Schumann: Liederkreis and Dichterliebe (CD)

Chosen as a Favorite Schumann recording: New York Times

Composer: Robert Schumann
Performers: Ian Bostridge (tenor), Julius Drake (piano)
Label: EMI Classics
Recorded: 9 February 1998
ASIN: B00000630K

Tracklisting

01 Liederkreis op. 24
02 Belsazar op. 57
03 Abends am Strande op. 45 Nr. 3
04 Die beiden Grenadiere op. 49 Nr. 1
05 Dein Angesicht op. 127 Nr. 2
06 Lehn deine Wang’ op. 142 Nr. 2
07 Es leuchtet meine Liebe op. 127 Nr. 3
08 Mein Wagen rollet langsam op. 142 Nr. 4
09 Dichterliebe

Click here to watch “The Singer’s Tale“, a trailer from EMI with Ian Bostridge and Julius to promote this CD but speaking of many things…

What the critics say

Allan Kozinn, New York Times, 21 December 2010 [extract]

Getting to Know Schumann Again, With Some Favorites
As the Schumann bicentennial year winds down, the classical music critics of The New York Times would like to share their latest thoughts about Schumann recordings. Some of their opinions have changed, others not, since their last survey of the field in 2004.

Schumann’s songs rival Schubert’s in their ability to summon, concisely, a fully realized emotional world. Ian Bostridge offers sensitive, shapely performances of the great cycles, “Liederkreis” and “Dichterliebe,” using a varied tonal palette that occasionally, and briefly, toes the line between speech and song when an almost spoken sound seems more confiding. A handful of miscellaneous songs is included as well, among them the haunting, dramatic “Belsatzar.”