Wo die Zitronen blühn: Lieder bearbeitet für Chor und Klavier

Featuring

Katharina Schlenker
Denis Rouger
Hannah Gries
Julia Kammerlander
Eveline Balz
Miriam Zimmermann

Tz-Shiuan You
figure humaine kammerchor
Henri Duparc
Camille Saint-Saëns
Georges Bizet
Gabriel Fauré
Johannes Brahms
Clara Schumann
Fanny Hensel
Hugo Wolf

Did you know?

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Recording & Production

This album was recorded in August 2020 under strict adherence to Covid-19 pandemic rules and social distancing, which created technical difficulties due to the unusual arrangement of the choir and instruments.

Performer Biography

The figure humaine kammerchor, founded in 2016 by Denis Rouger, focuses on French and German music from the 19th to 21st centuries, especially art song arrangements by Rouger himself.

Album & Artwork

The album title, "... WO DIE ZITRONEN BLÜHN" (Where the Lemons Blossom), is inspired by Goethe's verses and explores the meeting of German art song and French mélodie.

Interpretation

Many pieces on this album are choral arrangements of songs and mélodies originally written for a single voice and piano, created by the choir's founder, Denis Rouger.

Historical Context

The works of Fanny Hensel and Clara Schumann were historically overlooked due to societal structures that discouraged women from composing or publishing their music.

Instruments

The solo horn, described as the "natural instrument par excellence," joins the choir and piano as a chamber music trio partner in two songs on this album.

Performer Biography

Denis Rouger, the choir director, is a Parisian-born musician who was a lecturer and choir director at the University Paris-Sorbonne for 20 years and choir director at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral for 10 years.