Almost two years ago, I talked about the art song programme in Barcelona on a blog post. I said back then that it was a sort of desert: there were just three recitals programmed for the 2012-2013 season at the main auditoriums (Palau de la Música Catalana, Gran Teatre del Liceu and L'Auditori), none of them at the Liceu. The following season (which is the present one), song recitals went back to the opera house and four of them were programmed; for next season, 2014-2015, three more recitals are scheduled. I should be pleased but recently, coinciding with Nina Stemme and Jonas Kaufmann's recitals in the same week, I read on papers and social networks some comments suggesting that art song recitals should be removed from the Liceu seasons.

 

There are plenty of songs about spring; so many that it has been difficult for me to choose just one. The first choice to be made was, should it be a sad or a happy song? (Because poets can become sad and melancholic even in view of spring); I chose happy, so I discarded some of those songs. Among the happy ones, I firstly thought of sharing with you Frühlingsmorgen by Mahler, because it's a “sister” song with last week’s (Erinnerung and Frühlingsmorgen are by the same poet and were composed during the same period). Finally, though, we are listening to Frühlingslied, by Schumann, because we haven't heard yet any duet on this blog (a reason as good as any other).