ORFEO International – Catalogue

CDs

	Johannes Brahms • Modest Mussorgsky • Franz Schubert • Richard Strauss • Trad. • Peter Tschaikowsky Orfeo • 2 CD • 1h 32min Order No.: C 776 082 B

Composers/Works:
F. Schubert: Suleika I D 720 (Was bedeutet die Bewegung?) F. Schubert: Suleika II D 717 (Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen) F. Schubert: Mignon I D 726 (Heiß mich nicht reden) F. Schubert: Sehnsucht F major D 310 (1815) F. Schubert: Mignon II D 727 (So laßt mich scheinen, 1821) F. Schubert: Mignons Gesang D 321 (Kennst du das Land) J. Brahms: Longing Eased op. 91 No. 1 J. Brahms: Sacred Lullaby op. 91 No. 2 J. Brahms: He, Zigeuner, greife in die Saiten ein op. 103 No. 1 (Acht Zigeunerlieder op. 103) J. Brahms: Hochgetürmte Rimaflut op. 103 No. 2 (Acht Zigeunerlieder op. 103) J. Brahms: Wisst ihr, wann mein Kindchen am allerschönsten ist? op. 103 No. 3 (Acht Zigeunerlieder op. 103) J. Brahms: Lieber Gott, du weißt op. 103 No. 4 (Acht Zigeunerlieder op. 103) J. Brahms: Brauner Bursche führt zum Tanze op. 103 No. 5 (Acht Zigeunerlieder op. 103) J. Brahms: Röslein dreie in der Reihe op. 103 No. 6 (Acht Zigeunerlieder op. 103) J. Brahms: Kommt dir manchmal in den Sinn op. 103 No. 7 (Acht Zigeunerlieder op. 103) J. Brahms: Rote Abendwolken ziehn am Firmament op. 103 No. 8 M. Mussorgsky: Mit der Njanja M. Mussorgsky: Im Winkel M. Mussorgsky: Der Käfer M. Mussorgsky: Mit der Puppe M. Mussorgsky: Abendgebet M. Mussorgsky: Steckenpferdreiter P. Tschaikowsky: Warum? op. 28 No. 3 P. Tschaikowsky: So bald vergessen op. 28 No. 4 P. Tschaikowsky: Serenade op. 63 No. 5 P. Tschaikowsky: Gleich einem Brief op. 25 No. 2 P. Tschaikowsky: None But The Lonely Heart op. 6 No. 6 – Andante non tanto P. Tschaikowsky: Whether The Day Reigns op. 47 No. 6 R. Strauss: The Night op. 10 No. 3 J. Brahms: My Love is Green op. 63 No. 5 Trad.: Slowenisches Volkslied F. Schubert: Seligkeit D 433
Artists:
Marjana Lipovšek (Mezzosopran) Elisabeth Leonskaja (Klavier) Thomas Riebl (Viola)

Salzburger Festspieldokumente 2008

One of the most versatile representatives of the classical art of singing during the last twenty years has undoubtedly been the Slovenian mezzo-soprano Marjana Lipovšek, a singer who has shone both on the concert platform and in international opera houses in a repertory extending from early music to contemporary works. At her 1987 Salzburg Festival recital, conversely, she concentrated on 19th-century works, straying beyond those self-imposed confines only for her encores.
C 776 082 BBut what a range of expressive vocal colours she brought to bear on these songs! Her pianist was Elisabeth Leonskaja, an accompanist entirely her equal in terms of her musicality and creative input. They began with a group of Schubert’s settings of Goethe, the Mignon songs proving particularly successful by virtue of their transcendent simplicity. Then came a group of Brahms lieder. For the two op. 91 songs, soprano and pianist were joined by the warm-toned viola of Thomas Riebl, after which Lipovšek and Leonskaja delighted their audience with a spirited reading of the same composer’s Zigeunerlieder. In the second half of the programme, the singer was able to draw on her stage experience, effortlessly and playfully bringing to these songs the intensity of an operatic characterization. Adopting a naïvely childlike tone, she performed Mussorgsky’s The Nursery in German, transporting her listeners directly into the nursery of the title, while for a group of Tchaikovsky songs she chose the original Russian, their largely melancholic basic mood conjured up by Elisabeth Leonskaja with her exceptional touch and range of colour. Their encores comprised Richard Strauss’s Die Nacht, another song by Brahms, an adaptation of a Slovenian folksong by the singer’s father, Marijan Lipovšek, and, finally, Schubert’s setting of Hölty’s Seligkeit (Bliss) – a suitable description of the atmosphere that had developed between artists and audience over the course of the evening. It is an atmosphere that comes across in this live recording, the vitality of which is further underlined by Marjana Lipovšek’s lively introductions to her encores.