Sex digte (Six Songs) Op 25
Sechs Lieder (Six Songs) Op 48
Haugtussa (‘Haugtussa’ Song Cycle) Op 67
Hjertets melodier (Melodies of the heart) Op 5
Princessen (The Princess) EG 133

Hyperion is delighted to present a disc of Grieg’s songs. Grieg’s sheer range as a song-writer from the shortest settings, folk-like and immediate, to the depth of distinctive inspiration that runs through every bar of the major cycle Haugtussa places him without question among the finest masters of the genre. Arne Garborg’s verse-novel Haugtussa created a deep impression on Grieg. The resulting marriage of poetry and music is one of the miracles of the nineteenth-century song-cycle genre. Many regard this work as Grieg’s masterpiece: it is certainly one of the greatest song-cycles for the female voice ever written, revealing the composer at the very height of his powers.

These matchless examples of Scandinavian Romanticism are performed by the partnership of Swedish mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus and pianist Julius Drake, who drew great critical acclaim for their disc of Sibelius songs.



DAILY TELEGRAPH CLASSICAL CD OF THE WEEK

'Swedish mezzo Katarina Karnéus is as eloquent and impassioned an advocate of Grieg as she was of Sibelius in her first recital for Hyperion. Her flavoursome voice can soar and flare thrillingly … Karnéus is a singer of natural warmth and spontaneity who possesses what Grieg called the gift of 'reading between the lines' and 'interpreting a half-told tale' … A glorious disc' (Daily Telegraph)

'Karneus is a near-ideal interpreter, with her velvety mezzo and bright communicative skills. Some favourites are here - A Swan, With a Water-lily, The Way of the World and I Love You - and the quality of the songs is consistently high. A lovely disc' (Sunday Times)

'In the mezzo-soprano of Katarina Karnéus, Hautgassa becomes a darkly erotic tale … Julius Drake provides the watery undercurrents for Karnéus's eloquent 'En svane' and 'Med en vandlilje'. Their partnership is vividly alive … with the timbre of Karnéus's mezzo particularly moving in the grief-stricken dying falls of Goethe's 'Zur Rosenzeit'' (BBC Music Magazine)

'It is Karneus's ability to characterize a song quite as much as the beauty of her singing that makes this CD so rewarding' (International Record Review)

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Recording details: December 2007; All Saints, Durham Road, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom; Produced by Mark Brown; Engineered by Julian Millard; Release date: July 2008;