IDAGIO | Schubert: Schwanengesang, D. 957 – Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98 5059864212635

Featuring

Roderick Williams
Iain Burnside
Ludwig van Beethoven
Franz Schubert

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Performer Biography

Iain Burnside, the pianist, has performed with many leading singers, has an eclectic recording repertoire, and is also a writer and broadcaster who won a Sony Radio Award for his work on BBC Radio 3.

Interpretation

For this recording, the performers chose different soundscapes for the two works: in Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte, the voice is set slightly more distantly to highlight the piano's inventiveness, while Schubert's Schwanengesang is recorded more traditionally with equal partnership between voice and piano.

Compositional Technique

Beethoven's song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte, pioneers a form where disparate songs are connected by piano passages that establish new keys, with the final song revisiting the key and theme of the first.

Performer Biography

Roderick Williams, the baritone on this recording, is a sought-after performer in opera, concert, and recital, and has premiered works by several contemporary composers.

Composition History

Schwanengesang is not a standard song cycle by Schubert's intention, but rather a compilation of songs left by him at his death, assembled by his publisher Tobias Haslinger.

Recording & Production

This Chandos recording utilizes 24-bit / 96 kHz technology, which offers a significantly greater dynamic range and resolution than standard 16-bit recordings, and aims to reproduce a better sound by capturing higher frequencies.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The poems set in Schubert's Schwanengesang by Heinrich Heine tend to reflect the bleaker themes of alienation found in Schubert's earlier Winterreise, while those by Ludwig Rellstab build on his pre-Winterreise experience.