Wolf - Lieder Recital - Hans Hotter & Gerald Moore, Vienna 1953-1957

Hugo Wolf - Lieder Recital - Hans Hotter & Gerald Moore, Vienna 1953-1957

CD - ADD - German 69'52

Testament SBT 1197 - released 2000



Lieder recitals are rarely commercially viable. Even at Salzburg in the 1930s, they were rarely sold out. To hear settings by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Wolf of texts by Goethe, Heine, and other of the great German poets, for solo voice with piano accompaniment, music lovers nowadays can rely more and more on CD issues such as this. I reckon the situation is not one to complain about. Lieder CDs of singers of the present and past can offer good value: clear vocal reproduction, texts in German and translation, and the option of rearranging or repeating items.

Testament have collected the Wolf lieder recorded by Hans Hotter and Gerald Moore during the 1950s. More than 20 lieder were recorded - one twice - and the producer was Walter Legge. Whether as Prometheus fulminating at the gods, or a phoney monk asking to be left alone by the bedside of a sick young woman, whether as an anguished mendicant harper or as a visitor to a beautiful garden who discovers that it contains the grave of Anacreon - Hotter's interpretations are masterly. Gerald Moore accompanies in his usual skilled, robust way.

I detect no technical or performance faults during this 70 minute CD. Some of the later items appear in stereo for the first time. This is a great lieder recital. --Amazon customer

1. Der Tambour ('Wenn meine Mutter hexen könnt') - song for voice & piano (Mörike Lieder)
2. Ob der Koran von Ewigkeit Sei? - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)
3. Gedichte von J.W. von Goethe (51) - song for voice & piano: So lang man nüchtern ist
4. Schon streckt' ich aus im Bett - song for voice & piano (Italienisches Liederbuch)
5. Ein Ständchen Euch zu bringen - song for voice & piano (Italienisches Liederbuch)
6. Anakreons Grab ('Wo die Rose hier blüht') - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)
7. Wohl denk ich oft - song for voice & piano (Michelangelo Lieder)
8. Alles endet, was entstehet - song for voice & piano (Michelangelo Lieder)
9. Fühlt meine Seele - song for voice & piano (Michelangelo Lieder)
10. Cophtisches Lied I ('Lasset Gelehrte') - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)
11. Cophtisches Lied II ('Geh! gehorche meinem Winken') - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)
12. Grenzen der Menscheit ('Wenn der uralte heilige Vater') - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)
13. Prometheus ('Bedecke deinen Himmel, Zeus') - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)
14. Harfenspieler I ('Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt') - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)
15. Harfenspieler II ('An die Türen will ich schleichen') - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)
16. Harfenspieler III ('Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen ass') - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)
17. Geselle, woll'n wir uns in Kutten hüllen - song for voice & piano (Italienisches Liederbuch)
18. Verborgenheit ('Lass, o Welt, o lass mich sein') - song for voice & piano (Mörike Lieder)
19. Der Musikant ('Wandern lieb ich') - song for voice and piano (Eichendorff Lieder)
20. Fussreise ('Am frischgeschnittnen Wanderstab') - song for voice & piano (Mörike Lieder)
21. Nimmersatte Liebe ('So ist die Lieb!') - song for voice & piano (Mörike Lieder)
22. Anakreons Grab ('Wo die Rose hier blüht') - song for voice & piano (Goethe Lieder)

Listen to the tracks at Amazon