Christian Gerhaher/Rosamunde Quartett: Othmar Schoeck - Notturno

Through the medium of this remarkable and poignant five-movement work for voice and string quartet, the genesis of which dates from 1931-33, this exemplary disc affords us what is arguably the magnum opus of Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957). Ten poems by German Romantic poet Nikolaus Lenau (1802-50) inspire Schoeck's late-Romantic style to great heights and depths of feeling, deeply personal ones as the excellent sleeve notes elucidate, encompassed within an overall tenor of meditative darkness that allows those moments of musically lighter beauty a greater hair-raising intensity.

Notturno
Five movements for string quartet and voice on poems by Nikolaus Lenau and
a fragment by Gottfried Keller, op. 47

I - Ruhig [17:35]
II - Presto [02:55]
III - Unruhig bewegt [08:43]
IV - Ruhig und leise [02:36]
V - Rasch und kräftig (quasi Recit.) [11:03]

The Performers:

Christian Gerhaher - baritone

Rosamunde Quartett
* Andreas Reiner - violin
* Diane Pascal - violin
* Helmut Nicolai - viola
* Anja Lechner - violoncello


Recorded December 2007