Wolfgang Holzmair sings Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte (song cycle), Adelaide / songs of Mozart and Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Wolfgang Holzmair (Performer), Imogen Cooper (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Wolfgang Holzmair, Imogen Cooper
• Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven
• Audio CD (May 9, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B00004R9CJ
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #295,711 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Adelaide

2. Das Veilchen

3. An Chloe

4. Das Traumbild

5. Die Betrogene Welt

6. Lob Der Faulheit

7. Gegenliebe

8. Trost Unglucklicher Liebe

9. Die Zu Spate Ankunft Der Mutter

10. Die Ihr Des Unermesslichen Waltalls Schopfer Ehrt

11. O Tuneful Voice

12. Sailor's Song.

13. Sympathy

14. The Spirit's Song

15. Fidelity

16. Content

17. Piercing Eyes

18. She Never Told Her Love

19. I. Auf Dem Hugel Sitz' Ich

20. II. Wo Die Berge So Blau

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a sweet voice, fresh and earnest performance., August 11, 2000

By 

Sen Peng Eu "ESP=Math+Music+Literature" (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wolfgang Holzmair sings Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte (song cycle), Adelaide / songs of Mozart and Haydn (Audio CD)

Holzmair gives us a very sweet and fresh performance here. His interpretation of some famous lieder( for example, Beethovan's An die ferne Geliebte ) gives new insight, and always in a delicate mood .In fact this is the best An die ferne Geliebte I've listened to. While with great Beethovan and fair Mozart, In my opinion the most outstanding part in this cd is Haydn's lieder. These sweet songs are almost forgotten by singers, and very few listeners know THERE WERE Haydn's lieder. Holzmair sings these songs with earnest and true understanding. And I think, If Holzmair could focus on words more, brings out the deep insight and power of every word in lieder, he will and must be a shining star in the lieder-singer world .Cooper's piano is excellent, the acostics balanced as well .

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Like it but better out there, August 24, 2004

By 

Larry VanDeSande - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wolfgang Holzmair sings Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte (song cycle), Adelaide / songs of Mozart and Haydn (Audio CD)

I very much enjoy Wolfgang Holzmair and enjoyed his Beethoven and Haydn songs. They are not the last word in this music, however. Recordings of Beethoven's "An die Ferne Geliebte" by Thomas Allen and, especially, Stephen Genz, sweep away the Holzmnair version.

Both the Englishman Allen and the German Genz have bigger voices they use to greater advantage than Holzmair in the raw emotional sections of Beethoven's only song cycle. In addition, the Genz CD contains 18 of Beethoven's German songs and Allen's contains a wonderful concert recorded by British radio that includes songs by Haydn, Beethoven and Wolf.

Allen does not have Holzmair's sensitivity but he more than makes up for it by blowing the top of the building he sings in. His immense vocals are overpowering but still no match for Genz, one of the most brilliant young singers to come around in many years. He matches Allen's vocal power and exceeds Holzmair's sensitivity to the text.

Fans of Holzmair can hear him at his very best in the Schubert song cycle "Schwanengesang" on Philips, if it is still in print. This is a venue that is most well suited to Holzmair's voice, style and delivery and is a cycle where he can excel against all comers. In Beethoven, I'm afraid he is of the second rank.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars German lieder not by Schubert, June 5, 2001

By 

klavierspiel "klavierspiel" (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Wolfgang Holzmair sings Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte (song cycle), Adelaide / songs of Mozart and Haydn (Audio CD)

Franz Schubert so dominates the world of German art song, both in quality and quantity, that it's easy to forget that other composers have contributed beautiful examples. Holzmair's current CD attempts to redress the balance by offering works by the great Viennese Classicists: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, some familiar, others less so. Certainly Beethoven's _An die ferne Geliebte_ and Mozart's setting of Goethe's _Das Veilchen_ match anything by Schubert in emotional profundity and matching of music and text. The late Masonic "Cantata," K. 619, by Mozart is also a real find. Haydn's songs, while pleasant, occupy on the whole a somewhat lower musical plane.

Holzmair and his pianist Imogen Cooper offer elegant, highly polished performances. The baritone has a light, smooth voice, almost tenor-like in timbre (he soars to easy high Gs and A-flats), and though he is never less than fully committed emotionally, at times one misses a weightier tone quality, especially in the Beethoven cycle. His diction in the Haydn English songs is not always easily understandable (admittedly the poetry is florid and old-fashioned). Still, this CD makes for much enjoyable listening of frequently unfamiliar repertoire.