Brahms: Romanzen aus Die Schöne Magelone
Roderick Williams (baritone & narrator) & Roger Vignoles (piano)
Williams delivers the narration naturally, while proving once again to be a thoughtful exponent of sung text, an interpreter consistently attentive to its meaning. As an accompanist, Vignoles...
Brahms: Romanzen aus Die Schöne Magelone
Roderick Williams (baritone & narrator) & Roger Vignoles (piano)
Purchase product
Williams delivers the narration naturally, while proving once again to be a thoughtful exponent of sung text, an interpreter consistently attentive to its meaning. As an accompanist, Vignoles...
About
Internationally lauded soloists Roderick Williams and Roger Vignoles join forces for this unique performance of Brahms’ only song cycle, Die Schone Magelone Op. 33, as well as his Vier ernste Gesänge Op. 121.
Based on Ludwig Tieck’s novella Wundersame Liebesgeschicte der schönen Magelone und des Grafen Peter aus der Provence (The Wondrous Love Story of the Beautiful Magelone and Count Peter of Provence), a popular and well-known 18th/19th century love story filled with twists and coincednces, Brahms’ cycle charmingly sets the mood and motivation of the protagonists at various points during the narrative.
As well as the concert versions of these two works, the second CD includes an English narration of Tieck’s novella, which is interspersed with the performances of Brahms’ song cycle – read as well as sung by Roderick Williams in an adaptation and translation by Roger Vignoles.
Roderick Williams encompasses a wide repertoire, from baroque to contemporary music, in the opera house, on the concert platform and in recital. He won the Singer of the Year Award in the 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.
Roger Vignoles is internationally recognised as one of the world’s most distinguished piano accompanists and musicians of today. He regularly partners the finest singers in major venues around the world and is regarded as a leading authority on the song repertoire.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
August 2017
Williams delivers the narration naturally, while proving once again to be a thoughtful exponent of sung text, an interpreter consistently attentive to its meaning. As an accompanist, Vignoles is every bit as engaged, his delicate and resourceful playing joining with Williams’s vocalism to point up significant detail.
June 2017
The passion and commitment behind this recording are palpable…[Williams’s] medium-weight baritone makes every phrase clean, clear and unaffected…combined with the clarity of Roger Vignoles’s pianism and Williams’s excellent feel for the German language, the music makes sense particularly in some of the more impulsive flights of inspiration that, in other performances, can sound a bit eccentric
19th June 2017
The recorded sound is excellent. So too is the documentation which includes an excellent essay by Daniel Jaffé. You also get the English narration in the booklet - though Roderick Williams’ exemplary diction means you shouldn’t need to refer to it - as well as the sung texts and translation… This is an admirable Brahms recital, made all the more attractive by the imaginative presentation of Die schöne Magelone.
7th May 2017
here you get the texts with translations, plus a bonus disc of Brahms’s Four Serious Songs and the Magelone songs without the narration
Classical Music July 2017
Williams is in superb voice, matched by Vignoles’ incisive playing: this is clearly a labour of love for both artists and one which should be rewarded.
