The Dark Night Has Vanished
Songs by Grieg, Brahms, Lang & Schumann
Catriona Morison (mezzo-soprano)
Malcolm Martineau (piano)
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This spellbinding recital marks the Linn debut of Scottish mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison, winner of the 2017 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Main Prize and joint winner of the Song Prize. Favourites by Romantic heavyweights Brahms, Grieg and Schumann feature alongside Lieder by the German composer Josephine Lang, whose prodigious songwriting talent was nurtured by none other than Felix Mendelssohn. Lang’s unpublished setting of ‘Gestern und Heute’ (Yesterday and Today) is given its world premiere performance on this recording. Her distinctive style reveals an imaginative composer with a rich harmonic palette whose significant contribution to nineteenth-century German song deserves greater recognition. Morison, who is described by The Guardian as ‘a singer of much character [and] real musical intelligence’, joins luminaries such as Florian Boesch, Ann Murray and John Mark Ainsley, all of whom have also recorded with pianist Malcolm Martineau at Crear’s ‘Space to Create’. In addition to making her debut solo recording 2019 saw Morison make her BBC Proms debut (in Elgar’s Sea Pictures) and marked the end of her appointment as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.
Works
Brahms: Alte Liebe, Op. 72 No. 1
Brahms: Dein blaues Auge, (No. 8 from Acht Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 59)
Brahms: Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer, Op. 105 No. 2
Brahms: Mädchenlied, Op. 107 No. 5
Brahms: Meine Liebe ist grün, Op. 63 No. 5
Brahms: Sapphische Ode, Op. 94 No. 4
Grieg: Seks Sange, Op. 48
Lang, J: Abschied, Op. 10 No. 6
Lang, J: Die Schwalben
Lang, J: Gestern und Heute
Lang, J: Mignons Klage
Lang, J: Ob ich manchmal dein gedenke
Lang, J: Scheideblick, Op. 10 No. 5
Schumann: Der schwere Abend, Op. 90 No. 6
Schumann: Die Sennin, Op. 90 No. 4
Schumann: Einsamkeit, Op. 90 No. 5
Schumann: Kommen und Scheiden, Op. 90 No. 3
Schumann: Lied eines Schmiedes, Op. 90 No. 1
Schumann: Meine Rose, Op. 90 No. 2
Schumann: Requiem, Op. 90 No. 7
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Linn Records CD
CKD637