| Label: ANALEKTA
Catalog: AN29956
Format: CD Catherine Robbin; Daniel Lichti; Leslie De'AthWholenote Discoveries - February 2011
Two recent Analekta releases feature the music of Hugo Wolf, the late 19th-century life-long composer of lieder. One recording focuses exclusively on one cycle by Wolf, while the other includes him in a collection of Spanish and Spanish-inspired pieces. While both song cycles are named for the countries the poetry originates from, Wolf's music itself is decidedly Germanic. The Italienische Liederbuch is rarely performed in its entirety, consisting as it does of no less than forty-six vignettes. Having performed a few of them in a recent concert tour entitled “Songs of Venus and Mars”, mezzo-soprano Catherine Robbin and bass-baritone Daniel Lichti were inspired to record the complete cycle since the lieder neatly fall into categories suitable for both male and female singers. In paying homage to the Tuscan folk poems and Venetian vilote, Wolf's music reflects his own nationality, but the translations into German still make for quite the range of emotion, from passion to reverence and playfulness to despair. Both Robbin and Lichti along with pianist Leslie De'Ath add a certain elevation to sentiments of romantic exploration in the same way that Wolf transforms the simplicity of the lyric to a more classical standard of high art. The singers, well known for their expertise in this repertoire, imbue the performance with superb tonal quality, warmth and grace. Dianne Wells  Price: $18.98 |
