Fatma Said: Lieder
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Label: Warner
Cat No: 2173245977
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 7th February 2025
Contents
Works
Deutsche Volkslieder (49), WoO33 » no.6 Da unten im Tale
Gesange (4), op.70 » no.2 Lerchengesang
Lieder (5), op.105 » no.1 Wie Melodien zieht es mir
» no.2 Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer
Ophelia-Lieder (5), WoO22 (trans. Aribert Reimann for soprano & string quartet)Duets (6), op.63
» no.1 Ich wollt' meine Lieb' ergosse sich (I would that my love)
Gesange (6), op.86 » no.3 Die Liebende schreibt
Songs (12) for voice and piano, op.8 » no.8 Andres Maienlied 'Hexenlied'
» no.12 An des lustgen Brunens
SuleikaDer Hirt auf dem Felsen, D965
Der Zwerg, D771 op.22 no.1
Schwanengesang, D957
» Standchen
Standchen, D920Duets (4), op.34
» no.3 Unterm Fenster
Lieder und Gesange II (5), op.51 » no.5 Liebeslied
Lieder und Gesange aus 'Wilhelm Meister', op.98a » no.7 Singet nicht in Trauertonen
Myrthen, op.25 » no.1 Widmung
Spanisches Liederspiel, op.74 » no.4 In der Nacht
Artists
Fatma Said (soprano)Huw Montague Rendall (baritone)
Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Joseph Middleton (piano)
Yonatan Cohen (piano)
Sabine Meyer (clarinet)
Anneleen Lenaerts (harp)
Quatuor Arod
MGV Walhalla zum Seidlwirt
Works
Deutsche Volkslieder (49), WoO33 » no.6 Da unten im Tale
Gesange (4), op.70 » no.2 Lerchengesang
Lieder (5), op.105 » no.1 Wie Melodien zieht es mir
» no.2 Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer
Ophelia-Lieder (5), WoO22 (trans. Aribert Reimann for soprano & string quartet)Duets (6), op.63
» no.1 Ich wollt' meine Lieb' ergosse sich (I would that my love)
Gesange (6), op.86 » no.3 Die Liebende schreibt
Songs (12) for voice and piano, op.8 » no.8 Andres Maienlied 'Hexenlied'
» no.12 An des lustgen Brunens
SuleikaDer Hirt auf dem Felsen, D965
Der Zwerg, D771 op.22 no.1
Schwanengesang, D957
» Standchen
Standchen, D920Duets (4), op.34
» no.3 Unterm Fenster
Lieder und Gesange II (5), op.51 » no.5 Liebeslied
Lieder und Gesange aus 'Wilhelm Meister', op.98a » no.7 Singet nicht in Trauertonen
Myrthen, op.25 » no.1 Widmung
Spanisches Liederspiel, op.74 » no.4 In der Nacht
Artists
Fatma Said (soprano)Huw Montague Rendall (baritone)
Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Joseph Middleton (piano)
Yonatan Cohen (piano)
Sabine Meyer (clarinet)
Anneleen Lenaerts (harp)
Quatuor Arod
MGV Walhalla zum Seidlwirt
About
While soprano Fatma Said’s previous Warner Classics releases crossed cultures and musical genres, this album focuses entirely on German-language songs of the Romantic era: lieder by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms. At the age of 18, Fatma left her native Cairo to study at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin and “Ever since then, the joy of singing this genre has been central to my musical life … I am very passionate about lieder … This wonderful combination of great German poetry and genius composers like Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Brahms.”
In the conventional course of things, a lieder recital involves one singer and one pianist, but Fatma Said, saying “I’ve always wanted to make music with friends”, has called on the talents of no fewer than three pianists – Malcolm Martineau, Joseph Middleton and Yonatan Cohen, and of harpist Anneleen Lenaerts, clarinettist Sabine Meyer (in Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen), Quatuor Arod (accompanying Brahms’s Ophelia-Lieder in an arrangement by Aribert Reimann, who died in March 2024), male-voice ensemble Walhalla zum Seidlwirt, and another singer on the ascent – baritone Huw Montague Rendall. The programme features some of the world’s best-loved lieder, such as Schubert’s Ständchen, Schumann’s Widmung and Brahms’s Wie Melodien zieht es mir, but it also explores less familiar repertoire.
Throughout the album, Fatma Said places a crucial emphasis on the poetic texts: “My priority was to convey the characterisation of the words most of all … Differentiating between diverse kinds of expressive worlds is for me what lieder-singing is all about.”
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Schubert - Schwanengesang, D. 957 - No. 4, Ständchen
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2Schubert - Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D. 965
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3Schubert - Ständchen, D. 920 'Zögernd leise'
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4Mendelssohn - 6 Gesänge, Op. 86 - No. 3, Die Liebende schreibt, MWV K66
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5Schubert - Auf dem Wasser zu singen, Op. 72, D. 774
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6Schubert - Der Zwerg, D. 771
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7Mendelssohn - 12 Gesänge, Op. 8 - No. 8, Hexenlied, MWV K33
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8Mendelssohn - 6 Gesänge, Op. 34 - No. 4, Suleika, MWV K92
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9Mendelssohn - 6 Duets, Op. 63 - No. 1, Des Abends. Ich wollt', meine Lieb' ergösse sich, MWV J5
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10Fanny Mendelssohn - Suleika und Hatem (From Felix Mendelssohn's Op. 8)
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11Brahms - 4 Lieder, Op. 70 - No. 2, Lerchengesang
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12Brahms - 5 Lieder, Op. 105 - No. 1, Wie Melodien zieht es mir
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13Brahms - 49 Deutsche Volkslieder, WoO 33, Vol. 1 - No. 6, Da unten im Thale
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14Brahms - 5 Lieder, Op. 105 - No. 2, Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer
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15Brahms - 5 Ophelia-Lieder, WoO 22 - No. 1, Wie erkenn ich dein Treulieb (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
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16Brahms - 5 Ophelia-Lieder, WoO 22 - No. 2, Sein Leichenhemd Weiss wie Schnee zu sehn (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
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17Brahms - 5 Ophelia-Lieder, WoO 22 - No. 3, Auf morgen ist sankt Valentins Tag (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
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18Brahms - 5 Ophelia-Lieder, WoO 22 - No. 4, Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloss (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
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19Brahms - 5 Ophelia-Lieder, WoO 22 - No. 5, Und kommt er nicht mehr zurück (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
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20Schumann - Myrthen, Op. 25 - No. 1, Widmung
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21Schumann - Lieder und Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister, Op. 98a 'Lieder für Mignon' - No. 7, Singet nicht in Trauertönen
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22Schumann - 4 Duets, Op. 34 - No. 3, Wer ist vor meiner Kammertür
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23Schumann - 5 Lieder, Op. 51 - No. 5, Liebeslied
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24Schumann - Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74 - No. 4, In der Nacht
Europadisc Review
With two Warner releases under her belt – 2020’s award-winning debut El Nour and the scarcely less impressive Kaleidoscope (2022) – Egyptian soprano Fatma Said has already made a very distinctive name for herself. Part of that is down to the qualities of her voice, its light, focused vibrato recalling some classic singers of the now-distant past. There’s also her naturally collaborative character: each of her releases so far has drawn on the talents of a wide range of talented musicians. You might expect that a recital of German song – a repertoire for which Said’s years of education in German-language schools seems to have predestined her – would bring a more restrained approach: far from it! Although the programme of works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms (entitled simply ‘Lieder’) looks conventional enough on paper, Said’s imaginative and consistently intelligent artistry sees her partnered by no fewer than three pianists, a baritone, a male-voice ensemble, a clarinettist, a harpist and a string quartet, although not all simultaneously!
The programme opens with a selection of Schubert songs mainly accompanied by Malcolm Martineau. ‘Ständchen’ from Schwanengesang makes a touching curtain-raiser, the tremulous fragility of Said’s voice immediately drawing the listener into the composer’s magical soundworld. They are joined in Der Hirt auf dem Felsen by star clarinettist Sabine Meyer, the three musicians working in complete harmony, the warmth of the opening vista contrasting perfectly with the bleak loneliness of the song’s central section. In the Notturno (another ‘Ständchen’), D920, the male vocal quartet Walhall zum Seidelwirt and pianist Yonathan Cohen are cast (and balanced) very much as equal partners to the soloist, making this one of the album’s unexpected jewels, every phrase lovingly shaped.
Felix Mendelssohn’s ‘Die Liebende schreibt’, op.86 no.3 (accompanied, like the other Mendelssohn and Schumann items, by Joseph Middleton), is much more than a palate cleanser, brilliantly suited to Said’s wonderful combination of sensitivity and passion. Then it’s back to Schubert: Auf dem Wasser zu singen is followed by an account of Der Zwerg in which Said’s skills as a singer-actress – flagged up in her booklet notes – are thrillingly evident, the underlying tension brilliantly enhanced by Martineau’s rock-steady but minutely-inflected playing. An equally absorbing account of Felix Mendelssohn’s ‘Hexenlied’, op.8 no.8, is a natural continuation of the dark mood. The same composer’s ‘Suleika’, op.34 no.4, lifts the mood slightly, and then come a pair of charming Mendelssohn duets with baritone Huw Montague Rendall: Felix’s ‘Des Abends’, op.63 no.1, and sister Fanny Mendelssohn’s Suleika und Hatem, the qualities of the two voices beautifully matched and in many ways complementary.
For those who still associated Brahms with textural stodginess, the four songs ethereally accompanied by Vienna Philharmonic harpist Anneleen Lenaerts – ‘Lerchengesang’, ‘Wie Melodien zieht es mir’, ‘Da unten im Thale’ and the late masterpiece ‘Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer’ – will come as a revelation, emphasising the fragile emotional world that often gets short shrift in more routine performances. And something similar can be said of the five Ophelia-Lieder, WoO22, of 1873 (composed for the actress Olga Preicheisen), in the late Aribert Reimann’s arrangement for voice and string quartet. Here the Quatuor Arod bring out all the subtleties of the delicate part-writing, and Said taps unerringly into the the vulnerability of the character, as well as the rich beauties of the texts and music.
The final group of five songs by Schumann opens with a rapt account of ‘Widmung’ from the Myrthen cycle, op.25, and includes a sparkling and finely characterised account of ‘Singet nicht in Trauertönen’ from the Wilhelm Meister songs, op.98a, as well as two more splendid duets with Rendall, closing with ‘In der Nacht’ from the Spanisches Liederspiel, op.74.
Everything about this release – programming, artists and performances – is immensely classy, and is matched by vivid recorded sound. Even those who might normally prefer a more staid approach should give it a spin, for Fatma Said’s feeling for this music is everywhere apparent. It continues her series of absorbing, intelligently-conceived and artistically inspired albums, amply demonstrating why she is one of today’s most compelling singers. Warmly recommended!
Reviews
[Fatma Said is] a natural in the repertoire, with impeccable German (picked up in German kindergarten and school in Cairo and then from living in Berlin for her studies) and an instinctive knack for the idiom. I defy anyone not to be drawn in immediately to the delicate, slightly tremulous ‘Ständchen’ that opens the album, or to be whisked straight into the Alpine valley of an atmospheric ‘Der Hirt auf dem Felsen’ – with Sabine Meyer, no less, as the superb clarinettist. ... Another highlight comes in the shape of Brahms’s Ophelia Lieder, in Aribert Reimann’s beautiful, haunting arrangement, for which Said is joined by the superb Quatuor Arod – Jordan Victoria’s way with the uncanny, high violin lines will send a shiver down your spine. ... Recommended. Hugo ShirleyGramophone April 2025
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