Werner Heinrich Schmitt - Kienzl: Four Song-Cycles - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Austrian composer Wilhelm Kienzl (1857-1941) - also a pianist, conductor, musicologist and writer on music - enjoyed the esteem of his contemporaries particularly for his vocal music. But his star has waned over the past century, and only a handful of his 238 songs have had recent recordings. In style they range from the simple and folk-like to the dramatic and quasi-operatic; their harmonic world likewise embraces both the diatonic and chromatic, with hints of the influence of Schubert, Schumann and Brahms and a foretaste of later composers. The four song-cycles recorded here treat the grand themes of life love, loss, death and man's interaction with nature. Album Tracks 1. From Friedrich Rückert's 'Liebesfrühling' (Love's Spring), Op. 11~No. 1 Aus dem I. Strauss 'Erwacht' So wahr die Sonne scheinet (As truly as the sun shines) 2. From Friedrich Rückert's 'Liebesfrühling' (Love's Spring), Op. 11~No. 2 Aus dem I. Strauss 'Erwacht' Da ich dich einmal gefunden (Now that I have found you) 3. From Friedrich Rückert's 'Liebesfrühling' (Love's Spring), Op. 11~No. 3 Aus dem II. Strauss 'Entflohen' Er ist gekommen in Sturm und Regen (He came in storm and rain) 4. From Friedrich Rückert's 'Liebesfrühling' (Love's Spring), Op. 11~No. 4 Aus dem III. Strauss 'Entfremdet' Komm', verhüllte Schöne! (Come, veiled beauty!) 5. From Friedrich Rückert's 'Liebesfrühling' (Love's Spring), Op. 11~No. 5 Aus dem IV. Strauss 'Wiedergewonnen' Die gute Nacht, die ich dir sage (The goodnight wish with which I greet you) 6. From Friedrich Rückert's 'Liebesfrühling' (Love's Spring), Op. 11~No. 6 Aus dem IV. Strauss 'Wiedergewonnen' Ich lag von sanftem Traum umflossen (I lay engulfed in a gentle dream) 7. From Friedrich Rückert's 'Liebesfrühling' (Love's Spring), Op. 11~No. 7 Aus dem V. Strauss 'Verbunden' Mir ist, nun ich dich habe (I feel, now you are mine) 8. Three