Composer: Fanny Caecilie Mendelssohn Hensel
Performer: Jennifer Parker, Stephanie Wake-Edwards, Tim Parker-Langston, Jâms Coleman, Genevieve Ellis, Ewan Gilford
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: First Hand
Catalogue: FHR148
Release: 2023
Size: 322 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Wenn ich ihn nur habe
02. Die Schönheit nicht, o Mädchen
03. Wohl deinem Liebling
04. Der Abendstern
05. Die sanften Tage
06. Der Sänger
07. An die Entfernte
08. Auf der Wanderung
09. Abschied
10. Mond
11. Sehnsucht [H-U 190]
12. Sehnsucht [H-U 192]
13. Maigesang
14. Seufzer
15. An den Mond
16. An die Ruhe
17. Sehnsucht [H-U 203]
18. Sehnsucht [H-U 205]
19. Umsonst
20. Suleika
21. Sehnsucht [H-U 217]
22. Nacht
23. In der Ferne
24. Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh’
25. Ach, die Augen sind es wieder
26. Das Meer Erglänzte weit hinaus
27. Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen
28. Der Fürst vom Berge
29. Traurige Wege
30. Dämmrung senkte sich von oben
31. Traum
32. Mutter, o sing mich zur Ruh’
33. Erwache Knab’
34. Vorwurf
Complementing the historically important 2021 publication of the complete songs of Fanny Hensel, this album has been curated to guide the listener through the rich and varied musical life of the composer, including songs from the different compositional phases and poets Hensel chose to set.
Recorded at Mendelssohn-Haus, Leipzig where Hensel herself once lived, the 34 tracks on this recording feature many songs which have never been performed in public before, 17 of which are premiere recordings.
The album cover features a specially commissioned work by Glasgow-based artist Kirsty Matheson.
Though researchers have discovered a lot about Fanny Hensel’s (Mendelssohn-Hensel) life and sourced the manuscripts she created, her music continues to be less well known. Academic enterprises have outnumbered musical ones, and this recording seeks to go part way to remedy this.
The album unfolds chronologically, beginning with early musical experiments from Hensel’s teenage years (Wenn ich ihn nur habe, Die Schonheit nicht, o M?dchen and Wohl deinem Liebling). As the years pass, Hensel’s ambition can be heard clearly as her musical style develops and the expressive vocal writing becomes more assured. As the years pass, Hensel’s ambition can be heard clearly as her musical style develops and the expressive vocal writing becomes more assured. Tracks 12-20 explore 1827, one of Hensel’s most prolific years of song writing, featuring a selection of beautiful settings of poems by Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty (1748-1776), many of which are premiere recordings. As the album approaches it’s end, we hear songs that resemble more closely those published opuses from 1846-47, including the Baroque intoned Mutter, o sing mich zur Ruh’ and Vorwurf, the latter of which was published posthumously in Hensel’s Op. 10 by her mourning brother.