Repertoire

Johannes Brahms: Vier ernste Gesänge (Four Serious Songs), Op. 121 (1896) 19′
Hugo Wolf: “Anakreons Grab” from Goethe Lieder
Hugo Wolf: “An eine Äolsharfe” from Möricke Lieder
Hugo Wolf: “Ein Grab”
Hugo Wolf: “Komm, o Tod” from the Spanisches Liederbuch (Spanish Songbook)

Artists

Ferran Albrich, baritone
Marc Serra, piano

Program

Ferran Albrich offers us a journey through death in the romantic lied accompanied by Marc Serra on piano. The last song cycle composed by Brahms, unlike most lieder, uses biblical quotations for the text: the first three, of a darker nature, are verses from the Old Testament and the last, more hopeful, from the New Testament. Coincidentally, two days after writing to his publisher informing him of his score, Clara Schumann suddenly died. However, the work is dedicated to the painter, sculptor and graphic artist Max Klinger. Another coincidence is that the composer completed the work on the day of his last birthday, almost something of a premonition.

The baritone completes the programme with four of the songs that Hugo Wolf included in a collection of poems comprising sacred works (with the unifying notion of redemption) and secular works, with generally tormented love themes, which convey dramatically powerful emotions.

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