,Dargomïzhky,etc,Gounod,Loeffler,Strauss
LABELS: Capriccio
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Songs with Viola
WORKS: By Brahms, Strauss, Adolf Busch, Loeffler, Dargomïzhky, Gounod,
PERFORMER: Mitsuko Shirai (mezzo-soprano); Tabea Zimmermann (viola); Hartmut Höll (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 10 462 DDD
Until I saw this disc, I never realised so many composers had followed Brahms’s lead in his two songs of Op. 91 and set songs for voice, viola and piano (though Dargomïzhky’s and Gounod’s contributions in fact precede them). Several of the works are here receiving first recordings – their unusual scoring has inevitably worked against their greater dissemination. The performers are ideal, revealing some real treasures of repertoire, particularly Loeffler’s Quatre poèmes to texts by Verlaine and Baudelaire. Matthew Rye
Brahms, Strauss, Adolf Busch, Loeffler, Dargom•zhky, Gounod, etc
Until I saw this disc, I never realised so many composers had followed Brahms’s lead in his two songs of Op. 91 and set songs for voice, viola and piano (though Dargomïzhky’s and Gounod’s contributions in fact precede them). Several of the works are here receiving first recordings – their unusual scoring has inevitably worked against their greater dissemination. The performers are ideal, revealing some real treasures of repertoire, particularly Loeffler’s Quatre poèmes to texts by Verlaine and Baudelaire. Matthew Rye
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:12 pm