Matthias Goerne - Arias

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Artist), Richard Wagner (Artist), Robert Schumann (Artist), Engelbert Humperdinck (Artist), Richard Strauss (Artist), Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Artist), Alban Berg (Artist), Matthias Görne (Artist), Dorothea Röschmann (Artist), Manfred Honeck (Artist), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 12, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B000055X2Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,170 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #37 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Korngold, Erich Wolfgang
  • #66 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Classical (c.1770-1830) > Vocal & Song > General AAS

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Possessor of one of today's most beautiful baritone voices, Matthias Goerne has been associated, on stage and disc, more with lieder than with opera. Listeners who were spellbound by the emotional impact of his performances of Schubert's great song cycles were amazed at the comic perfection of his Papageno in his Metropolitan Opera debut. This recording, on which he creates and impersonates nine vastly different characters from operas spanning three centuries, is an even bigger surprise. Using--but never abusing--an extraordinary range of vocal and expressive color and inflection, he captures Papageno's humor, Count Almaviva's malicious cunning, Don Giovanni's seductiveness, Wolfram von Eschenbach's inward, chaste devoutness, and Wozzek's yearning desperation and madness, with equally total involvement and conviction. Along the way there are also rarities: the Minstrel's heartbreaking lament from Humperdinck's Die Königskinder--unjustly neglected if the rest of the opera is indeed as beautiful as this aria--Harlekin's ironic ditty from Strauss's Ariadne; the Pierrot's sensuous dream-song from Korngold's Die tote Stadt; and the final, heroically dramatic section of Schumann's Scenes from Faust. Soprano Dorothea Röschmann, his partner in four duets, also takes on several greatly varied roles with admirable flexibility. A children's chorus and a women's chorus participate in one aria to lovely effect, and the orchestra is excellent. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goerne Excellent in Familiar and Unusual Repertory, October 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Matthias Goerne - Arias (Audio CD)

Many baritones record Papegano's first aria ("Die Vogelfanger bin ich, ja"), Don Giovanni's serenade, and Wolfram's Evening Star Song. But when was the last time you saw Count Almaviva's aria ("Vedro, mentr'io sospiro") from LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Wolfram's "Blick, ich umher," or the murder scene from WOZZECK excerpted on a recital disc? Matthias Goerne's "Arias" CD includes all of these items and more, all sung with beauty, feeling, and musicality by one of the most intelligent and charismatic male singers of today. Goerne is joined in three duets ("Bei Mannern" from DIE ZAUBERFLOTE, "Crudel, perche finora" from FIGARO, and the WOZZECK scene) by soprano Dorothea Roschmann, whose sound isn't quite to my taste (it's a bit lacking in warmth) but who is as musical and as sensitive as her partner. The conductor, Manfred Honeck, is also an ideal match both for Goerne and for the music. Matthias Goerne's "Arias" is an indispensable disc for admirers of German music, the baritone voice, or Goerne himself -- or for those who would just like to hear an interestingly programmed aria recital.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A captivating stage performer doesn't register as dramatically on disc, September 23, 2005

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Matthias Goerne - Arias (Audio CD)

Matthias Goerne's picture on the cover of this CD implies an edgy, even angst-ridden interpreter, but the singing one finds inside is good average baritone work. I hear no musical revelations here, and although Goerne's voice is instantly recognizable by its warm, honeyed tone, his characterization is rather faceless and his dramatic approach too limp. He lacks edge and anger when singing the Count in Figaro, only to turn around and lack humor as Papageno from the Magic Flute. The best items are lyric, legato numbers like the aria from Korngold's Die tote Stadt. But strangest of all are the excerpts from Wozzeck, which Goerne sings straight, attempting not the slightest hint of Sprechstimme. It's not as though Berg made that optional.

If you think Hermann Prey or Theo Adam is a great baritone, I guess you'll think Goerne is one, too. Compared to a similar baritone recital on Sony with Bo Skovhus, I'd give the edge to Skovhus. Thomas Hampson, Thomas Quasthoff, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky have nothing to fear; maybe even Nathan Gunn has nothing to fear. All in all, I expected more from a singer whose reputation is flying high.