Composer: Johannes Brahms, Fanny Caecilie Mendelssohn Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Peter Schubert, Robert Schumann
Performer: Fatma Said, Malcolm Martineau, Joseph Middleton, Huw Montague Rendall, Sabine Meyer, Anneleen Lenaerts, Quatuor Arod
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Warner
Catalogue: 2173245977
Release: 2025
Size: 1.29 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Schubert: Ständchen ‘Leise flehen meine Lieder’, D957 No. 4
02. Schubert: Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D965 (Von Chezy / Muller)
03. Schubert: Ständchen ‘Zögernd leise’, D920 / 921
04. Mendelssohn: Die Liebende schreibt (Goethe) Op. 86 No. 3
05. Schubert: Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D774
06. Schubert: Der Zwerg, D771 (Collin)
07. Mendelssohn: Hexenlied, Op. 8 No. 8
08. Mendelssohn: Suleika (Goethe / von Willemer) Op. 34 No. 4
09. Mendelssohn: Ich wollt’ meine Lieb’ ergösse sich, Op. 63. No. 1
10. Mendelssohn, Fanny: Suleika und Hatem (Goethe)
11. Brahms: Lerchengesang Op. 70 No. 2
Brahms: 5 Lieder, Op. 105
12. No. 1, Wie Melodien zieht es mir (Version with Harp)
Brahms: 49 Deutsche Volkslieder, WoO 33, Vol. 1
13. No. 6, Da unten im Thale (Version with Harp)
Brahms: 5 Lieder, Op. 105
14. No. 2, Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer (Version with Harp)
Brahms: Ophelia-Lieder, WoO posth. 22 (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
15. No. 1, Wie erkenn ich dein Treulieb
16. No. 2, Sein Leichenhemd Weiss wie Schnee zu sehn
17. No. 3, Auf morgen ist sankt Valentins Tag
18. No. 4, Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloss
19. No. 5, Und kommt er nicht mehr zurück
20. Schumann: Widmung, Op. 25 No. 1
21. Schumann: Singet nicht In Trauertönen Op. 98a No. 7 (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
22. Schumann: Liebhabers Ständchen, Op. 34 No. 2
23. Schumann: Liebeslied, Op. 51 No. 5
24. Schumann: In der Nacht, Op. 74 No. 4
While soprano Fatma Said’s previous Warner Classics releases crossed cultures and musical genres, this album focuses entirely on German-language songs of the Romantic era: lieder by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms.
At the age of 18, Fatma left her native Cairo to study at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin and “Ever since then, the joy of singing this genre has been central to my musical life … I am very passionate about lieder … This wonderful combination of great German poetry and genius composers like Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Brahms.”
In the conventional course of things, a lieder recital involves one singer and one pianist, but Fatma Said, saying “I’ve always wanted to make music with friends”, has called on the talents of no fewer than three pianists – Malcolm Martineau,
Joseph Middleton and Yonatan Cohen. Also, harpist Anneleen Lenaerts, clarinettist Sabine Meyer (in Schubert’s ‘Der Hirt auf dem Felsen’), Quatuor Arod (accompanying Brahms’ Ophelia-Lieder in an arrangement by Aribert Reimann, who died in March 2024), male-voice ensemble Walhalla zum Seidlwirt, and another singer on the ascent – baritone Huw Montague Rendall.
The programme features some of the world’s best-loved lieder, such as Schubert’s ‘Ständchen’, Schumann’s ‘Widmung’ and Brahms’ ‘Wie Melodien zieht es mir’, but it also explores less familiar repertoire. Throughout the album, Fatma Said places a crucial emphasis on the poetic texts: “My priority was to convey the characterisation of the words most of all … Differentiating between diverse kinds of expressive worlds is for me what lieder-singing is all about.”
