Day 80: More Songs

HaydnCD80Today’s CD is simply called Songs II. But it’s different from yesterdays Songs in that these selections are not sung in English. They’re in German.

Which means all I can go on to comment is the tone and range of soprano Elly Ameling’s voice, and the playing and tone of pianist Jorg Demus. I can’t even suss out what the song titles mean.

Given the stripped-down aspect of these Songs performances, it’s akin to listening to little operas. Only with just one voice. And one instrument. Hearing German performed in this way makes the harshness of the language stand out in a way that one might not notice if it were buried under layers of orchestra and performed by a cast of actors/singers.

So, in some way, today’s CD makes me chuckle. I love the German language. But heard this way makes it sound even funnier.

Before I comment any more, I’ll re-post some of the information from yesterday:

Questions: Who is Elly Ameling? And who is Jorg Demus?

Google time!

I learned that Elly Ameling is a Dutch soprano born in 1933. Info about her can be found here. According to that Wiki article,

After her professional début as a concert singer in Rotterdam in 1953, she performed for more than forty years in virtually every major cultural centre in the world. Her frequent appearances with the leading international orchestras and conductors (Bernard Haitink, Rafael Kubelík, Carlo Maria Giulini, Benjamin Britten, Seiji Ozawa, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kurt Masur, Sir Neville Marriner, Karl Münchinger, André Previn, Edo de Waart among others) established her as one of the greatest singers of our age.

Jorg Demus is an Austrian pianist born in 1928. According to his Wikipedia article,

At the age of six, Demus received his first piano lessons. Five years later, at the age of 11, he entered the Vienna Academy of Music, studying piano and conducting. His debut as a pianist came when he was still a student: at the age of 14…He received the Mozart Medal of the Mozartgemeinde Wien in 1979.

Cool. Top-notch performers. Typical for Brilliant Classics, a company that strives to offer the very best Classical music at one of the most remarkably affordable prices in the world.

By the way, these recordings were made in 1980. So Ameling was 47 years old. Demus was 52. I’m not sure how old Haydn was, or when these songs were written.

Google time again!

Okay. After a bit of poking around, here’s what I discovered on the Brilliant Classics web site:

Haydn’s lieder is sadly often relegated to the opening ‘warm-up’ sections of recitals, or, even worse, totally neglected. This is a pity, for as collectors of Brilliant Classics cycle of all his Scottish Songs will know, there is much wit, warm humour and not a little drama to found in these gems. The songs on this CD span 1781 –95, and the first two sets were written for the Viennese socialite Franz Sales von Greiner, who regularly advised Haydn on the choice of texts.

Given the above information, Haydn was anywhere from 49 to about 63 when he composed these songs. That’s a wide age range. Doesn’t help me much.

Just to put these date range in context, Mozart died in 1791. So these songs were written by Haydn a little before to a little after the death of Amadeus Mozart.

The songs are pleasant enough, with Ameling’s voice occasionally soaring, and Demus’ piano work frequently brilliant. My only complaint is that I can’t really tell one song from another. They all sound equally good – or equally bad, depending on one’s point of view.

Here’s what I listened to today:

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