Elysium: A Schubert Recital

by Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton

Overview

Elysium (the Elysian Fields) was a Greek notion of the positive afterlife that dates back as far as Homer. The early Romantics were fascinated by its resonances, and if the organizing principle of this recital by the increasingly Schubert-oriented soprano Carolyn Sampson seems a bit vague, well, so was the concept in Schubert's time. It extended into realms of sleep, ghost stories, the moon and stars, and really many kinds of spirituality -- religious and otherwise. CD buyers get an enlightening booklet note by the song historian Susan Youens that amplifies the tightly woven sequence of songs Sampson offers here. There are a few Schubert hits, but also some lieder that only Schubert buffs will have heard, such as the title track, setting a lengthy ode by Schiller. The program is one that Sampson and accompanist managed to perform in recital at the height of the pandemic, and it is clear that she has lived in the songs for a while and knows their little turns. In general, it is a delightfully moody set that features deep interaction between Sampson and Joseph Middleton, with the latter grabbing the listener's attention right from the opening bars. Sampson's voice in mid-career has developed a slight and not unpleasant metallic tinge that she deploys well in the reflective moods of these songs and that blooms startlingly in the final melodrama Abschied von der Erde, D. 829. Consider the knife's-edge opening long note in Nacht und Traeume, D. 827, also a splendid example of Middleton's art. With excellent Potton Hall sound, this is an absorbing Schubert recital that will bring new insights. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	03/03/2023
Label:	Bis
UPC:	7318599925738
Rank:	12767

Tracks

1. Schwestergruß, D 762
2. Ganymed, D 544
3. An den Mond, D 193
4. Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D 744
5. Die junge Nonne, D 828
6. Gott im Fr¿¿hlinge, D 448
7. Nacht und Träume, D 827
8. Die Sterne, D 939
9. An den Mond, D 259
10. Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen, D 343
11. An die Nachtigall, D 497
12. Der Musensohn, D 764
13. Der liebliche Stern, D 861
14. Wiegenlied, D 867
15. Du bist die Ruh, D 776
16. Elysium, D 584
17. Abschied von der Erde, D 829

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Carolyn Sampson   Primary Artist,Soprano (Vocal)
Joseph Middleton   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Chris Vesty   Piano Technician
Horst A. Scholz   Liner Note Translation
Matthaus Casimir von Collin   Text
Friedrich Rueckert   Text
Andrew Barnett   Typesetting
Raphael Mouterde   Post Production Editor,Producer
Robert Suff   Executive Producer
Adolf von Pratobevera   Text
Jakob Nikolaus Craigher de Jachelutta   Text
Matthias Claudius   Text
Jens Braun   Post Production Editor,Producer,Engineer
Dave Rowell   Post Production Mix,Engineer
Johann-Georg Jacobi   Text
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe   Text
Marco Borggreve   Cover Photo
Arlette Lemieux-Chene   Liner Note Translation
Richard Wigmore   Text Translation
Franz Schubert   Composer
Johann Peter Uz   Text
Franz von Bruchmann   Text
Friedrich von Schiller   Text,Poetry
Johann Gabriel Seidl   Text
Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hoelty   Text
Karl Gottfried Ritter von Leitner   Text
Ernst Schulze   Text
Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg   Text
Susan Youens   Liner Notes