Federica Napoletani - Mahler. The Wunderhorn World (2023) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

The initial inspiration for this project came to me while I was writing a monograph on Schönberg’s “Verklärte Nacht”, Il labirinto e l’intrico dei viottoli [The Labyrinth and the Tangle of Pathways]. Schönberg, like Mahler, was attuned to the relationship between music and venues for music, and in my research, I discovered that Mahler was particularly concerned with the chamber-music aspect of his own Lieder from the Wunderhorn collection. He had even conducted some of them in what was then known as the Small Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein (now Brahms Hall), a space only suitable for a chamber orchestra—too small for the ensemble required for some of these Lieder. I consequently wondered about the kind of adaptation Mahler had made for that performance, while I was already considering undertaking a similar operation myself.

In the meantime, my concert project on Schönberg’s “Pierrot lunaire” had taken shape. Working with the ensemble, I realized that, by transcribing Mahler’s Lieder for the “Pierrot” ensemble I would avoid the risk of producing a mere imitation of the original. The ensemble used there is an extremely reduced ensemble, even more than that usually employed for Mahler transcriptions—. I could thus accommodate the elements of modernity, but also evoke the echoes of that world of small orchestras with piano, which is the musical horizon of reference for the Habsburg myth. At some points, a play of refractions is even created between the orchestral version and that for piano, both originally by Mahler.

TRACKLIST

1. Ensemble Progetto Pierrot - Sperl-Polka, Op. 133
2. Federica Napoletani - Rückert Lieder: No. 1 in F Major, Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder
3. Federica Napoletani - Lieder aus 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn': No. 5 in D Minor, Das irdische Leben
4. Federica Napoletani - Rosamunde, D. 797: 2. Ballett
5. Ensemble Progetto Pierrot - Symphony No. 1 in D Major: III. Kräftig, bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
6. Federica Napoletani - Rosamunde, D. 797: 3b. Romanze
7. Federica Napoletani - Lieder aus 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn': No. 7 in G Major, Rheinlegendchen
8. Federica Napoletani - 7 frühe Lieder: No. 2, Schilflied
9. Federica Napoletani - Lieder aus 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn': No. 9 in C Minor, Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen
10. Federica Napoletani - Lieder aus 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn': No. 4 in E-Flat Major, Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?
11. Federica Napoletani - Symphony No. 4: II. In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast
12. Federica Napoletani - 7 frühe Lieder: No. 3, Die Nachtigall
13. Federica Napoletani - Symphony No. 3: III. Comodo, Scherzando. Ohne Hast (Ablösung im Sommer)
14. Federica Napoletani - Rosamunde, D. 797: 9. Ballett
15. Ensemble Progetto Pierrot - Symphony No. 1 in D Major: II. Andante allegretto. ("Blumine")
16. Federica Napoletani - Lieder aus 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn': No. 6 in C Minor, Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt
17. Federica Napoletani - Lieder aus 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn': No. 11 in D-Flat Major, Urlicht



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