Alexander Zemlinsky - Lyric Symphony (Christoph Eschenbach)

Information

Composer: Alexander Zemlinsky

1. Lyrische Symphonie, Op. 18: I. Langsam (Grave) mit ernst-leidenschaftlichem Ausdruck
2. Lyrische Symphonie, Op. 18: II. Lebhaft
3. Lyrische Symphonie, Op. 18: III. Von hier ab plötzlich breiter und nach und nach immer ruhiger und langsamer
4. Lyrische Symphonie, Op. 18: IV. Langsam
5. Lyrische Symphonie, Op. 18: V. Feurig und kraftvoll
6. Lyrische Symphonie, Op. 18: VI. Sehr mäβige Viertel
7. Lyrische Symphonie, Op. 18: VII. Molto adagio (äußerst langsam und seelenvoll)

Christine Schäfer, soprano
Matthias Goerne, baritone
Orchestre de Paris
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Date: 2005
Label: Capriccio
http://www.capriccio.at/alexander-zemlinsky

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Review

Eschenbach gives a vivid, dramatic reading of this symphonic music-drama

There have been several memorable recordings of Zemlinsky’s masterpiece and this one, the first for many years, can be placed in their company. Christoph Eschenbach and his soloists clearly agree that the Lyric Symphony is not simply an orchestral song-cycle but a symphonic music-drama: the resulting performance has all the vividness and immediacy of a live event yet – equally importantly – excessive histrionics are avoided. This is music that needs no nudging or special pleading to exercise its power and poignancy.

Matthias Goerne has the combination of vocal heft and lyric mellifluousness necessary to sustain the demanding lines of the work’s four odd-numbered episodes. Perhaps the third section, with its particularly sumptuous orchestral backcloth, could have taken a degree or two more of sheer vocal refinement, but overall Goerne yields little in compelling characterisation to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (DG, 6/87 – nla), Bryn Terfel (DG, 12/96 – nla) or Håkan Hagegård (Decca,12/94 – nla), and he does full justice to the heart-rending finale.

Similarly, Christine Schäfer is a worthy successor to Julia Varady, Deborah Voigt and Alexandra Marc. She is especially convincing in the dramatic final stages of the second movement, and also in the expressionistic sixth. Ideally, the fourth movement’s gentle lover’s plea might be even more rapt, more other-worldly than it is here. But this reading fits well with the interpretation as a whole. The voices are forwardly placed without loss of orchestral detail, and only in the brief, turbulent fifth movement did I feel that the instrumental sound needed more edge. Even so, the orchestral playing throughout is superb.

-- Arnold Whittall, Gramophone

More reviews:
MusicWeb International RECORDING OF THE MONTH
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/4h3n
http://www.amazon.com/Lyrische-Symphonie-Op-18-Lyric-Symphony/dp/B000EBEJ70

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Alexander Zemlinsky (October 14, 1871, Vienna – March 15, 1942, Larchmont, New York) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher. Zemlinsky's best-known work is the Lyric Symphony, which Zemlinsky compared in a letter to his publisher to Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. As a conductor, Zemlinsky was admired by, among others, Kurt Weill and Stravinsky. As a teacher, his pupils included Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Hans Krása and Karl Weigl.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Zemlinsky

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Christoph Eschenbach (born February 20, 1940) is a German-born pianist and conductor. He is currently music director of both the National Symphony Orchestra and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Eschenbach has made more than 80 recordings as piano soloist, conductor, or both. From 2000 to 2010, Eschenbach was Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Eschenbach

http://www.christoph-eschenbach.com/index.php?lid=en&cid=0

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