Due to the unusual circumstances of the COVID-19 lockdown, the recording sessions often felt like "domestic music-making" rather than typical studio recordings.
Compositional Technique
The long postludes in Schumann's "Dichterliebe" are crucial, often enhancing the song's meaning or introducing new musical ideas, such as an outburst of rage or longing.
Composer Biography
Dr. Justinus Kerner, the poet for Schumann's Op. 35 song cycle, was a chief medical officer and a pioneer of alternative healing methods, though his belief in spiritualism earned him derision from Heinrich Heine.
Composition History
Schumann's "Dichterliebe" was composed in 1840, a period known as his "year of song," during which he wrote over a hundred other pieces in the Lied genre.
Performer Biography
A bonus on this CD includes six pieces from a 1994 performance of "Dichterliebe" by Jonas Kaufmann at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, recorded over thirty years ago.
Recording & Production
This album, like Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch's previous album "Selige Stunde," was recorded during the first COVID-19 lockdown.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Schumann highly valued Justinus Kerner's poetry, believing that in Kerner's poems, "every word is already a note from the spheres."
