Grenzen der Menschheit by Johannes Martin Kränzle / Hilko Dumno

Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert

Johannes Martin Kränzle / Hilko Dumno

Grenzen der Menschheit

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD+Book
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917260021
Catnr: CC 72600
Release date: 08 July 2013
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917260021

Catalogue number
CC 72600

Release date
08 July 2013

"His spectrum of timbre and his dynamic scope seem to be unlimited and his diction is always vivid and expressive."

Das Opernglas, 01-1-2014

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Goethe, Schiller, Schumann, Schubert – four great names and an equally great question: where do the limits of mankind lie? Johannes Martin Kränzle and Hilko Dumno try to find those limits on their latest CD with the help of the great poets and composers.

Johannes Martin Kränzle and Hilko Dumno in search of the limits of mankind with the help of Goethe, Schiller, Schubert and Schumann.

Music seems to transcend life, to transform it by means of simple physical phenomena such as the reverberations of strings and windpipes. Tones possess their own time and pitch, which we do not completely understand although we generate them ourselves. Music transcends the constraints and contingencies of our everyday existence and is nevertheless a part of them. This is known to everyone who ever surrendered to its so called “magic” – whether composers, like Robert Schumann, who was preoccupied day in day out with the detailed mechanics of effect, or writers like Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who preferred to place music in an ancillary function to the literary art.

Boundary breakers mostly act against their own well-being. They risk their life for a Glove or place it as Hostage into the hands of the enemy; they taunt Coachman Chronos and shake the gates of Tartarus ... Goethe and Schiller seem to feel that art’s very purpose is to document and imagine these ventures. What better allies could one have than music? Music fights oblivion, because the compositions of a Schubert and Schumann are able to accelerate, decelerate, stop, and even reverse conventional time. Song adds the entities of sensuousness to speech. In contrast to spoken language or prose, which reflect and constitute the functions of life, song moves in its own sphere. It connects music with speech; the sign system of language is infused with an essential property from the sign system of music: that of not being completely decypherable. The mystery of what lies beyond the pale thus remains permanently safeguarded.

Op zoek naar de grenzen van de mensheid
Na het opnemen van romantische balladen gaan Johannes Martin Kränzle en Hilko Dumno nu op zoek naar de grenzen van de mensheid in liederen. Ze roepen de hulp in van Goethe, Schiller, Schubert en Schumann. De muziek bij de gedichten van Goethe en Schiller vormt de ideale basis voor hun programma.

De brekers van grenzen gaan tegen hun eigen welzijn in. Ze riskeren hun leven voor een handschoen, of plaatsen het als gijzelaar in de handen van de vijand. Goethe en Schiller lijken te voelen dat de kunst als doel heeft om deze situaties vast te leggen. Welke kunstvorm kan de dichters beter helpen dan muziek? Muziek vecht tegen de vergetelheid, omdat de werken van Schubert en Schumann de tijd kunnen versnellen, vertragen, stoppen of zelfs kunnen omkeren. Het lied verbindt muziek met spraak; het gebarensysteem van taal krijgt een belangrijke eigenschap van de muziek mee; het feit dat muziek niet volledig te ontcijferen is. Niemand zal hierdoor ooit achterhalen wat er achter de grenzen ligt.

Johannes Martin Kränzle is een van de meest succesvolle baritons. Op dit album wordt hij bijgestaan door pianist Hilko Dumno en door meervoudig prijswinnares Theresa Kronthaler. In het duet Hektors Abschied voegt zij haar prachtige mezzosopraanstem toe, die met geen enkele stem is te vergelijken.

Der Bariton Johannes Martin Kränzle begiebt sich auf eine Entdeckung zu den "Grenzen der Menschheit".

Mit Liedern von Schubert und Schumann auf Gedichte von Goethe und Schiller suchen die Musiker nach Erfahrungen, die vor allem emotional die Menschen an ihre Grenzen bringen können.

Artist(s)

Johannes Martin

Born in Augsburg (Germany) 1962, Martin Kränzle dedicated himself to singing after having played the violine, composing and studying to be a music theatre director. The baritone studied voice with Martin Gründler at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt. After engagements in Dortmund and Hanover, he has been member of the Frankfurt Opera since 1998. Guest contracts led him to the Scala in Milan, to the Salzburger and Bregenzer Festspiele, to the Glyndebourne Festival, he did four productions at the San Francisco Opera, he sung in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Geneve, Sofia, Cairo, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Tbilisi and Spoleto (Italy).
His wide repertoire encludes over 100 roles, such as all leading characters of Mozart (Giovanni, Papageno, Don Alfonso, Conte Almaviva) and Rossini (Figaro, Dandini), Eisenstein (The Bat) and Danilo (Merry Widow), Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Beckmesser (Meistersinger), Alberich (Rheingold), Ford (Falstaff), Bolkonski (Prokofieff: War and Peace), Tomsky (Pique Dame), Billy Budd (Britten), Nietzsche (Rihm: Dionysos - First performance at Salzburg Festival) and Orphee (Offenbach) with the self-played Violinsolo.
He regularly gives concerts and song recitals (e.g. at the Schleswig-Holstein-Festival, Goethehaus Frankfurt, Spring Festival in Budapest, Expo 2000 Hanover) as well as oratorios (e.g. in Notre Dame Paris, Dom in Cologne, Dormition Abbey Jerusalem, Vilnius Festival). He received various prizes at singing contests in Berlin, Vercelli (Viotti), Hanover, Perpignan, Paris (Placido Domingo), and since he got the Primo Grande Premio in Rio de Janeiro 1991 he holds visiting professorships at various Brazilian universities.
His chamber opera Der Wurm was awarded 3rd prize in the composition contest of the Neuköllner Opera, Berlin, in 1997. At the moment Oehms Classics has produced his first Solo-CD “Die Mitternacht zog näher schon” with Ballads from Loewe, Schumann, Schubert, Mahler, Wolf and Busoni.
He was annouced as “Singer of the Year” 2011 from the leading opera magazine Opernwelt. He was also awarded the “Kölner Opernpreis” 2012. At the moment he appears at Staatsoper Berlin and Teatro alla Scala Milano in Wagners Ring of the Nibelung as Alberich, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
Hilko Dumno Piano Hilko Dumno studied Piano, Chamber Music and Song Interpretation at the Hochschulen in Detmold and Frankfurt am Main. Among his teachers were Gregor Weichert, Rainer Hoffmann, Tabea Zimmermann and Eugen Wangler. He was a scholarship holder from the Endowment of the Arts, officially sponsored by the German Government, the Villa Musica Mainz and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation.
He has regular collaboration with Christoph Pregardien, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Hans-Jörg Mammel, Georg Poplutz, Hedwig Fassbender and Julia Kleiter whom he has accompanied at various Festivals among which are Schleswig-Holstein, Schwetzingen, Dresden, Luzern, Geneva, the Styriarte in Graz and the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg. Further concert tours brought him to North America and Japan. He has taken part for several broadcasting productions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He has also produced CDs with Christoph Pregardien and Julia Kleiter, with Johannes Martin Kränzle and Hedwig Fassbender. Hilko Dumno teaches Song Interpretation at the Hochschule for Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main and gives regularly Masterclasses in Germany, Italy and France.

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Hilko Dumno

Hilko Dumno studied Piano, Chamber music and Song Interpretation at the Hochschulen in Detmold and Frankfurt am Main. Among his teachers were Gregor Weichert, Rainer Hoffmann, Tabea Zimmermann and Charles Spencer. He was a scholarship holder from the Endowmentof the Arts, officially sponsored by the German government, the Villa Musica in Mainz and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. He has regular collaboration with Christoph Prégardien, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Christine Schäfer, Hans-Jörg Mammel, Hedwig Fassbender, Julia Kleiter and Johannes Schendel whom he’s accompanied at various festivals among which are Schleswig-Holstein, Schwetzingen, Dresden, Luzerne, Geneva and the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg. Further concert tours brought him to North America and Japan. For the North German radio, the Hessischer Rundfunk and the Radio de la Suisse Romande...

Hilko Dumno studied Piano, Chamber music and Song Interpretation at the Hochschulen in Detmold and Frankfurt am Main. Among his teachers were Gregor Weichert, Rainer Hoffmann, Tabea Zimmermann and Charles Spencer. He was a scholarship holder from the Endowmentof the Arts, officially sponsored by the German government, the Villa Musica in Mainz and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation.
He has regular collaboration with Christoph Prégardien, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Christine Schäfer, Hans-Jörg Mammel, Hedwig Fassbender, Julia Kleiter and Johannes Schendel whom he’s accompanied at various festivals among which are Schleswig-Holstein, Schwetzingen, Dresden, Luzerne, Geneva and the Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg.
Further concert tours brought him to North America and Japan. For the North German radio, the Hessischer Rundfunk and the Radio de la Suisse Romande he’s taken part in various productions which testify to his artistic activities. He has also produced several CDs. Hilko Dumno teaches Song Interpretation at the Hochschule for Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt and At the Hochschule for Music and Dance in Cologne.

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Composer(s)

Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. Schubert already died before his 32nd birthday, but was extremely prolific during his lifetime. His output consists of over six hundred secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of chamber and piano music. Appreciation of his music while he was alive was limited to a relatively small circle of admirers in Vienna, but interest in his work increased significantly in the decades following his death. Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and other 19th-century composers discovered and championed his works. Today, Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers of the late Classical and early Romantic eras and is one of the most frequently performed composers of the early nineteenth century.
It was in the genre of the Lied that Schubert made his most indelible mark. Prior to Schubert's influence, Lieder tended toward a strophic, syllabic treatment of text, evoking the folksong qualities engendered by the stirrings of Romantic nationalism. Schubert expanded the potentialities of the genre like no other composer before.

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Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing.
Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many Lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Works such as Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Fantasie in C are among his most famous. His writings about music appeared mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication which he jointly founded.
In 1840, Schumann married Friedrich Wieck's daughter Clara, against the wishes of her father, following a long and acrimonious legal battle, which found in favour of Clara and Robert. Clara also composed music and had a considerable concert career as a pianist, the earnings from which, before her marriage, formed a substantial part of her father's fortune.
Schumann suffered from a mental disorder, first manifesting itself in 1833 as a severe melancholic depressive episode, which recurred several times alternating with phases of ‘exaltation’ and increasingly also delusional ideas of being poisoned or threatened with metallic items. After a suicide attempt in 1854, Schumann was admitted to a mental asylum, at his own request, in Endenich near Bonn. Diagnosed with "psychotic melancholia", Schumann died two years later in 1856 without having recovered from his mental illness.

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Press

His spectrum of timbre and his dynamic scope seem to be unlimited and his diction is always vivid and expressive.
Das Opernglas, 01-1-2014

Choose Grenchen of Menscheit as motto for a recital, combine Schubert and Schumann with Goethe and Schiller, look for unfamiliar songs, and there is nothing that can go wrong
Luister, 11-11-2013

No one who loves Lieder will want to be without the disc
Records Review , 01-11-2013

No one who loves Lieder will want to be without this disc.
International Record Review, 01-11-2013

"It's obvious that Kränzle and Dumno programmed this recital meticulously and that tension and relaxation are dosed in an intelligent and effective way"
www.opusklassiek.nl, 21-10-2013

Record of the month (October 2013) With natural phrasing and vividly diction Kränzle assures not only ideal text-conprehensibility, but he also tuns into a suggestive tale-teller. He uses the wide palette of his vocal-colours wisely to trace the prevailling mood of the poems and to capture the audience's attention.
Fono Forum, 01-10-2013

the conceotion of the CD is acutely intelligent
Pizzicato, 01-10-2013

Kränzle convinces with the power of his voice, he uses the vocal instrument skillfully to draw a picture of despair.
Stuttgarter Zeitung, 01-10-2013

"And mainly in the high passages he pushes the boundaries of what sounds pleasant"
www.writteninmusic.com, 23-9-2013

This results in a fresh recording, even where both parties are going down at the same time.
Written in music, 23-9-2013

A natural born ballad-singer, the words intelligible and expicit, the performance extremely agile.
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