MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Franz LISZT (1811 – 1886)
The Complete Songs – Vol. 1

1. Kling leise, mein Lied, S 301 (LW N42) (Nordmann), first version (1848) [6:19]
2. In Liebeslust, S 318 (LW N56) (Hoffmann von Fallersleben) (1858) [2:20]
3. Wie singt die Lerche schön S 312 (LW N51) (Hoffmann von Fallersleben) second version, (late 1850s) [1:52]
4. Die stille Wasserrose S 321 (LW N59) (Geibel) (1860) [4:14]
Lieder (3) aus Schillers Wilhelm Tell S 292 (LW N32) first version (1845) [14:46]
5. Der Fischerknabe [4:55]
6. Der Hirt [5:55]
7. Der Alpenjäger [3:49]
8. Der Glückliche(Wie glänzt nun die Welt) S 334 (LW N75) (Wilbrandt) (1878) [1:53]
9. Angiolin dal biondo crin S 269 (LW N1) (Boccella) third version (1859?) [5:22]
Tre sonetti di Petrarca S 270 (LW N14) first version (1842 – 1846) [19:20]
10. Pace non trovo [6:50]
11. Benedetto sia ‘l giorno [6:21]
12. I’ vidi in terra angelici costumi [6:01];
13. Bist du (Mild wie ein Lufthauch) (Meshchersky) second version (1879) [5:10]
14. Es rauschen die Winde S 294 (LW N33) (Rellstab) first version (1845) [2:37]
15. Schwebe, schwebe, blaues Auge S 305 (LW N35) (Dingelstedt) second version (1848?) [3:02]
16. Im Rhein, im schönen Strome S 272 (LW N3) (Heine) first version (1840) [2:33]
Matthew Polenzani (tenor), Julius Drake (piano)
rec. All Saints, Durham Road, East Finchley, London, 24-26 February 2010
sung texts with English translations enclosed
HYPERION CDA67782 [69:49]

Experience Classicsonline

Recordings of Liszt songs are not all that rare. I have quite a few LPs and CDs, entirely or partly devoted to this repertoire. To my knowledge no record company has embarked upon the project of recording all of them. And it will be quite a hard task, I presume. Songs span most of Liszt’s creative years, from Angiolin dal biondo crin in 1839 to the orchestration of Die Vätergruft in 1886. Not only are there around six dozen songs but many of them exist in several versions, as on the present disc where only three of the songs are solitaires. There is no mention of the number of discs in the series, nor is there any explanation to the order of songs. To me it seems haphazard, presumably the aim of the programming is to create a varied disc. For musicological reasons there could have been either of two principles: strictly chronological order or the different versions of each song grouped together. Preferably a combination of the two principles would have been the ideal. To be able to compare versions is, I believe, interesting to a lot of listeners.

Don’t let these reflections deter you from acquiring this disc, however. In Matthew Polenzani we have a well-nigh ideal Lieder singer and with one of the very best accompanists now before the public they team up as a marvellous duo. The first time I heard Polenzani was more than six years ago when I had an opera recital with four young international singers for review. I was impressed by his beauty of tone as well as his sense for style and impeccable taste. Those characteristics are very much in evidence throughout this disc. Add to this that he moves effortlessly from forte to half-voice, so important for a Lieder-singer, and he means something with the words. Klinge leide, mein Lied, the first song on this disc, is a suitable calling-card. The next song, In Liebeslust, shows him as a powerful and dramatic singing-actor, with no loss of beauty. Let me also at once give Julius Drake credit for his marvellous playing. Liszt’s ‘accompaniments’ are hardly less demanding than Rachmaninov’s, and very often spotlights the pianist in long preludes and interludes. Der Fischerknabe, the first of the Wilhelm Tell songs by Schiller, is a good example. This mini-cycle is filled with word-painting – just listen to Der Hirt with its dramatic postlude – and Der Alpenjäger, which follows attacca is no less heroic.

Angiolin dal biondo crin, which was his first song (1839) is here heard in its third version, written twenty years later, and it’s an agreeable song where Polenzani caresses the melody.

Possibly the technically most demanding songs are the three Petrach-sonetti, the first of them requiring the singer to move from the lowest baritone register up to the C sharp above high C – and virtuosic as well.

There were several songs here that I hadn’t heard before but this disc confirms that Liszt must be counted among the foremost song composers of the 19th century. Maybe he doesn’t always reach the sublime heights of Schubert, Schumann or Brahms but he has a distinct voice of his own and Matthew Polenzani is a splendid advocate of his oeuvre.

As always with Hyperion the production value is high: excellent recording, good liner-notes and we do get the texts and translations.

I can hardly wait for the next instalment in the series and whoever they choose for the second distance I’m sure it will be someone else from the A team. We have got used to that, ever since they launched the mammoth Schubert project. But I would definitely not mind hearing Matthew Polenzani again.

Göran Forsling

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.