The Complete Songs Vol 2

Strauss’s Drei Lieder der Ophelia have an inauspicious genesis. They were dashed off (together with three settings from Goethe’s Bücher des Unmuts The Books of Bad Temper) in the throes of a legal battle with his publisher. Clearly Strauss hoped that three mad songs and three bad-tempered songs would represent a suitably poisoned chalice for his arch-enemy. But in the case of the three mad songs, they have proved highly effective in the concert hall, especially when performed by a great singing actress such as Anne Schwanewilms, whose dramatic and vocal gifts are highlighted in this, the second volume of the complete Strauss Lieder. The selection begins, like Volume One, in the familiar territory of Opus 10, and proceeds chronologically through to the Ophelia-Lieder, on the way taking in many songs that will be less well known if they are known at all. Highlights among them should certainly be the impassioned and dramatic O wärst du mein!, the delightful miniatures of Weißer Jasmin and Wiegenliedchen, the two Alsatian folksongs, and not least the remarkable Blindenklage. Anne Schwanewilms is one of the greatest Strauss sopranos on the opera stage today, performing many major roles under Simon Rattle, Colin Davis, Andrew Davis, Semyon Bychkov and Mark Elder. This is her debut recording for Hyperion.

'Schwanewilms sings the three Ophelia songs of 1918, masterly depictions of a deranged mind and among Strauss's finest achievements in this genre. The soprano calls on her operatic experience in a vivid performance … Her singing of such favourites as 'Traum durch die Dämmerung' supports the claim that she is one of the leading Strauss singers of the new generation, and the rare 'Blindenklage' is given a marvellously dramatic and insightful performance. Roger Vignoles's accompaniments (and his sleeve notes) are superlative' (Sunday Telegraph)

'It's hard to dispute Roger Vignoles's claim that Anne Schwanewilms is 'a great singing actress'. That's clear in every song, where both the overall tinta and the text have not just been scrupulously attended to in the head but are excitingly delivered with the heart … There's a real experience here, knowingly and profoundly communicated. Vignoles is, as always, an equal and fully 'worked-in' team member. As well as being an impressive achievement in itself, this recital is a timely addition to a catalogue currently rather short of female competition in these songs' (Gramophone)

'Anne Schwanewilms has the individuality and imagination to convey Ophelia's descent into madness, fully supported by Roger Vignoles. The partnership is on fine form throughout this album, which equally serves the cause of neglected treasures and essential Strauss masterworks' (Classic FM Magazine)

'If Christine Brewer, odalisque of the Oriental numbers on Hyperion's first volume of Strauss songs, is the fullest Straussian soprano voice currently making recordings, Schwanewilms' is surely the most sheerly beautiful, ideal for the 'silvery radiance' Roger Vignoles mentions in his excellent liner notes. This recital is the first Strauss disc she has had to herself. but we already know her lumnious legato from the disc of Strauss orchestral songs she made with Mark Elder on the Hallé label … More revelatory is the way Schwanewilms' uncanny ability to change colour within a single note lends a strange beauty to the more disquieting songs … If the rest of Hyperion's series is anything like this one, it should win all sorts of awards' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Schwanewilms sings Das Rosenband with an easy grace that disguises her iron technique, and Waldseligkeit as if to prove that there are few purer excitements than the long-held note' (The Times)

'Not even Felicity Lott with Graham Johnson can match Anne Schwanewilms and Roger Vignoles here in the Drei Lieder der Ophelia … By any yardstick this is magnificent singing, with Schwanewilms always alert to the dramatic potential in so many of Strauss's songs. Listen to 'Blindenklage', that rarity from the Op 56 songs of 1906, transformed into a miniature opera with the piano even playing woodwind! Or even better, the extraordinary setting of Nikolaus Lenau's 'O wärst du mein!' from 1891. As Vignoles observes in his note in the booklet that accompanies this CD, in Strauss's hands Lenau's poem becomes a kind of 'operatic scena'. Schwanewilms relishes the challenge: the beat in her voice on 'vergeben' at the end of the last line of the first verse when the poet refuses to 'forgive his fate' is heart-stopping … Again you admire the effortless partnership between the two musicians, each, it seems, hanging on the other's last word and always raising the musical bar. This second volume of the Complete Strauss songs suggests we are at the start of another remarkable Hyperion journey ' (International Record Review)

'The German soprano Anne Schwanewilms has a deep understanding of the complexity and layering of Strauss songs. Roger Vignoles, meanwhile, accompanies with his usual skill, never overshadowing his partner' (Scotland on Sunday)

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Recording details: August 2006; All Saints, Durham Road, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom; Produced by Mark Brown; Engineered by Julian Millard; Release date: May 2007;