Robert and Clara Schumann: Lieder

Composed by Clara Wieck Schumann, Robert Schumann

Philips / 462-610-2

Recorded in December 1998 at the Art Nouveau Theater, Jugendstil Theater, Baumgartner Höhe, Vienna

'Wolfgang Holzmair and Imogen Cooper have made several outstanding lieder recordings for Philips. Here's another: songs of Robert and Clara Schumann. There's no disputing the excellence of this partnership in the art of German lied, obvious in the main offering here: Robert's op. 35 Kerner Lieder, a dozen songs that portray the misery of a young man whose beloved becomes a nun. As the second song puts it, "Farewell, love and joy". That song is sung in caressing tones by Holzmair, who employs a ravishing half-voice to depict the young lady. He expertly colors his voice with a regretful tinge of bitterness in "Auf das Trinkglas eines verstorbenen Freundes" and then lightens it for the last stanza while retaining that sense of deep sadness. He and Cooper also excel in building the entire set as a single span of loneliness leading to anguished resignation. . .

The division of the rest of the disc between the Schumanns (10 for him, seven for her) is justified by the composition of these songs during Robert's intense courtship and marriage to Clara, during which time he became a prolific composer of lied and encouraged her to write songs as well. . .

Cooper is no mere accompanist here; she's a full partner. Her incisive, idiomatic pianism is essential to the success of this recital, her postludes telling--listen to how her playing of the extended postlude to "Stille Tränen" from the Kerner set sums up the entire song, almost making the words unnecessary. Voice and piano are faithfully captured and balances are good, but occasionally Holzmair's bright timbre defeats the microphone placement and blasting ensues.’

Dan Davis, Classics Today