This is a unique, exciting programme presented by three excellent musicians: tenor Werner Güra, clarinettist Laura Ruiz Ferreres, and pianist Christoph Berner.
Instead of isolating Schubert’s famous lied Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (‘The Shepherd on the Rock’), they have combined the Viennese composer’s final masterpiece with works which enlist the clarinets of Niels Gade and Ludwig Spohr. Celebrated by Schumann, the often-overlooked Niels Gade represents the very essence of Romanticism, as evidenced by his Fantasiestücke for clarinet and piano, which is dispersed here amongst other lieder works. Considered during his time as an equal of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, Ludwig Spohr is also one of the great forgotten figures of music history. His Sechs Deutsche Lieder, Op. 103 (composed in 1837) are sensitive, refined, and make particularly good use of the clarinet and voice.
These three splendid cycles are completed with lieder by three German composers, Conradin Kreutzer, Franz Lachner and Giacomo Meyerbeer. Prior to his role as director of the French opera, Meyerbeer had worked with Hummel, Salieri, Weber and Beethoven in Vienna. He gave us the beautiful ‘Hirtenlied’ (‘Shepherds’ Song’) written for voice, clarinet and piano using the Schubertian model, which is said to have inspired Wagner’s famous forlorn melody for English horn at the beginning of the third act of Tristan. © François Hudry/Qobuz