Lieder by Robert Holl / David Lutz

Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn

Robert Holl / David Lutz

Lieder

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917205428
Catnr: CC 72054
Release date: 01 January 1998
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917205428

Catalogue number
CC 72054

Release date
01 January 1998

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

The Lied is so stamped with the concept of Romanticism that one can easily be misled into thinking that the Lieder by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven are merely precursors or forebodings of subsequent great developments.True, in the works of Schubert a new age began in the German Lied – no composer before him had worked in this musico-literary genre in such an ingenious and all-encompassing manner, none had been able to express the purest and deepest thoughts of his art to such an extent as he – but we should not forget that the masters of Viennese Classicism also deserve an exalted and honoured place in the history of the Lied.
To approach the greatest masterpieces with a firm set of categories and criteria is always problematic.The concept “Romanticism” also permits the most diverse meanings and interpre- tations. Scarcely anyone today would dare even to think of classifying Mozart as a Romantic, as sometimes happened in the nineteenth century.Yet a Lied such as Mozart’s Abendempfindung is completely filled with the spirit so clearly revealed in Romantic works. Contemplation of the setting sun, the approaching dusk, associated with reflections on the transience of life – these are typical phenomena of Romantic poetry and sensibility.At the same time one can recognise that common stock of poetry that eludes any kind of type or category. Joachim Heinrich Campe, whose poem it is, earned his reputation above all as a pedagogue, children’s author and linguistic pioneer.The title of his poem, Abendempfindung an Laura, derived from Schiller’s “Laura” poems. It was first published in the anthology Dichtermanuskripte (Vienna: Rudolf Gräffer, 1781). In the catalogue of his works Mozart entered the work with the date 24 June 1787, omitting any men- tion of the dedicatee Laura, and with good reasons, for the song thereby acquires a dimension transcending any personal considerations. Abendempfindung is one of the most special and moving of Mozart’s compositions, permeated as it were by a fragrance of sadness, melancholy and resignation.

De Weense klassieke romantiek
Het genre van liederen wordt zo vaak geassocieerd met de romantiek dat iemand makkelijk misleid kan worden om te denken dat de liederen van Haydn, Mozart en Beethoven enkel voorgangers of voortekenen zijn van de daarop volgende grote ontwikkelingen. Het is waar dat de werken van Schubert een nieuwe periode voor het Duitse lied aanduidden, aangezien geen enkele componist voor hem in dezelfde vernuftige en omvattende manier het genre benaderde, maar we moeten niet vergeten dat de meesters van de Weense Klassieken ook een verheven plek verdienen in de geschiedenis van het lied.

Het blijkt altijd weer problematisch te zijn om meesterwerken te categoriseren op basis van een set van vaste criteria. Met name de categorie van de “romantiek” omvat meerdere betekenissen en interpretaties en bijna niemand zou ook maar durven om Mozart bij de romantiek te classificeren. En toch is een lied als Mozarts Abendempfindung volledig gevuld met het karakter wat zo duidelijk in romantische werken naar voren komt. Het nadenken over de ondergaande zon, de naderende duisternis, geassocieerd met de gedachtes over de overgang van het leven—dit zijn typische fenomenen voor de romantische poëzie en gevoeligheid.

Mozart’s Abendempfindung an Laura is op dit album samen te horen met liederen van Joseph Haydn en Ludwig von Beethoven. De stukken worden uitgevoerd door basbariton Robert Holl, begeleid door pianist David Lutz. Holl is een Amerikaanse zanger met een uitgebreide internationale carrière. Hij heeft met meerdere operagezelschappen opgetreden zoals Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin en London's Royal Opera House. Daarnaast heeft hij als solist opgetreden in de grootste concertzalen van de wereld. Lutz is een bekende pianist van internationaal allure. Hij speelde in meerdere tournees in Amerika, Europa en Azië en heeft als liedbegeleider gespeeld met solisten als Sona Ghazarian, Nicolai Gedda enThomas Hampson.

Artist(s)

Robert Holl

After having studied with JanVeth and David Hollestelle, the Rotterdam-born bass-baritone Robert Holl won the first prize at the international singing contest in ’s-Hertogenbosch in 1971.Then he studied with Hans Hotter in München and in 1972 he won the ARD contest.
From 1973 to 1975 he was a member of the Bavarian State Opera in München.After a period of intensive concert activities the artist regained his interest in opera productions and he was a guest at the Viennese State Opera, the Brussels Opera and the Zürich Opera House, where he sang parts like Speaker and Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Gremin (Eugen Onegin), Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), La Roche (Capriccio), Assur (Semiramide), Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Amfortas (Parsifal) and Robert (Schubert’s Des Teufels Lustschloß).
In the summer of 1996 Robert Holl made his debut at the Bayreuther Festspielen, as Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He has worked with famous conductors, like Abbado, Barenboim, Bernstein, Chailly, Frühbeck de Burgos, Giulini, Haitink, Harnoncourt, Jochum, Karajan, Leinsdorf, Prêtre and Stein, as well as with almost all the great orchestras of Europe and the US. He was also active as a singer of lieder (the emphasis on German and Russian repertoire), with partners like Rudolf Jansen, Oleg Maisenberg and András Schiff.
Lieder nights often lead the musician to the great music centres of Europe, as well as Israel and the United States. Robert Holl is a regular guest at great international festivals in Europe. On the invitation of Svatoslav Richter he took part in the ‘Moskovian Winters’ and the festival of Tours several times.
He leads various masterclasses and has made numerous television and gramaphone recor- dings with famous conductors. Some of his own compositions (lieder and works for piano) have been recorded on CD. Robert Holl is the artistic leader of the Schubertiaden in the Netherlands and Austria, as well as of the ‘Week of Romantic Music’, which has been held at Grafenegg Castle every two years since 1986.
Because of great merit for the Austrian music life Robert Holl was awarded by the Austrian Gouvernment in October 1990 the honorary title of ‘Wiener Kammersänger’. In 1997 he became honorary member of the Company of Music Friends in Vienna.

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David Lutz

Composer(s)

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. His best-known compositions include nine symphonies, five piano concertos, one violin concerto, 32 piano sonatas, 16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. Together with Mozart and Haydn, he was part of the First Viennese School. Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire, Beethoven displayed his musical talents at an early age and was taught by his father Johann van Beethoven and by composer and conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn, and gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. He lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost totally deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose; many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose actual name is Joannes Chrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a composer, pianist, violinist and conductor from the classical period, born in Salzburg. Mozart was a child prodigy. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Along with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart is considered to be one of the most influential composers of all of music's history. Within the classical tradition, he was able to develop new musical concepts which left an everlasting impression on all the composers that came after him. Together with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven he is part of the First Viennese School. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. From 1763 he traveled with his family through all of Europe for three years and from 1769 he traveled to Italy and France with his father Leopold after which he took residence in Paris. On July 3rd, 1778, his mother passed away and after a short stay in Munich with the Weber family, his father urged him to return to Salzburg, where he was once again hired by the Bishop. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death.

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Joseph Haydn

(Franz) Joseph Haydn was a prolific Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio and his contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets 'Father of the Symphony' and 'Father of the String Quartet'. Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, 'forced to become original'. Yet his music circulated widely and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. He was a friend and mentor of Mozart,...

(Franz) Joseph Haydn was a prolific Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio and his contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet".
Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". Yet his music circulated widely and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe.
He was a friend and mentor of Mozart, a teacher of Beethoven, with whom he formed the First Viennese School. He was also the older brother of composer Michael Haydn.

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