Liebende…..
Personal notes by the artists on the program, which focusses on the theme of „lovers“
Strauss, Mozart, Schubert – What do these composers mean to you?
Katharina Konradi
The labels “Mozart soprano” and “Strauss soprano” are often said to be practically indistinguishable. Indeed, in terms of melodic style, the two composers are not that far apart. Mozart suits my voice well, and the same is true of Richard Straus’s light lyrical repertoire.
Then Schubert, with his astoundingly vast lieder output and his variety of musical expression, holds a special place for me. Every time I prepare a recital, these almost inexhaustible treasures take me on a delightful journey of surprising discoveries, and that is what my life as a lieder interpreter is all about.….. Every piece on this CD has a special appeal for me.
Daniel Heide:
For a pianist, Mozart and Schubert are a matter of course! Mozart wrote a number of keyboard sonatas (and the violin sonatas!) along with a multitude of piano concertos: his Lieder come as an added attraction. They are marvelous gems. And any pianist who decides to go further than Schubert’s solo piano works in order to delve into his seemingly infinite world of 600 Lieder-treasures comes out a happier man.
In every Strauss song I find that the timbre is unique: an atmosphere you can experience only in Strauss territory, that special luminosity of sound, the silvery tone.……….
Mozart’s, Schubert’s, and Strauss’s songs are core German lieder repertoire, and they are pivotal and essential material for singers worldwide.
Mozart and Strauss are the linchpins and cornerstones of our soprano careers on the opera stage…… (Excerpts from the booklet interview with both artists)
Konradi’s timbre has a delicate fragrance, the voice seems weightless and light as a feather.
Opernwelt
Whether in opera, operetta or lied, Katharina Konradi is a storyteller who imbues her characters
with verve, intimacy, temperament and intensity. Her full and warm soprano, praised by Opernglas
for its wonderfully agile, fascinating palette of nuances, captivates audiences and critics alike with
its great radiance and cultivated emotionality. My aim is to rediscover myself in every opera and in
every song, to lend my own ego to the role and become one with the character I portray, is how the
singer describes herself.
In the season 2023/24 Katharina Konradi will make guest appearances at the Royal Opera House
Covent Garden, London, as Woglinde in Wagner’s Das Rheingold and as Susanna in Mozart’s Le
nozze di Figaro at the Vienna State Opera. At the Bavarian State Opera she will be seen as Adele in
Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and at Zurich Opera House in the role of Valencienne in Lehár’s The Merry
Widow.
At Hamburg Opera, where she performs regularly, she sings Servilia in Mozart’s La clemenza
di Tito and makes her role debut as Adina in L’elisir d’amore. Lied recitals will again take Katharina
Konradi to the Wigmore Hall London and to the Schubertiade Hohenems / Schwarzenberg, as well as to
the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, to the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, to the Festival
de Granada, to Weimar and to the Schubertiada in Vilabertran.
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.
Play album
