Decades: A Century of Song, Vol. 4 (1840-1850) Malcolm Martineau & Florian Boesch

• Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856): Liederkreis, Op. 24:
• 1 Liederkreis, Op. 24: No. 1, Morgens steh' ich auf und frage 01:02
• 2 Liederkreis, Op. 24: No. 2, Es treibt mich hin 01:09
• 3 Liederkreis, Op. 24: No. 3, Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen 03:23
• 4 Liederkreis, Op. 24: No. 4, Lieb' Liebchen 00:46
• 5 Liederkreis, Op. 24: No. 5, Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden 04:16
• 6 Liederkreis, Op. 24: No. 6, Warte, warte, wilder Schiffmann 01:52
• 7 Liederkreis, Op. 24: No. 7, Berg und Burgen schaun herunter 03:13
• 8 Liederkreis, Op. 24: No. 8, Anfangs wollt' ich fast verzagen 00:55
• 9 Liederkreis, Op. 24: No. 9, Mit Myrten und Rosen 04:05
• Alexander Dargomyzhsky (1813 - 1869):
• 10 Night Breeze 03:44
• 11 I Am Sad 02:09
• 12 Sixteen Years Old 02:26
• 13 Confession 01:32
• César Franck (1822 - 1890):
• 14 Souvenance, FWV 70 03:29
• 15 L'émir de Bengador, FWV 72 01:56
• 16 Le sylphe, FWV 73 04:24
• 17 Aimer, FWV 76 03:52
• Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848):
• 18 Una lacrima 04:13
• 19 Il sospiro 03:30
• Adolf Lindblad (1801 - 1878):
• 20 En sommerdag 02:06
• 21 Aftonen 02:14
• Jacob Axel Jacobson (1818 - 1880):
• 22 Serenad, Op. 8 02:37
• Erik Gustav Geijer (1783 - 1847):
• 23 Natthimelen, Op. 6 No. 2 01:33
• Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 - 1847):
• 24 Altdeutsches Frühlingslied, Op. 86 No. 6, MWV K 127 02:55
• 25 Nachtlied, Op. 71 No. 6, MWV K 125 02:48
• 26 Venetianisches Gondellied, Op. 57 No. 5, MWV K 114 02:24
• 27 Warnung vor dem Rhein, WoO 16, MWV K 105 03:16
• Total Runtime 01:11:49

Info for Decades: A Century of Song, Vol. 4 (1840-1850)

This major recording series reaches its fourth volume: across the projected ten issues a host of world-renowned singers draw listeners, decade by decade, through a century of song, from 1810 to 1910. Each issue presents a well-planned, varied programme performed by household names; overall the series also has a wider aim, building a comprehensive survey of song right through the nineteenth century and, in doing so, creating an invaluable teaching asset.

Whilst politically 1840-1850 was dominated by the build up to revolutionary explosion, musically the decade continued to produce an ever-richening seam of contrasting songs right across the continent. Headlining this volume is Schumann’s remarkable setting of nine poems by Heinrich Heine, Liederkreis, Op. 24; Germany is further represented by four wonderful Mendelssohn songs, France in works by César Franck, Russia by Dargomyzhsky, Italy by Donizetti (not straying far from his familiar operatic idiom), and Sweden making its series debut with songs by Lindblad, Josephson and Geijer. That eclectic composer list exemplifies the combination throughout the series of works both familiar and rare.

Distinguished baritone Florian Boesch takes pride of place in the Schumann cycle, backed by a strong supporting cast: sparkling Armenian soprano Anush Hovhannisyan makes a welcome return to the series, as does Russian baritone Alexey Gusev. Swedish mezzo Ida Evelina Ränzlöv and two younger British tenors, Oliver Johnston and Nick Pritchard, show their mettle, all deftly accompanied by the series’ creator, pianist Malcolm Martineau.

Of especial note are four fine Mendelssohn songs sung by Samuel Hasselhorn, already a major prize winner and now in the ensemble at the Vienna State Opera, whose rich voice and expressive yet diction-perfect performances mark him out as a baritone to watch.

Extensive presentation includes 64 page booklet with authoritative liner note in three languages by renowned song expert and series consultant Prof Susan Youens; full texts and translations are provided.

Florian Boesch, baritone
Anush Hovhanissyan, soprano
Ida Evelina Ränzlöv, mezzo-soprano
Nick Pritchard, tenor
Oliver Johnston, tenor
Alexey Gusev, baritone
Samuel Hasselhorn, baritone
Malcolm Martineau, piano

Florian Boesch
Austrian baritone Florian Boesch is counted as one of today’s foremost Lieder interpreters with appearances at Wigmore Hall, Musikverein and Konzerthaus Vienna, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Philharmonie Cologne, Edinburgh and Schwetzingen Festival, Maifestspiele Wiesbaden, the Salzburg Festival, the Konzerthaus in Dortmund, Philharmonie Luxemburg as well as throughout the USA (Carnegie Hall) and Canada. Accompanied by Malcolm Martineau, he performed all three Schubert cycles in Glasgow and in Australia (Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne). Florian Boesch was an artist in residence at the Wigmore Hall (2014/2015 season) and at the Konzerthaus in Vienna (2016/2017 season).

As a frequent guest on the concert platform Florian Boesch has worked with leading orchestras and conductors such as Wiener and Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapielle Dresden, London Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Bamberger Symphoniker, and Ivor Bolton, Riccardo Chailly, Gustavo Dudamel, Adam Fischer, Iván Fischer, Valery Gergiev, Stefan Gottfried, Philippe Herreweghe, Pablo Heras-Casado, Mariss Jansons, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Simon Rattle, Robin Ticciati and Franz Welser-Möst. He worked very closely with Nikolaus Harnoncourt with whom he did Händel’s Messiah and Saul at the Wiener Musikverein and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen at the 2014 styriarte festival. Further joint projects included Haydn’s The Creation and The Seasons at the 2013 Salzburg Festival, or The Creation in Japan.

In September 2018, Florian Boesch opened the season at London's Wigmore Hall with a Lied recital. Other highlights in 2018/2019 included a tour with Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and Philippe Herreweghe, Mahler’s Wunderhorn-Lieder with MusicAeterna and Teodor Currentzis, Händel’s Messiah with the DSO and Robin Ticciati, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Symphony Orcchestra and Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Haydn’s Seasons with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Philippe Herreweghe, Haydn’s Creation with Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini, as well as Mendelssohn’s Elias with the Concentus Musicus and Stefan Gottfried. Recitals brought Florian Boesch to Madrid, Wiesbaden, to the Konzerthaus in Vienna, as well as to Reykjavik together with pianist Vikingur Ólafsson.

The season 2019/2020 is marked by a variety of high-profile concerts including Britten's War Requiem with the Orchestre de Paris and Daniel Harding, Martin's Monologues from Jedermann with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Juraj Valčuha, Mozart's Requiem with the Orquesta Nacional de España and David Afkham, Berlioz's Damnation de Faust with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hannu Lintu, Haydn's The Creation with the Collegium Vocale Gent and Philippe Herreweghe, Brahms' Requiem with the CBSO and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Bach's St Matthew Passion both with Philippe Herreweghe on tour and with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Trevor Pinnock in Amsterdam, Mahler's Lieder des Knaben Wunderhorn with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Iván Fischer, and Fauré's Requiem with the Orchestre de Paris and Pablo Heras-Casado.

In the anniversary year 2020, Florian Boesch will appear in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, with the Orchestre National de France and Emmanuel Krivine, as well as with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Together with the Concentus Musicus and Stefan Gottfried, he can be heard in Beethoven's Mass in C major at the Vienna Musikverein.

Recitals in the 2019/2020 season will bring Florian Boesch to the Frankfurt Opera, the Liszt Festival in Raiding, the Vienna Musikverein, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the May Festival in Wiesbaden, and to the Konzerthaus Berlin with Vikingur Ólafsson.

On the opera stage Florian Boesch compels as a great singer-actor, most recently in a new production of Handel’s Orlando at the Theater an der Wien. He has offered further acclaimed portrayals in staged versions of Schubert’s Lazarus and Handel’s Messiah and as Jonathan Peachum in Kurt Weill’s Dreigroschenoper, in Purcell’s Fairy Queen at the Theater an der Wien and as Méphistophélès in Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust at the Berlin State Opera at the Schillertheater under Sir Simon Rattle’s baton. Major productions of his career also include Alban Berg’s Wozzeck in Cologne or Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Salzburg Festival. The 2017/2018 season began with a brilliant success as Wozzeck in the eponymous opera by Alban Berg at the Theater an der Wien, followed by an equally successful staged version of Handel’s Saul at the same theatre. During the 2018/2019 season, Florian Boesch appeared at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden in a musical theatre work with masks entitled Himmelerde together with the company Familie Flöz and the ensemble Franui.

His recordings have been celebrated by the international press and received numerous awards, including an Edison Klassiek Award in 2012. Die schöne Müllerin was nominated for a 2015 Grammy in the category Best Classical Vocal Solo. In early September 2017, Hyperion released a new recording of Schubert’s Winterreise with Roger Vignoles at the piano; in the autumn of 2018 this was followed by a recording of orchestrated Schubert songs with Concentus Musicus Vienna under the baton of Stefan Gottfried. Boesch’s recordings of Schumann and Mahler songs won a BBC Music Magazine Award.

Florian Boesch received his initial vocal trainings from KS Ruthilde Boesch and later studied Lied and oratorio with KS Robert Holl in Vienna.

Malcolm Martineau
Recognised as one of the leading accompanists of his generation, he has worked with many of the world’s greatest singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Olaf Bär, Barbara Bonney, Ian Bostridge, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Magdalena Kozena, Solveig Kringelborn, Jonathan Lemalu, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Karita Mattila, Lisa Milne, Ann Murray, Anna Netrebko, Anne Sofie von Otter, Joan Rodgers, Amanda Roocroft, Michael Schade, Frederica von Stade, Sarah Walker and Bryn Terfel. He has presented his own series at the Wigmore Hall (a Britten and a Poulenc series and Decade by Decade – 100 years of German Song broadcast by the BBC) and at the Edinburgh Festival (the complete lieder of Hugo Wolf). He has appeared throughout Europe (including London’s Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal Opera House; La Scala, Milan; the Chatelet, Paris; the Liceu, Barcelona; Berlin’s Philharmonie and Konzerthaus; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein), North America (including in New York both Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall), Australia (including the Sydney Opera House) and at the Aix en Provence, Vienna, Edinburgh, Schubertiade, Munich and Salzburg Festivals.

Recording projects have included Schubert, Schumann and English song recitals with Bryn Terfel (for Deutsche Grammophon); Schubert and Strauss recitals with Simon Keenlyside (for EMI); recital recordings with Angela Gheorghiu and Barbara Bonney (for Decca), Magdalena Kozena (for DG), Della Jones (for Chandos), Susan Bullock (for Crear Classics), Solveig Kringelborn (for NMA); Amanda Roocroft (for Onyx); the complete Fauré songs with Sarah Walker and Tom Krause; the complete Britten Folk Songs for Hyperion; the complete Beethoven Folk Songs for Deutsche Grammophon; the complete Poulenc songs for Signum; and Britten Song Cycles as well as Schubert’s Winterreise with Florian Boesch for Onyx.

This season’s engagements include appearances with Simon Keenlyside, Magdalena Kozena, Dorothea Röschmann, Susan Graham, Christopher Maltman, Thomas Oliemanns, Kate Royal, Christiane Karg, Iestyn Davies, Florian Boesch and Anne Schwanewilms.

He was a given an honorary doctorate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2004, and appointed International Fellow of Accompaniment in 2009. Malcolm was the Artistic Director of the 2011 Leeds Lieder+ Festival.

Booklet for Decades: A Century of Song, Vol. 4 (1840-1850)