Schubert: Lieder Recital: Previously Unpublished

To my mind, these previously unreleased BBC broadcasts from the late 1950s and early ‘60s contain some of Pears’s most alluring singing on record: highlights include an elegant ‘Hark, hark the... — Katherine Cooper, Presto Music, May 2018 More…

Release Date: 4th May 2018
Catalogue No: SBT1519
Label: Testament

Presto Editor's Choice

May 2018

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Schubert: Der Winterabend (Es ist so still), D938

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D774

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: An die Laute D905

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Abendbilder, D650

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Auflösung, D807

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Harfenspieler I 'Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt', D478

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Der Musensohn, D764 (Goethe)

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Erster Verlust, D226 (Goethe)

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Ständchen 'Horch! Horch! die Lerch!', D889

sung in English
Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Mein! (No. 11 from Die schöne Müllerin, D795)

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Nacht und Träume, D827

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Ihr Grab D736 (Engelhardt)

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Das Heimweh D851 (Pyrker)

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Das war ich, D174 (Korner)

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Vor meiner Wiege, D927 (Leitner)

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Der Geistertanz D116 (Matthisson)

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Die Gotter Griechenlands D677 (Schiller)

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Der blinde Knabe D833

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

Schubert: Das Lied im Grünen, D917

Peter Pears (tenor), Benjamin Britten (piano)

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Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten made up one of the great voice-and-piano duos, so to have a whole programme from them of Britten’s favourite composer, Schubert, is gold indeed. Although they recorded a fair amount of Schubert in the Decca studios, including a few of these songs, their BBC broadcasts show them in a slightly more unbuttoned mood. The two men got to know each other in 1937 through their work for the BBC – Pears was a member of the BBC Singers and Britten was regularly writing music for radio productions. A year later they began sharing a London flat and gradually they moved into the close relationship that would last until Britten’s death. This Schubert Lieder programme by Britten and Pears originated in three separate broadcasts for the BBC. They began their sequence on 4 February 1959 with a song from the last year of the composer’s life, Der Winterabend, D.938. The 15 November 1961 broadcast was launched with a difficult and strenuous song, Auflösung, D.807, to Johann Mayrhofer’s poem. Through their dramatic singing and playing, Pears and Britten achieve the intended ecstatic state. Like the great American baritone David Bispham on a famous 78rpm disc, Pears sings the delightful serenade ‘Hark, hark, the lark’ in Shakespeare’s original English – the poem comes from Cymbeline and Schubert made his setting, D.889, in 1826. For their 3 January 1964 broadcast, Pears and Britten were in quite an introspective mood, beginning with the immensely sad, resigned Ihr Grab, D.736, a Karl August Engelhardt setting probably from 1822.

Reviews

May 2018

To my mind, these previously unreleased BBC broadcasts from the late 1950s and early ‘60s contain some of Pears’s most alluring singing on record: highlights include an elegant ‘Hark, hark the Lark!’ (sung in English), a superbly dramatic Auflösung, and Pears’s assertive, virile Miller-Lad in a breakneck ‘Mein!’ from Die schöne Müllerin.

Schubert: Lieder Recital

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