Episode 44: Take me to your Lieder - Schubert in English with Roderick Williams, Rowan Pierce and Christopher Glynn

The 'Schubert in English' series on Signum Classics sees its fourth instalment this year - following up Winter Journey, Swansong and The Fair Maid of the Mill with a wider-ranging collection of songs, sung by Roderick Williams and Rowan Pierce with Christopher Glynn at the piano. Front and centre, too, are the translations of Jeremy Sams, which at last enable English-speaking audiences (and indeed singers) to experience the full vernacular immediacy of the words.

For this fourth volume, Roderick, Rowan, Christopher and myself got together to talk about the album, the significance of the translations, and the impact that they have on the music. Also among our topics of conversation were a look back at earlier eras of performing Lieder in translation, 'singer face', product-placement in Bach cantatas... and an unintentionally macaronic performance of Donizetti.

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