Composer: Paul Hindemith, Max Reger, Hugo Wolf
Performer: Irmgard Seefried, Erik Werba
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalogue: ELQ4807235
Release: 2014
Size: 205 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Wolf: Italienisches Liederbuch
01. Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken
02. Schweig einmal still
03. Wer rief dich denn?
04. Was soll der Zorn
05. Verschling der Abgrund meines Liebsten Hütte
06. Ich esse nun mein Brot
07. Wenn du, mein Liebster
08. Wir haben beide lange Zeit geschwiegen
09. Mein Liebster singt
10. Wohl kenn’ ich euren Stand
11. Man sagt mir
12. Mir ward gesagt
13. Heut’ Nacht erhob ich mich
14. O wär’ dein Haus durchsichtig
15. Gesegnet sei das Grün
16. Ihr jungen Leute
17. Du denkst mit einem Fädchen
18. Mein Liebster ist so klein
19. Nein, junger Herr
20. Wie lange schon
21. Mein Liebster hat zur Tische
22. Du sagst mir
23. Ich hab’ in Penna
Wolf: Mörike-Lieder
24. 39. Denk es, O Seele
25. 9. Nimmersatte Liebe
26. 25. Das Schlafende Jesuskind
Hindemith: 13 Motets
27. 8. Cum Natus Esset
28. 2. Pastores Loquebantur
29. 11. Nuptiae Factae Sunt
Reger: Schlichte Weisen, Op. 76
30. 52. Mariä Wiegenlied
Seefried’s radiance and imaginative strength made her a cherishable Lieder singer over an enterprisingly wide repertoire. She always championed the songs of Hugo Wolf, far less frequently programmed in the 1940s and 50s than today. In 1953 Seefried recorded with her regular pianist partner Erik Werba 22 numbers from Italienisches Liederbuch. Five years later she teamed up with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau for a complete recording that quickly became something of a classic and it is from this recording that the numbers she performs are taken for this issue. Seefried’s tone was no longer quite as crystalline as it had been a few years earlier, yet she compensates with her trademark directness and immediacy of response, bringing each of these pungent vignettes to vivid life.
Ever-adventurous in her repertoire, Seefried made the first commercial recording, in 1952, of Paul Hindemith’s Latin motets for soprano and piano of 1941 and 1944 – the beginning of a projected motet cycle spanning Christ’s life that Hindemith would continue in the late 1950s. The disc concludes with one of her frequent encore pieces – the Reger Lullaby.
As for the entire series comprising eleven volumes, Richard Wigmore provides the insightful notes.