Nachtigall

Vienna around 1900 was a melting-pot in several ways: a city attracting artists from the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire where bohemian writers and musicians rubbed shoulders with aristocrats and establishment figures, and where late-Romanticism co-existed uneasily with the Wiener Moderne aesthetic of the fin-de-siècle. In the visual arts, Jugendstil (or Wiener Secession) was all the rage: its curlicues, floral patterns and fluid lines were seen everywhere – in architecture, interior design and graphic arts. In music, the term is usually associated with composers such as Mahler, Zemlinsky and Korngold, but also early works by Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg. Following on three previous acclaimed recital albums on BIS, Camilla Tilling and Paul Rivinius have devised a programme with songs by these very composers, written between 1898 and 1916. The songs range from the Einfache Lieder by a teenaged Korngold to Zemlinsky’s set of Walzer-Gesänge based on Tuscan folk poems and the much-loved Rückert-Lieder by Mahler. Schoenberg is represented by his Op. 2 collection 4 Lieder and his student Berg by the set of Sieben frühe Lieder, from 1905–08.

Franz Liszt - Lieder - Complete Recording (1987) {4CD Set, Adda AD484}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 816 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 690 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 273 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1987 Adda | 581084 CD / AD 484
Classical / Romantic / Lieder / Vocals / Period Instruments

Throughout Liszt’s long career, his songs – perhaps the most neglected part of his enormous output – took a radical approach to form, eschewing convention in search of a sincere musical response to each text. His free-spirited creativity meant that a single song would often call on a range of stylistic devices, among them bel canto vocal lines, unaccompanied recitative, orchestrally conceived piano textures and audacious harmonic procedures.

Of all Schubert's songs, the part songs for male voices are probably the hardest for contemporary audiences to take seriously. The sweetness of the harmonies recalls the saccharine harmonies of barbershop quartets, the emotions of the lyrics recall the sentimentality of greeting cards, and the sheer ubiquity of drinking songs recalls the inebriated bowling banquets of the Beneficent Order of Elks. But while Schubert's part songs for male voices are in many ways the precursors of all these smarmy things, they are themselves quite lovely.

André Rieu, the King of Waltz, and one of the most famous violinists of our time, will celebrate his 70th birthday in October this year. Universal is creating a unique and first-time catalogue release to tie in with the festive occasion. It will be 2CDs with all his greatest hits, waltzes, operas, musical and movie themes, 20th century defining songs and the song “Happy Birthday” (previously only released (physically) in Australia). A perfect collection and a rare Best Of for this occasion.