Schumann, Robert - Requiem - Grün, Georg

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Sibylla Rubens, soprano
Ingeborg Danz, alto
Christoph Prégardien, tenor
Adolph Seidel, baritone
Yorck Felix Speer, bass

Kammerchor Saarbrücken
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern
Georg Grün, conductor

The current program presents three, unjustly neglected late choral works by Robert Schumann. Indeed, much of Schumann's late music has suffered from harsh criticism; even Schumann's biographer Robert Schauffler simply says "... these (the late choral) works need not detain us." Such judgments resulted more from a misunderstanding of the composer's intentions, rather than the quality of the works themselves. Schumann's Requiem Op. 148 was written as a "companion" piece to his Mass Op. 147 and is an elegant and gentle acceptance of death. The work is beautifully scored and inhabits a world between Fauré's otherworldly peace and Berlioz's thunderous Last Judgment. Der Königssohn op. 116 was one of three works for voices and orchestra composed by Schumann from 1851-53 to poems by the German revolutionary poet Ludwig Uhland. The composer envisioned the work being performed my mass choruses, deliberately writing simple, folk-inspired melodies, rather than focus upon the musical drama expressed in the poem. Schumann reserved his finest music for the character of the "Bard" - with whom he undoubtedly identified. The program concludes with an unquestioned masterpiece - the all-to-rarely performed Nachtlied op. 108. Here is Schumann at his finest - as well as anticipating the musical world of Brahms' "Deutsches Requiem."