Notes and Editorial Reviews
Magnificently focused, with little or no sense of strain … seemingly infinite sensitivity. A very special disc.
There is a marvellous symbiosis at work between Holzmair and Cooper that is evident everywhere on this wonderful disc. You can hear it immediately in the first Lied,
Auf einer Wanderung. Cooper plays, as always, with the utmost sensitivity: just listen, also, to the perfectly weighted chords of the accompaniment to the prayer-like
Schlafendes Jesuskind. Holzmair projects the sense of wonder of the second stanza as eloquently as he does the magic simplicity of the scene-setting first. Cooper appears a little far back in the recorded balance.
Denk es, o Seele! is from
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Möricke’s novel
Mozart auf der Reise nach Prag. No surprise then that D-Minor is the chosen key, the key of
Don Giovanni. Cooper’s delicacy in the final bars is astonishing; out of that silence comes the famous
Der Gärtner with its deceptive childish simplicity. Delicacy is once more the order of the day for
Auf eine Christrose II, a song that here seems only barely to materialise on the earthly plane - something shared, to a slightly lesser extent, by
An den Schlaf, heard later in the recital. In total contrast comes the frenzy of
Feuerreiter, a nightmarish vision of a fairy-tale character who senses fire and abandons himself to it. The fusion of Cooper and Holzmair is best demonstrated here in Cooper's expert left-hand mirroring of Holzmair's phrasing of the recurring phrase, “Hinterm Berg, Brennt es in der Muhle!” (“Behind the hill, the mill's on fire!”).
The mystery of the advanced harmonies of
Peregrina I is wonderfully caught here. The song is thematically linked to its companion,
Peregrina II, and indeed they are performed here with hardly a breath between them. The latter is a picture of desolation in sound; the end hangs magnificently yet infinitely sadly in the air.
Um Mitternacht seems the only course of action, the low, ululating accompaniment underpinning the gentle vocal line. All credit to Holzmair here, for his faultless honouring of the long legato lines. The disarming simplicity of
Jägerlied comes as a breath of fresh air, not least in the form of Cooper's sprightly accompaniment with its wonderfully modulated staccati.
Putting the Schoenbergian
Frage und Antwort right next to the popular
Fussreise is lovely programming – and we hear the applause that presumably marked the end of the recital's first half. The second part opens with another harmonically complex offering, though:
In der Frühe, a meditation on insomnia. Holzmair and Cooper uphold the intense concentration through the enigmatic
Im Frühling
There is a distinct Mahlerian tinge to the brief
Lied eines Verliebten before Wolf's own brand of desolation is heard in pure form in
Lebe wohl. Yet Holzmair has a restrained smile in his voice for that meditation on the love-bite,
Nimmersatte Liebe, a smile that becomes more explicit in
Elfenlied.
Zur Warnung – a musical depiction of a hangover – is beautifully characterised by both players, while Cooper's accompaniment to the final programmed song,
Begegnung, is masterly. The encore,
Selbstgeständnis, is exquisitely turned.
Throughout, Holzmair’s high register is magnificently focused, with little or no sense of strain, and he characterises each song well. Cooper if anything outshines her soloist in her seemingly infinite sensitivity. A very special disc.
-- Colin Clarke, MusicWeb International
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Works on This Recording
2.
Mörike Lieder: no 5, Der Tambour by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 2 Minutes 44 Secs.
4.
Mörike Lieder: no 17, Der Gärtner by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 1 Minutes 30 Secs.
6.
Mörike Lieder: no 44, Der Feuerreiter by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 5 Minutes 27 Secs.
9.
Mörike Lieder: no 19, Um Mitternacht by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 3 Minutes 36 Secs.
10.
Mörike Lieder: no 4, Jägerlied by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 1 Minutes 7 Secs.
13.
Mörike Lieder: no 10, Fussreise by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 3 Minutes 8 Secs.
14.
Mörike Lieder: no 24, In der Frühe by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 2 Minutes 28 Secs.
15.
Mörike Lieder: no 13, Im Frühling by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 4 Minutes 44 Secs.
17.
Mörike Lieder: no 36, Lebe wohl by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 2 Minutes 39 Secs.
18.
Mörike Lieder: no 32, An die Geliebte by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 3 Minutes 29 Secs.
20.
Mörike Lieder: no 16, Elfenlied by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 1 Minutes 51 Secs.
21.
Mörike Lieder: no 28, Gebet by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 2 Minutes 30 Secs.
22.
Mörike Lieder: no 29, An den Schlaf by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 2 Minutes 38 Secs.
23.
Mörike Lieder: no 6, Er ist's by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 1 Minutes 33 Secs.
24.
Mörike Lieder: no 49, Zur Warnung by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 3 Minutes 1 Secs.
26.
Mörike Lieder: no 8, Begegnung by Hugo Wolf
Performer:
Imogen Cooper (Piano),
Wolfgang Holzmair (Baritone)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Vienna, Austria
Length: 2 Minutes 13 Secs.
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