Hugo Wolf's creative mind shared a similar polarization of mood-swing, from apathy and inertia to frenzied and elated composition.
Critical Reception
Wolf felt his Goethe settings were often misunderstood in performance, with audiences focusing too much on the music and missing his unique "musico-poetic conception."
Composition History
Wolf's selection of Goethe's poems was limited by his reluctance to set texts already used by major predecessors like Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Wolf structured his Goethe songbook to mirror Goethe's own arrangement of poems, presenting his work like a curated anthology.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Wolf believed that a lyric poem was not truly complete until it had been set to music, transforming it into a "free and beautiful element of sensory experience."
Recording & Production
This album was recorded in December 1991, with Antony Howell as the recording engineer and Mark Brown as the producer.
You might also enjoy...
Mahler Songs
Schumann: Frauenliebe und -leben; Liederkreis, Op.39
