Composer: Franz Peter Schubert
Performer: Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: BIS
Catalogue: BIS2573
Release: 2023
Size: 201 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Schwestergruß, D 762
02. Ganymed, D 544
03. An den Mond, D 193
04. Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D 744
05. Die junge Nonne, D 828
06. Gott im Frühlinge, D 448
07. Nacht und Träume, D 827
08. Die Sterne, D 939
09. An den Mond, D 259
10. Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen, D 343
11. An die Nachtigall, D 497
12. Der Musensohn, D 764
13. Der liebliche Stern, D 861
14. Wiegenlied, D 867
15. Du bist die Ruh, D 776
16. Elysium, D 584
17. Abschied von der Erde, D 829
Elysium (the Elysian Fields) was a Greek notion of the positive afterlife that dates back as far as Homer. The early Romantics were fascinated by its resonances, and if the organizing principle of this recital by the increasingly Schubert-oriented soprano Carolyn Sampson seems a bit vague, well, so was the concept in Schubert’s time. It extended into realms of sleep, ghost stories, the moon and stars, and really many kinds of spirituality — religious and otherwise. CD buyers get an enlightening booklet note by the song historian Susan Youens that amplifies the tightly woven sequence of songs Sampson offers here. There are a few Schubert hits, but also some lieder that only Schubert buffs will have heard, such as the title track, setting a lengthy ode by Schiller. The program is one that Sampson and accompanist managed to perform in recital at the height of the pandemic, and it is clear that she has lived in the songs for a while and knows their little turns. In general, it is a delightfully moody set that features deep interaction between Sampson and Joseph Middleton, with the latter grabbing the listener’s attention right from the opening bars. Sampson’s voice in mid-career has developed a slight and not unpleasant metallic tinge that she deploys well in the reflective moods of these songs and that blooms startlingly in the final melodrama Abschied von der Erde, D. 829. Consider the knife’s-edge opening long note in Nacht und Träume, D. 827, also a splendid example of Middleton’s art. With excellent Potton Hall sound, this is an absorbing Schubert recital that will bring new insights.
“The last years of Schubert’s life were clouded by illness, so thoughts of the afterlife cannot have been far from his mind. For their latest recital for BIS, Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton present an all-Schubert recital themed around Elysium, the mythical idea of a blessed and happy eternal future, with texts that explore different states of the afterlife by well-known authors such as Goethe, Rückert and Schiller as well as by lesser-known ones. Opening with a hymn to the divine in nature, this recital in turn evokes distant realms, blissful eternity and dream-filled sleep, before concluding with a farewell to the earth; from the passion and doubt of Die junge Nonne (The Young Nun) to the beautiful and touching Du bist die Ruh (You are peace). Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have released several acclaimed discs for BIS, including Album für die Frau, a collection of songs by Clara and Robert Schumann and A Soprano’s Schubertiade, a Schubert anthology, named ‘Recording of the Month’ by MusicWeb International and ‘CD-Tipp’ by BR Klassik.”