Winterreise by Thomas Oliemans & Bert van den Brink

Thomas Oliemans & Bert van den Brink

Winterreise

Format: CD
Label: Fineline Legacy
UPC: 0608917240924
Catnr: FL 72409
Release date: 31 July 2006

1 CD

Label
Fineline Legacy

UPC
0608917240924

Catalogue number
FL 72409

Release date
31 July 2006

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Thomas Oliemans: baritone
Bert van den Brink: piano

THE MUSIC
'I will sing a cycle of spine-chilling songs for you', were Schubert's own words on his Winterreise. Words we can repeat with no restraint to mark this performance by Oliemans and van den Brink. They try and succeed not only to render Müllers words and Schuberts notes in the most sensitive way, but moreover to highlight the spell of mystery behind text and music. Who is this sombre Wanderer, from where his grief and where he goes and seeks his peace?
So this performance creates a happy contradiction between Schuberts sublimated sombreness and the excitement of the audience, a contradiction which Schubert himself unfortunately could never sufficiently enjoy.

ARTIST BACKGROUND
Thomas Oliemans, born in 1977, graduated from Amsterdam Conservatory coached by Margreet Honig and studied with Robert Holl, Elio Battaglia and Dietrich Fischer-Diskau. He made his opera debut in 2002 with the Nationale Reisopera of The Netherlands and has a full opera-agenda ever since. He also is already a sought after recitalist. He has recently recorded a CD with Pianist Malcolm Martineau with works of Poulenc and Fauré. In 1993 he won the Concours de la Chanson, in 1995 he was a Laureatin the Princess Christina Competition for Young Musicians and in 2002 he won the Prix Bernac of the "Academie internationale de Musique Maurice Ravel".
Bert van den Brink was born in 1958. He studied piano at the conservatory of Utrecht from 1976 to 1982, in which year he graduated cum laude. Immediately after graduation he was employed there to teach jazz piano, a field of music in which he is completely self-tought. He performed with musicians like Chet Baker, Nat Adderly, Benny Golson, Lee Konitz and many others. In 1990 and 1991 he was the pianist in the quartet of Dee Dee Bridgewater. He plays solo jazz piano recitals and made several albums. He also works as arranger/producer and still has many other plans in music.
The duo performed the cycle in july in the Robeco Summer Concert Series in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and raved both audience and critics.

Winterreise eer aangedaan door Oliemans en Van Den Brink
"Ik zal een huiveringwekkende liederenreeks voor jullie zingen," zei Franz Schubert over zijn eigen Winterreise. Aan deze woorden doen Oliemans en Van Den Brink eer met hun uitvoering. Ze slagen er niet alleen in Müllers woorden en Schuberts aantekeningen te vertolken, ze markeren ook het mysterie achter de tekst en de muziek. Wie is deze eenzame jongeman, vanwaar zijn verdriet, waar gaat hij heen en waar zoekt hij zijn vrede? Schubert voltooide zijn Winterreise bijna twee jaar voor zijn dood, maar zou een officiële uitvoering nooit meemaken.

Thomas Oliemans studeerde aan het Conservatorium Amsterdam en maakte zijn operadebuut in 2002 met de Nationale Reisopera. Sindsdien heeft hij een volle opera-agenda en is hij gewild voor recitals. Ook won hij vele prijzen, waaronder het Concours de la Chanson en de Prix Bernac van de 'Academie Internationale de Musique Maurice Ravel'.
Bert van den Brink studeerde piano aan het Utrechtse conservatorium, waar hij cum laude afstudeerde. Direct na zijn afstuderen werd hij daar aangenomen om het vak 'jazz piano' te doceren, een genre waarin hij autodidact was. Hij trad op met musici als Chet Baker, Nat Adderley en vele anderen. Hij speelt jazz recitals en heeft verschillende albums op zijn naam staan. Verder werkt hij ook als arrangeur/producer.
Oliemans en Van Den Brink voerden als duo Winterreise al eerder uit in het Amsterdamse Concertgebouw, waar zowel het publiek als critici lyrisch over waren.

Artist(s)

Bert van den Brink

From his childhood Bert van den Brink (1958) has already been improvising on piano and organ. In this field of music Bert is completely self taught. He got his first piano lesson when he was five years old. In 1976 he started his professional classical education at the conservatory of Utrecht, with Herman Uhlhorn, and graduated cum laude in 1982 with the immediate invitation to take the chair of jazz piano teacher. He gave several classical recitals, but gradually the balance changed more to jazz.He performed with musicians like Toots Thielemans, Chet Baker, Nat Adderly, Benny Golson, Lee Konitz, Jesse van Ruller, Clare Fischer, Enrico Pieranunzi, John Engels, Hein van de Geyn, and many others. In 1990 and 1991 he...

From his childhood Bert van den Brink (1958) has already been improvising on piano and organ. In this field of music Bert is completely self taught. He got his first piano lesson when he was five years old. In 1976 he started his professional classical education at the conservatory of Utrecht, with Herman Uhlhorn, and graduated cum laude in 1982 with the immediate invitation to take the chair of jazz piano teacher. He gave several classical recitals, but gradually the balance changed more to jazz.He performed with musicians like Toots Thielemans, Chet Baker, Nat Adderly, Benny Golson, Lee Konitz, Jesse van Ruller, Clare Fischer, Enrico Pieranunzi, John Engels, Hein van de Geyn, and many others. In 1990 and 1991 he was the pianist in the quartet of Dee Dee Bridgewater. For some years he was musical director in the band of Denise Jannah. Of his several solo albums, "Jazz at the Pine Hill" (PHCHR 75084) got an Edison Nomination. The first album of the Bert van den Brink Trio (with Hein van de Geyn,bass and Hans van Oosterhout, drums) "Between Us" was released in 2004. With vocalist Thomas Oliemans Bert recorded Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise” . As arranger/producer his works are played by the Metropole orchestra, the Dutch Wood winds Ensemble, Denise Jannah and others.In April 2007 Bert received the VPRO-Boy Edgar Award.

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Thomas Oliemans

Amsterdam born winner of the 2013 Prix d' Amis of The Netherlands Opera for his portrayal of Papageno in Simon McBurney's production of Die Zauberflöte, Thomas Oliemans made his professional opera debut aged 24 as the Father in Hans Werner Henze’s Pollicino with the Nationale Reisopera of the Netherlands where he also sang Minos in Händel’s Arianna in Creta and Ned Keene in Britten’s Peter Grimes. In 2005 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Gonsalvo Fieschi in Schreker's Die Gezeichneten. Further important debuts followed in 2006 as Papageno in Mozart´s Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Nantes/Angers to great public and critical acclaim, and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte. His most recent operatic engagements have included his debut at Teatro Real in Madrid with Ivor Bolton and...

Amsterdam born winner of the 2013 Prix d' Amis of The Netherlands Opera for his portrayal of Papageno in Simon McBurney's production of Die Zauberflöte, Thomas Oliemans made his professional opera debut aged 24 as the Father in Hans Werner Henze’s Pollicino with the Nationale Reisopera of the Netherlands where he also sang Minos in Händel’s Arianna in Creta and Ned Keene in Britten’s Peter Grimes.

In 2005 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Gonsalvo Fieschi in Schreker's Die Gezeichneten. Further important debuts followed in 2006 as Papageno in Mozart´s Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Nantes/Angers to great public and critical acclaim, and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte.

His most recent operatic engagements have included his debut at Teatro Real in Madrid with Ivor Bolton and Krysztof Warlikowski (Hercule in Gluck’s Alceste) Donner in Das Rheingold under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, reprisal of his Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Amsterdam. Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro in Gothenburg, Ramiro in L'Heure Espagnole in concert conducted by Charles Dutoit. He appeared as Lescaut in Massenet’s Manon at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse partnering Natalie Dessay, had his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden singing Schaunard alongside Joseph Calleja, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu in La Bohème conducted by Semyon Bychkov, Papageno in a new production of Die Zauberflöte staged by esteemed director Simon McBurney and Fritz Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg conducted by Marc Albrecht at De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, Marcello in La Bohème and Gunther inGötterdämmerung at the Nationale Reisopera, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus and Marcello in La Bohème at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Scottish Opera, Hercule in Gluck’s Alceste at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. His strong ties to The Netherlands Opera have resulted in parts in Don Carlo, Un Ballo in maschera, Die Zauberflöte, Meistersinger and Rameau’sCastor et Pollux. He also sang leading roles in three world-premiere productions of contemporary Dutch operas by Wagemans (Legende), Zuidam (Adam in Ballingschap) and Martijn Padding (Laika).

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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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