Schumann - Twilight: Songs | Pentatone PTC5187162

Schumann - Twilight: Songs

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Label: Pentatone

Cat No: PTC5187162

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 28th February 2025

Contents

Artists

Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Saskia Giorgini (piano)

Works

Schumann, Robert

Gedichte (12) von Justinus Kerner, op.35
Lieder (5), op.40
Liederalbum fur die Jugend, op.79
» no.22 Des Sennen Abschied
» no.27 Schneeglockchen
Liederkreis, op.39

Artists

Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Saskia Giorgini (piano)

About

Twilight is the third album of tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Saskia Giorgini, dedicated to Robert Schumann song cycles, all written in the miraculously productive year of 1840. The album title and cover photography were inspired by the song Zwielicht, which together with Mondnacht from the same Op.39 cycle is often considered to be the epitome of German nineteenth-century Romanticism. It is also a fitting metaphor for Schumann's troubled soul, constantly oscillating between light and dark, between hope and despair. Shedding a fascinating light on Schumann's dark inner world, the recorded songs are both an expression of his profound love for his wife Clara and of euphoria after having overcome a period of severe mental disturbance. It is hard to think of better ambassadors for this repertoire than Ian Bostridge and Saskia Giorgini, whose acclaimed partnership has made them seasoned champions of the German lied.

Ian Bostridge is one of the most celebrated tenors and lied interpreters of his generation. His PENTATONE recording of Schubert's Winterreise (2019) was crowned with the ICMA Vocal Music Award 2020. Bostridge has since released Schwanengesang (2022), The Folly of Desire (2023) as well as Die schöne Müllerin (2020) and Respighi Songs (2021), both together with Saskia Giorgini, on the label. Giorgini's Liszt recordings Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (2021) and Consolations (2023), as well as her Debussy recital album Images (2024), have all received extensive praise.

Reviews

...the infrequently heard Kerner Lieder is represented by a performance that makes sense of the cycle as a cohesive unit in ways that I’ve never previously heard. Musically uneven, the Kerner Lieder often feels like a badly mismatched collection of styles including Carl Loewe, though pianist Saskia Giorgini actually uses the weak endings to fuse the songs like the fragmentary components of Dichterliebe. Bostridge convincingly brings the emotional concentration of Winterreise into the mix. ... The programme’s emotional arc is completed by ‘Des Sennen Abschied’ from Lieder-Album für die Jugend, whose valedictory quality is remarked upon in Bostridge’s booklet notes. The symbolic finality of the line ‘Summer is over’ hopefully doesn’t mark the end of the Bostridge/Giorgini exploration of Schumann. In Bostridge’s vast discography, this is one of his best.  David Patrick Stearns
Gramophone April 2025
Bostridge’s performances of all these songs have a wonderful clarity and sensitivity. He so obviously cares deeply about the texts and ensures that he delivers them with such vividness and clarity that there is not a syllable out of place.  Andrew Clements
The Guardian 21 February 2025
Gramophone Editor's Choice

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