Customer Reviews

The Songs of Robert Schumann 1 / Christine Schäfer, Graham Johnson

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Sorry I can't of more help in discussing the music and history of the songs on this CD. I just want to say how much I enjoy listening to it. The performances are wonderful. I have all of the Hyperion Songs of Robert Schumann series with Graham Johnson, and this collection, in my humble opinion, is the most charming and delightful. Christine Schafer's singing is perfect for this recital.

Christine Schäfer was only 31 years of age in 1996 when she recorded this album of the songs of Robert Schumann, and this volume was the initial volume in the highly regarded Hyperion Series. Though it is generally felt that voices don't truly blossom until a bit later this album is as exquisite a performance of the songs of Schumann as sung by a soprano as any likely to appear. She collaborates here with pianist Graham Johnson who is the pianist who is at the core of the entire series of what is now eleven CDs, each with different singers and each absolutely superb. There is also a boxed set of the songs of Robert Schumann as interpreted by Graham Johnson that places the songs in the chronological order in which they were written.

Christine Schäfer has a voice as pure as silver and is able to sustain notes and phrases with a seemingly endless source of breath control. Her involvement with the lyrics of each of these songs is complete and her diction is impeccable. Since this recording she has gone on to become one of the most sought after sopranos in Europe both in opera and in recital. Her voice at this point in her career is at a peak of warm brilliance that makes everything she touches perfect. As the current soprano soloist in the Brahms Requiem with Dudamel and the LA forces and partnering with Matthias Goerne, she simply melts the soaring lines of 'Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit' with an ease of projection that is astonishing.

When a true star is well established, as is Christine Schäfer, it is always a pleasure to turn to earlier recordings such as this and hear that all promises and expectations were met. Grady Harp, May 11