Obwohl heute noch ein schöner Sonnentag war, geht der Sommer, wo man lieber im Garten sitzt als im Schallplattenzimmer, nun immer mehr seinem Ende zu. Zeit, endlich mal wieder Musik zu veröffentlichen! Ich habe noch einiges in der Planung und schon manches davon vorbereitet, aber fertig ist noch nicht viel. Als erstes kommt nun eine LP von Elisabeth Schumann (1888 - 1952), die 1964 in England erschienen ist und im Jahre 1950 mit George Schick am Klavier aufgenommen wurde. Sie enthält Lieder von Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Franz und Hugo Wolf.
Ich habe lange überlegt, ob ich die LP hier veröffentlichen soll, da diese Aufnahmen auch als kommerzieller Download bei Amazon angeboten werden. Die Edition dort ist aber lieblos gemacht (die gleichen Schreibfehler von Liedtiteln wie auf der Original-LP), und die Aufnahmen klingen, soweit ich hineinhören konnte, als seien sie von einer schlecht erhaltenen LP überspielt worden. Meine Überspielung klingt besser, und so bringe ich die Aufnahme hier doch - zumal ich durch den Kommentar von tin ear auf meinen letzten Beitrag erfahren habe, dass die 70-Jahre-Frist für Tonaufnahmen in Europa noch nicht Gesetzesrang hat, sondern erst geplant ist, und diese Aufnahme deshalb legal kopierbar ist. Der Download-Link, zum ersten mal auf Zippyshare, befindet sich weiter unten.
As I have learned through the comment of tin ear on my last article, that the extension of Copyright to 70 years isn't law yet, I venture to publish this recording which was still ready for some time. I hesitated to bring it here because there is a commercial download source for it on Amazon, but I think my recording sounds better, and as it is old enough to be "free", so here it is! It is an LP by Elisabeth Schumann (1888 - 1952), published in 1964 in England, but recorded in 1950. The Robert Franz Lieder and Mendelssohn songs were recorded in spring of 1950 (Feb., 6th and 27th and April, 7th) in the appartment of Elisabeth Schumann in New York and issued in the middle of the 50ies on an 10 inch LP. The Hugo Wolf Lieder were recorded in December 1950 at the same place (Dec., 7th and 8th and 18th), with George Reeves at the piano, and issued in 1951.
In 1964, as the LP cover states, they were issued on Allegro ALL 746. Some Wolf songs were ommitted in order to fit to the record size. To save work, I copy the table of the whole songs from the Schumann Biography of her son gerd Puritz (see below):
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| Lieder recorded in 1950 by Elisabeth Schumann |
On the LP the Lieder 234 c), e) , f), g), h), k), m), p) were ommitted. "l) Phänomen" is listed on the LP and in my MP3 with its first line "Wenn zu der Regenwand Phoebus sich gattet". (Strange German - if you want a translation of the text, look here! )
The Wolf Songs are in a different order than above on the LP. You'll see it in the tags of the MP3 recordings. You can download the album here (first time on Zippyshare):
DOWNLOAD MP3
As Gerd Puritz writes in his book about his mother, the last years weren't very good for Elisabeth Schumann. Even if there was a highly acclaimed Gala at the Met at Jan 7th, 1951 and a successful tour to South Africa in 1951, her vocal ablities were diminshing like her financial resources, and new engagements were hard to get. At the end of 1951 she got ill with bone cancer and died in the spring of 1952.
You hear on the LP that the voice has lost his glamour and finish (at the age of 62!) and sometimes sounds tired, but the songs are choosen with taste and skill, and the album is still a pleasure to listen to. Puritz writes how Schumann talked with Lotte Lehmann, who made her farewell in 1951, about the possibilities of which songs could still be sung with effect and which ones they would better leave to younger voices...
I like Elisabeth Schumann and I also like the selection of the songs - not always the same Schubert, but very fine Mendelssohn songs and some Lieder by my highly estimated Robert Franz. And Hugo Wolf also is always a good choice! If someone owns the (I think much rarer than the Allegro LP) original LP with the Wolf songs and can contribute the ommitted songs, me and my readers would be very thankful...
