Befreit: A Soul Surrendered

by Kitty Whately, Joseph Middleton

Overview

Austrian composer Johanna Mueller-Hermann and Germany's Margarete Schweikert were both successful composers in their own time, supported by their families and with many dozens of publications to their credit. Yet the rediscovery of music by women, somewhat less active in German-speaking lands than in France or the anglophone sphere, has largely bypassed both composers. From the evidence on this 2023 release by mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately, with invaluable contributions by veteran accompanist Joseph Middleton, that is a major omission. In this unrelievedly grim program featuring Mahler's Kindertotenlieder ("Songs of Dead Children") in its voice-and-piano version, the contributions of Mueller-Hermann and Schweikert more than hold their own. Interestingly the songs of Schweikert are the more modern of the pair, even though she hailed from the provincial German city of Karlsruhe; she was born nine years after Mueller-Hermann, and in the fast-moving stylistic world of the turn of the century that made a lot of difference, but both composers were breathing the same air as Strauss and Mahler, and setting a lot of the same poets. Mueller-Hermann inclined a bit toward women writers. Sample her bleakly declamatory Der letzte Abend, Op. 2, No. 4 ("The Last Evening"), to a text by Ricarda Octavia Huch. The various Strauss songs and especially Mahler's cycle receive committed, intense performances from Whately, whose recordings are rather infrequent but always well considered, and Chandos' Potton Hall sound is clear and completely idiomatic. However, the songs by Mueller-Hermann and Schweikert here are the main attraction, and they may well rewrite a chunk of the lieder repertory. This album appeared on classical best-seller charts in early 2023. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	02/10/2023
Label:	Chandos
UPC:	0095115217726
Rank:	248988

Tracks

1. Wie eine Vollmondnacht, Op. 20 No. 4 for Voice and Piano
2. Der letzte Abend, Op. 2 No. 4
3. Befreit, Op. 39, TrV 189, No. 4
4. Allerseelen, Op. 10, TrV 141 No. 8
5. Wolke I No. 2 from Lieder f¿¿r eine Singstimme mit Klavierbegleitung
6. Totenhausen
7. Zusammen sterben
8. Auf ein Kind, Op. 47, TrV 200 No. 1
9. R¿¿ckleben, Op. 47, TrV 200 No. 3
10. Morgen!, Op. 27, TrV 170 No. 4
11. Die stille Stadt, Op. 4 No. 1 for Middle Voice and Piano
12. Herbst, Op. 20 No. 2 for Voice and Piano
13. In Memoriam, Op. 28 No. 5
14. Unser Haus
15. Die Entschlafenen
16. Kindertotenlieder for Middle Voice and Piano~1. Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n!. Langsam und schwerm¿¿tig, nicht schleppend - Bewegter - Tempo I
17. Kindertotenlieder for Middle Voice and Piano~2. Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen. Ruhig, nicht schleppend - Etwas bewegter - Tempo I
18. Kindertotenlieder for Middle Voice and Piano~3. Wenn dein M¿¿tterlein. Schwer, dempf - Etwas bewegter - Wie zu Anfang - Etwas bewegter - Wie zu Angang
19. Kindertotenlieder for Middle Voice and Piano~4. Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen!. Ruhig bewegt, ohne zu eilen
20. Kindertotenlieder for Middle Voice and Piano~5. In diesem Wetter!. Mit ruhelos schmerzvollem Ausdruck - Allm¿¿hlich langsamer - Langsam, wie ein Wiegenlied

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Kitty Whately   Primary Artist,Mezzo-Soprano (Vocal)
Joseph Middleton   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Jonathan Cooper   Engineer,Recording Producer,Editing
Stephanie Wollny   Text Translation,Liner Note Translation
Ludwig Uhland   Text
Friedrich Rueckert   Text
Richard Stokes   Text Translation
Finn S. Gundersen   Booklet Editor
Kitty Whately   Liner Notes
Paul Griffiths   Liner Notes
Johannes Schlaf   Text
John Henry Mackay   Text
Johanna Mueller-Hermann   Text,Composer
Sue Shortridge   A&R
Richard Dehmel   Text
Cass Cassidy   Design,Typesetting
Hermann von Gilm zu Rosenegg   Text
Ricarda Octavia Huch   Text
Gustav Mahler   Composer
Richard Strauss   Composer
Theowill Uebelacker   Text
Joseph A. Rinaldini   Text
Johann Friedrich Holderlin   Text
John Alexander   Photography,Cover Photo
Iain Kilpatrick   Piano Technician
Margarete Schweikert   Composer