SV18 - Son

August has arrived and with it the posts dedicated to the Schubertíada Vilabertran com. This year we have eleven song recitals, no more no less. As usual, we'll go over the songs programmed in those concerts that we heard on Liederabend so far, so as you can prepare the recital, in case you're attending it. If you're missing it, I hope that you would like to listen again to some of them; For all of you, we'll have, as always, a new song every week.

These summer articles are supposed to be short; As each one will be dedicated to three or four recitals, more than usual, I changed the format a bit to try to keep them short. Let's go!

Friday 10 August. Mercedes Gancedo and Bernardo Rambeaud (Sant Quirze de Colera)

As you can see, this recital is not in Vilabertran but in one of the new venues of the Schubertíada; I'm including it since it takes place the day after tomorrow. It's an unusual concert, with guitar instead of piano, and with a program dedicated entirely to the Argentinian and Brazilian Art Song. We heard previously two of the programmed songs, the first of them performed by Mercedes herself:

Friday 17 August. Katharina Konradi and Wolfram Rieger

And now, the opening concert in Vilabertran; Wolfram Rieger (how lucky we are!) will accompany the debut of a young soprano. The programme includes Mendelssohn, Schubert, Debussy, Rakhmaninov and Strauss, and we listened so far to these songs:

Saturday 18 August. Sarah Connolly, Malcolm Martineau and Jonathan Brown

In fact, there are two song recitals on Saturday 18th. This year the Schubertiade Academy takes place for the first time, a kind of spin-off from the course for the interpretation of lied that Wolfram Rieger gives every winter in Barcelona. Two of the duos that took place last year, Mireia Tarragó and Marina Pelfort and Francesc Ortega and Victoria Guerrero, will prepare during the Academy a programme that we don't know yet, so we'll focus on the great Connolly, Martineau and Brown, that join the singer and the pianist to perform two Brahm's lieder. These are the songs of their programme that you can listen again:

Tuesday, 21 August. Matthias Goerne and Alexander Schmalcz

Our 4th and last recital this week is that of a usual duo at the Schubertiade: Matthias Goerne and Alexander Schmalcz. Pay attention, the baritone is a gentleman that sings songs for ladies, the Wesendonck-Lieder; besides Wagner, he's singing Pfitzner and Strauss, and we heard previously one song from each of them:

Our new song this week is part of Katharina Konradi's programme: Son, op. 38/5 (A dream), by Rachmaninoff, composed from a poem by Fyodor Kuzmych Teternikov that tells us about dreams and the peace they bring us. Written in 1916, shortly before the composer was exiled, it's, therefore, one of the last songs he composed. We're listening to Son sang for Katharina Konradi, accompanied by Gerold Huber; it's a beautiful song that starts with a piano that seems to walk on tiptoe and ends with a long postlude that makes us feel as transported by the huge, light wings of the dream, as the poem says.