Songs Of Brahms, Sibelius And Stenhammar [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Hagegard's sampler is a model of how a recital disc can be programmed. With expert collaboration from Warren Jones, the Swedish baritone serves up a smorgasbord of song with Brahms at both ends of the table and a tasty selection of Sibelius and Stenhammar settings in the center. The central work here is the Four Serious Songs, Op. 121, those remarkably poignant meditations on Old and New Testament verses that Brahms finished May 7, 1896, the last birthday of his life, and with which he effectively said farewell to the world. They are sung to glorious effect by Hagegard, who probes their gentle emotion with a master's touch and conveys the characteristically ambivalent mix of pain, resignation, and wintry radiance at their core. Swedish is a beautiful language, especially when its sounds are entrusted to the Swedes; both Stenhammar and Sibelius knew it as their mother tongue, and were able to fashion songs of remarkable beauty and expressiveness on its poetry. In the vignettes presented here, Hagegard, with his sure grasp of imagery and characterization, proves an impressive interpreter. Especially noteworthy is his treatment of the lengthy ballad "Florez och Blanzeflor," with which the 20-year-old, self-taught Stenhammar proved what a master he was. The recording, made at the HageGarden Music Center (a haven for artists in Brunskog, Sweden founded by Hagegard in 1992), is appealingly lifelike in its presence and dynamic range. --Ted Libbey

Tracks:

Funf Lieder, Op.105: Like Melodies it Moves
Funf Lieder, Op.105: Ever Lighter Grows my Slumber
Funf Lieder, Op.105: Lament
Funf Lieder, Op.105: In The Churchyard
Funf Lieder, Op.105: Betrayal
The Dream, Op.13 No.5
Until the Evening, Op.17 No.6
Splinters on the Water, Op.17 No.7
Black Roses, Op.36 No.1
Rushes, Whisper! Op.36 No.4
Diamond on the March Snow, Op.36 No.6
The First Kiss, Op.37 No.1
Was it a Dream? Op.37 No.4
Prince Aladdin of the Lamp, Op.26 No.10
Adagio, Op.20 No.5
Starry Eye, Op.20 No.1
Florez och Blanzeflor, Op.3
Four Serious Songs, Op.121: Prediger Salomo, Cap.3; For it Goes with Men as with Beasts
Four Serious Songs, Op.121: Prediger Salomo, Cap.3; So I Returned, & Considered All
Four Serious Songs, Op.121: Jesus Sirach, Cap.41; O Death, How Bitter Thou art
Four Serious Songs, Op.121: S. Pauli and die Corinther I, Cap.13; Though I Speak with the Tongues...

Amazon.com

Hagegard's sampler is a model of how a recital disc can be programmed. With expert collaboration from Warren Jones, the Swedish baritone serves up a smorgasbord of song with Brahms at both ends of the table and a tasty selection of Sibelius and Stenhammar settings in the center. The central work here is the Four Serious Songs, Op. 121, those remarkably poignant meditations on Old and New Testament verses that Brahms finished May 7, 1896, the last birthday of his life, and with which he effectively said farewell to the world. They are sung to glorious effect by Hagegard, who probes their gentle emotion with a master's touch and conveys the characteristically ambivalent mix of pain, resignation, and wintry radiance at their core. Swedish is a beautiful language, especially when its sounds are entrusted to the Swedes; both Stenhammar and Sibelius knew it as their mother tongue, and were able to fashion songs of remarkable beauty and expressiveness on its poetry. In the vignettes presented here, Hagegard, with his sure grasp of imagery and characterization, proves an impressive interpreter. Especially noteworthy is his treatment of the lengthy ballad "Florez och Blanzeflor," with which the 20-year-old, self-taught Stenhammar proved what a master he was. The recording, made at the HageGarden Music Center (a haven for artists in Brunskog, Sweden founded by Hagegard in 1992), is appealingly lifelike in its presence and dynamic range. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

"Starry eye, you who I met in the long distant past.".......2003-03-12

This disc brings back some lesser-known works by Brahms and Sibelius and a few by the neglected Swedish composer, Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927). The piano passages are harmonically rich and really capture the agony and radiance of the age (the late 1880s and '90s -- the last years of Brahms' life and the years that marked the beginning of Sibelius and Stenhammar's careers). The texts (in Swedish and German) were chosen more for their ability to be set to music than for literary merit, but a lot of lines catch the feel of the music, like the one from Sibelius' song "Hvar är drömmen?": "Where is the dream? Alas, swamped by my longing!"

The disc is monotonous in spots and would have been better with a few duets or solo piano pieces in between. But a few songs really stand out, like Brahms' poignant "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer" (My sleep becomes ever lighter), "Klage" (Lament), and his "Four Serious Songs" (written in 1896, the year before his death, to commemorate his friends who were dying off). The two "ballad songs" by Stenhammar are overworked, but his shorter songs "Adagio" and "Starry Eye" are smooth and enjoyable. Often Stenhammar's music comes across as shallow the first time you listen to it, but somehow it has the strange power of drawing you back to it as though you had heard it before (cf. the lines of "Starry Eye" -- 'Starry eye, you who I met in the long distant past'). This stuff is early Stenhammar, before he started to get interested in the bracing, Nordic themes of Nielsen's and Sibelius' music, but you can definitely hear some progression toward his later compositions.

The performance by Håkan Hagegård and Warren Jones is excellent, and aside from a few less interesting songs, this is a great disc. 4 stars.

Powerful velvet (!).......2000-06-25

This is Håkan Hagegård in his prime - as a lieder-singer. No baritone in the world today can combine pure velvety softness, with such enormous power as Hagegård can. Add to this his understanding of the music - here it is perfect, every emotion brought forth. Even if you've never heard the songs before, you will probably feel that 'this is it' directly when you hear it.

Hagegård sounds very familiar with all these three composers, maybe most notably the nordic ones. I myself (being swedish) consider this recording the finest ever made of these lovely Stenhammar and Sibelius songs - Hagegård perfectly catches the special nordic emotionality. The last Brahms are also extremely good. This is baritone-singing at it's very finest.

There really isn't anything bad at all with this recording - it's pure listening-pleasure! It's a must if you're a fan of baritone-singing.

Track Listings: