Franz Schubert - Schubert's Four Seasons (Carolyn Sampson; Joseph Middleton)

Information

Composer: Franz Schubert

1. Sehnsucht, D. 879
2. Der Winterabend, D. 938
3. Lied (Die Mutter Erde), D. 788
4. Frühlingsglaube, D. 686
5. Nachtviolen, D. 752
6. Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D. 965
7. Die Mainacht, D. 194
8. Mein Gruß an den Mai, D. 305
9. Im Frühling, D. 882
10. Schäfers Klagelied, D. 121
11. Die Forelle, D. 550
12. Heidenröslein, D. 257
13. Die Rose, D. 745
14. Die Sommernacht, D. 289b
15. Herbst, D. 945
16. An den Mond in einer Herbstnacht, D. 614
17. Erntelied, D. 434
18. Herbstlied, D. 502
19. Im Freien, D. 880
20. Rastlose Liebe, D. 138

Carolyn Sampson, soprano

Joseph Middleton, piano

Michael Collins, clarinet (6)

Date: 2025

Label: BIS

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After A Soprano’s Schubertiade and Elysium , Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton present a new recital devoted to Schubert’s songs on the theme of the changing seasons.

While there have also been other successful celebrations of the four seasons in music, Franz Schubert, a lover of nature, here evokes them in his lieder. Winter, imbued with nostalgia, is represented here by three songs in which the Schubertian hero sings of lost love. But gloomy thoughts soon give way to spring, synonymous with optimism and hope as nature returns to life: ‘Welcome, with your happy swarm of newly awakened creatures around me.’ If life is in full swing during the summer, the hero now seems uncertain about the happy outcome of his quest for love. In autumn, evoked here by six songs, the hero can only acknowledge his failure, reflected by nature preparing for a months-long sleep: ‘Ah, as the stars disappear in the sky, so does life’s hope fade away.’

Clarinettist Michael Collins joins the duo for one song, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, Schubert’s penultimate composition. Inspired by yodelling, this extended lied ends with the hope of a better life, with spring just around the corner and the prophetic words of ‘now I shall prepare/to go a-wandering’ heralding the composer’s approaching death.

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