Day 277: 12 Irish Songs Wo0154

BeethovenCD82How can you go wrong with a CD that opens with a song about Elfin Fairies?

You can’t.

I swear, you just can’t.

Once again, we have Irish songs sung in English, performed by some of the best musicians in the world:

Barbara Emilia Schedel soprano

Kerstin Wagner alto

Daniel Schreiber tenor

Daniel Raschinsky baritone

Sachiko Kobayashi violin

Chihiro Saito cello

Michael Wagner piano

Although today’s CD features the incomparable Daniel Schreiber (tenor), I have to take a few points off for the alto. That’s a vocal range I never do warm up to.

So, whereas yesterday’s CD was a Favorite from start to finish, today’s CD is only good occasionally. For example, everything Daniel Schreiber sings (in whole or in part) is pure gold:

The Farewell Song (Track 3)
Put round the bright wine (Track 6)
Save me from the grave and wise (Track 8)
Oh! would I were but that sweet linnet! (Track 9)
The hero may perish (Track 10)
The Soldier in a Foreign Land (Track 11)
He promised me at parting (Track 12)

I swear, Daniel Schreiber has the voice of an angel.

The above features perhaps half of the songs to which I listened this morning.

Day 276: Irish Songs Continued

BeethovenCD81I must have Celtic blood in my genes.

I’ve always enjoyed songs from Ireland.

And I usually enjoy songs sung in English.

I’m in luck. Today’s CD features both, performed by:

Dorothee WWohlgemuth soprano

Christine Wehler alto

Georg Poplutz tenor

Jens Hamann baritone

Martin Haunhorst violin

Bernhard Schwarz cello

Rainer Maria Klaas piano

These are terrific songs, filled with typical Irish lilt and pathos.

A good example of the former is Track 6 (“No. 12 English Bulls”). A good example of the latter is Track 14 (“No. 6 Sad and luckless was the season”).

Here. See for yourself. Here’s some of what I heard today:

This is a CD I could listen to again. It’s just a delightful assortment of Irish songs composed by a Classical master and performed by world-class musicians. How can you not like that?