Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Alexander von Zemlinsky
Label: Red Seal
Magazine Review Date: 12/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 64
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 09026 68111-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Ein) Lyrische Symphonie |
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer Bo Skovhus, Baritone Claus Peter Flor, Conductor Luba Orgonasova, Soprano North German Radio Symphony Orchestra |
| Gesänge, Movement: No. 1, Unter blühenden Bäumen (wds. Gensichen) |
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer Bo Skovhus, Baritone Helmut Deutsch, Piano |
| (5) Gesänge, Movement: No. 2, Entbietung (wds. Dehmel) |
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer Bo Skovhus, Baritone Helmut Deutsch, Piano |
| (6) Gesänge, Movement: No. 2, Selige Stunde (wds. Wertheimer) |
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer Bo Skovhus, Baritone Helmut Deutsch, Piano |
| (5) Lieder auf Gedichte von Richard Dehmel, Movement: No. 1, Stromüber |
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer Bo Skovhus, Baritone Helmut Deutsch, Piano |
| (5) Lieder auf Gedichte von Richard Dehmel, Movement: No. 4, Letzte Bitte |
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer Bo Skovhus, Baritone Helmut Deutsch, Piano |
| Lieder, Movement: No. 4, Im Lenz (wds. Heyse) |
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer Bo Skovhus, Baritone Helmut Deutsch, Piano |
Composer or Director: Alexander von Zemlinsky
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Magazine Review Date: 12/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 49
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 449 179-2GH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Ein) Lyrische Symphonie |
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer
Alexander von Zemlinsky, Composer Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone Deborah Voigt, Soprano Giuseppe Sinopoli, Conductor Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra |
Author: Michael Oliver
As the note accompanying the DG recording reminds us, Zemlinsky asked for a jugendlich-dramatisch soprano and a Heldenbariton as soloists in the Lyric Symphony. And Zemlinsky, an operatic composer and conductor of great distinction, knew about voices. Yet there is much of intimacy in the work, much of shadowed subtlety, that responds to lighter voices, and there are many pages of almost chamber scoring. Sinopoli chooses singers to Zemlinsky’s prescription, Flor opts for a soprano known for her Mozart and a baritone who has won a fine reputation as a Lieder singer. Their performances are accordingly quite different.
A vocal connoisseur would find it particularly hard to choose between them, probably wanting Sinopoli’s account for Terfel’s vocal splendour and range of colour, Flor’s for the exquisite sounds Orgonasova makes in her many passages of ethereal quiet singing. Terfel’s range includes no less of a Lieder singer’s intimacy than Skovhus offers; rather more if anything: his floated head-voice at the end of the first song and the repeated phrase “Du bist mein Eigen, mein Eigen” in the third are wonderfully beautiful. Skovhus does not quite match him at either point, though his account is throughout highly intelligent (a quality emphasized by the group of songs with piano that RCA add as a makeweight); Terfel has the unfair advantage of greater weight and authority at the bass end of his range, more subtlety and intimacy at the other. Voigt has not only the vocal heft for those pages that require it but she can effortlessly ride the richest orchestral texture that Sinopoli can weave. Orgonasova’s voice can open out generously at such moments, but Flor’s account is less opulent, his textures at times softer, less charged with intensity than Sinopoli’s.
This difference applies also in quieter passages. At the beginning of the fourth movement Flor’s solo strings are hushed, and Orgonasova responds to them with ravishing purity and intimacy. Sinopoli’s strings are not as quiet, and they are more emotionally phrased, with pronounced accents. Voigt’s line here is admirable, but she cannot manage Orgonasova’s floated, blissful pianissimo; nor does Sinopoli’s more highly wrought manner require her to. I would be as divided between these two readings as any canary-fancier (Sinopoli is the more satisfyingly romantic of the two conductors, but also at times a touch fussy; Flor has the more delicate touch, but is inclined to understate) were Riccardo Chailly’s superb account not still available. His soprano, Alessandra Marc, is fully the equal of Orgonasova; his baritone, Hakan Hagegard, is no less outstanding than Terfel, and Chailly himself strikes a very happy mean between Flor’s restrained subtlety and Sinopoli’s richness.'
A vocal connoisseur would find it particularly hard to choose between them, probably wanting Sinopoli’s account for Terfel’s vocal splendour and range of colour, Flor’s for the exquisite sounds Orgonasova makes in her many passages of ethereal quiet singing. Terfel’s range includes no less of a Lieder singer’s intimacy than Skovhus offers; rather more if anything: his floated head-voice at the end of the first song and the repeated phrase “Du bist mein Eigen, mein Eigen” in the third are wonderfully beautiful. Skovhus does not quite match him at either point, though his account is throughout highly intelligent (a quality emphasized by the group of songs with piano that RCA add as a makeweight); Terfel has the unfair advantage of greater weight and authority at the bass end of his range, more subtlety and intimacy at the other. Voigt has not only the vocal heft for those pages that require it but she can effortlessly ride the richest orchestral texture that Sinopoli can weave. Orgonasova’s voice can open out generously at such moments, but Flor’s account is less opulent, his textures at times softer, less charged with intensity than Sinopoli’s.
This difference applies also in quieter passages. At the beginning of the fourth movement Flor’s solo strings are hushed, and Orgonasova responds to them with ravishing purity and intimacy. Sinopoli’s strings are not as quiet, and they are more emotionally phrased, with pronounced accents. Voigt’s line here is admirable, but she cannot manage Orgonasova’s floated, blissful pianissimo; nor does Sinopoli’s more highly wrought manner require her to. I would be as divided between these two readings as any canary-fancier (Sinopoli is the more satisfyingly romantic of the two conductors, but also at times a touch fussy; Flor has the more delicate touch, but is inclined to understate) were Riccardo Chailly’s superb account not still available. His soprano, Alessandra Marc, is fully the equal of Orgonasova; his baritone, Hakan Hagegard, is no less outstanding than Terfel, and Chailly himself strikes a very happy mean between Flor’s restrained subtlety and Sinopoli’s richness.'
Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony
Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony
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