Beethoven Songs Matthias Goerne & Jan Lisiecki

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Sechs Lieder von Gellert, Op. 48:
• 1 Sechs Lieder von Gellert, Op. 48: 1. Bitten 03:41
• 2 Sechs Lieder von Gellert, Op. 48: 2. Die Liebe des Nächsten 02:50
• 3 Sechs Lieder von Gellert, Op. 48: 3. Vom Tode 03:24
• 4 Sechs Lieder von Gellert, Op. 48: 4. Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur 01:51
• 5 Sechs Lieder von Gellert, Op. 48: 5. Gottes Macht und Vorsehung 02:07
• 6 Sechs Lieder von Gellert, Op. 48: 6. Bußlied 04:07
• Resignation, WoO 149:
• 7 Resignation, WoO 149 02:53
• An die Hoffnung, Op. 32:
• 8 An die Hoffnung, Op. 32 03:41
• Lied aus der Ferne, WoO 137:
• 9 Lied aus der Ferne, WoO 137 03:22
• Mailied, Op. 52 No. 4:
• 10 Mailied, Op. 52 No. 4 02:01
• Der Liebende, WoO 139:
• 11 Der Liebende, WoO 139 02:07
• Klage, WoO 113:
• 12 Klage, WoO 113 02:44
• An die Hoffnung, Op. 94:
• 13 An die Hoffnung, Op. 94 06:57
• Adelaide, Op. 46:
• 14 Adelaide, Op. 46 05:30
• Wonne der Wehmut, Op. 83 No. 1:
• 15 Wonne der Wehmut, Op. 83 No. 1 02:14
• Das Liedchen von der Ruhe, Op. 52 No. 3:
• 16 Das Liedchen von der Ruhe, Op. 52 No. 3 05:48
• An die Geliebte, WoO 140 (1814 Version):
• 17 An die Geliebte, WoO 140 (1814 Version) 01:01
• An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98:
• 18 An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98: 1. Auf dem Hügel sitz ich spähend 02:30
• 19 An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98: 2. Wo die Berge so blau 01:32
• 20 An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98: 3. Leichte Segler in den Höhen 01:39
• 21 An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98: 4. Diese Wolken in den Höhen 01:04
• 22 An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98: 5. Es kehret der Maien, es blühet die Au 02:25
• 23 An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98: 6. Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder 03:46
• Total Runtime 01:09:14

Info for Beethoven Songs

Over the years, many of the countless attempts to portray Beethoven have veered towards the one-dimensional: the hero, the titan, the free spirit, the rebel and non-conformist, the musical libertarian… While there may be some truth in one or more of these labels, the reality is infinitely more complex. To get to know the true Beethoven, one needs to look beyond the multitude of myths that have proliferated around him – and a good starting point is to focus on some of his vocal miniatures, works that have been unjustly eclipsed by the monumental status of his nine symphonies.

Beethoven revisited the Lied form continually throughout his entire life. Here, we encounter a poetically sensitive and insightful man, drawn to the humorous qualities of the genre as well as to the fundamental questions of human existence.

World-renowned artists baritone Matthias Goerne and pianist Jan Lisiecki reveal some of his rich and varied creations in this field on their first joint album, Ludwig van Beethoven: Lieder · Songs, scheduled for international release by Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Canada, the country's leading music company, on 20 March 2020.

It has long been one of Matthias Goerne’s main concerns to work not only with specialized Lied accompanists, but also with top-calibre concert pianists. He places great stock in exchanging ideas on interpretation and performance on an equal footing with his artistic partners. Christoph Eschenbach, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Leif Ove Andsnes… – the list of pianists with whom he has regularly performed continues. Now over fifty, and with almost twenty-five years’ experience of the opera and concert stages to his credit, Goerne has been seeking to shed fresh light on the repertoire by exploring the songs of selected composers with some of the most outstanding members of the younger generation.

As he notes, the pianist plays a particularly significant role in Beethoven’s Lieder: “The piano parts in Beethoven’s songs are relatively complex, calling for an instinctive virtuosity beyond the reach of many pianists.” The singer found just that quality in Canadian pianist and exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist Jan Lisiecki, whose exceptionally acclaimed recent recording of Beethoven’s five piano concertos is already being touted as a new reference, and whose playing is notable above all for its profound sensitivity and an interpretative maturity that belies the artist’s youth.

“The very first time we met, I noticed just how quick Jan was to grasp new ideas,” recalls Goerne, “not to mention the incredible ability he had to translate those ideas onto the keyboard.”

Goerne and Lisiecki selected twelve works for their album, including two song cycles: the Sechs Lieder, op.48 – settings of poems by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715-69) – and An die ferne Geliebte (To the Distant Beloved), the best-known of Beethoven’s solo vocal compositions. Matthias Goerne believes the fact that the composer’s songs are often overlooked today is due to the towering stature of Schubert as a Lieder composer. “That’s why Beethoven’s achievements in this genre are overshadowed. The very concept of the Lied is so indelibly and permanently linked with the name of Schubert that everything that happened before him is seen as scarcely worthy of attention.”

With this release, Goerne and Lisiecki demonstrate in an impressive manner that there is still plenty to reconcile and discover about Beethoven.

Matthias Goerne, baritone
Jan Lisiecki, piano

Matthias Goerne
is one of the most internationally sought-after vocalists and a frequent guest at renowned festivals and concert halls. He has collaborated with leading orchestras all over the world. Conductors of the first rank as well as eminent pianists are among his musical partners.

Since his opera début at the Salzburg Festival in 1997 (Papageno), Matthias Goerne has appeared on the world’s principal opera stages, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Teatro Real, Madrid; Paris National Opera; Vienna State Opera; and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. His carefully chosen roles range from Wolfram, Amfortas, Kurwenal and Orest right up to the title roles in Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Paul Hindemithʼs Mathis der Maler and Aribert Reimann’s Lear. Goerne’s artistry has been documented on numerous recordings, many of which have received prestigious awards. He is currently recording a series of selected Schubert songs (The Goerne/Schubert Edition – 11 CDs) for Harmonia Mundi.

From 2001 through 2005 Matthias Goerne taught as an honorary professor of song interpretation at the Robert Schumann Academy of Music in Düsseldorf. In 2001, he was appointed an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Born in Weimar, he studied with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig, and with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Highlights of the 2011/12 season included a tour with the Vienna Philharmonic, appearances at the Vienna State Opera and the Saito Kinen Festival (Bluebeard with Seiji Ozawa) and song recitals with Christoph Eschenbach and Leif Ove Andsnes in Paris, Vienna and New York (Carnegie Hall).

In 2012/13, Matthias Goerne sings Wolfram at the Bavarian State Opera and Amfortas in concert with the Teatro Real in Madrid. Concert highlights include appearances with the Orchestre de Paris (Bluebeard), Berlin Philharmonic (War Requiem), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony), Filarmonica del Teatro alla Scala (Mahler Lieder) and San Francisco Symphony (Wagner arias) as well as song recitals with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Schubert cycles with Christoph Eschenbach at the Vienna Musikverein.

Jan Lisiecki
The Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki was born in Calgary to Polish parents in 1995. After gradu-ating from high school there in January 2011, he attended the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto. Now recognized around the world for his poetic and mature playing, Jan has received several awards, among others as a 2010 Révélation Radio-Canada Musique and a 2011 Jeune Soliste des Radios Francophones. In 2010, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute released his live recordings of both Chopin concertos with Sinfonia Varsovia and Howard Shelley. This album was awarded the Diapason découverte. Diapason described him as “an unmannered virtuoso” and singled out for praise his “irresistibly natural playing”.

Jan has shared the stage with such renowned artists as Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma and Pinchas Zukerman and substituted for Nelson Freire in four concerts in France. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York, opened the Seoul International Music Festival in Korea and performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and an audience of 100,000 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Also a dedicated performer of chamber music, Jan has collaborated with the New Zealand String Quartet, Quatuor Ébène and the Penderecki String Quartet, appearing at festivals including Ravinia, Verbier, Montpellier, La Roque d’Anthéron, Warsaw (“Chopin and His Europe”), Bologna, Auvers-sur-Oise, Menton, Merano, Seoul and many others in Canada and the USA. Among the highlights of Jan Lisiecki’s 2011/12 season were the opening concert of the Orchestre de Paris under Paavo Järvi at Salle Pleyel and concerts in Montreal with the Orchestre Métropolitain under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, debuts with the MDR Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, as well as a European recital tour. On his Japan tour in the autumn, he appeared in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. Later in 2012 he made his debuts with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra under Antonio Pappano and with the New York Philharmonic under Daniel Harding.

In March 2013, Lisiecki substituted at short notice for Martha Argerich in a Bologna concert under Claudio Abbado. Further engagements in 2013/14 include a Japan tour with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Nézet-Séguin, Mozart concertos with Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Center, a German tour with the Prague Philharmonia and Jakob Hrusa and concerts with Hrusa and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, concerts with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreál under Kazushi Ono and with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra under Krysztof Urbański, a European recital tour including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Rome’s Accademia di Santa Cecilia and the Berlin Philharmonie, as well as other European and North American recital and orchestral engagements and festival appearances including Verbier, Vail, Schleswig-Holstein and Warsaw (Chopin).

Lisiecki’s performances have been broadcast on Bavarian Radio, BBC Radio, CBC Canada, Austrian Radio, Radio France and Radio Luxembourg, as well as on television on France 3 and TV 1 and 2 in Poland. He was featured in the CBC Next! series as one of Canada’s most promising young artists and in The Reluctant Prodigy, Joe Schlesinger’s 2009 CBC National News documentary about him.

Jan Lisiecki performs frequently for various charity organizations, including the David Foster Foundation, the Polish Humanitarian Organization and the Wish Upon a Star Foundation. In June 2008 he was appointed a National Youth Representative by UNICEF Canada.

In 2011 Jan Lisiecki signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. His first recording under this agreement, released in April 2012, features Mozart’s Piano Concertos K.466 and 467 with Christian Zacharias conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. A CD containing his performances of the complete Chopin Etudes Opp. 10 and 25, will be issued in April 2013.

Booklet for Beethoven Songs