HUGO WOLF: GEISTLICHE LIEDER

Classical and Modern Music

Format: Digitalno

Code: 118777

EAN: 3838898118777

ZKP RTV Slovenia in cooperation with and Radio Slovenia - ARS and Hugo Wolf Association in Slovenj Gradec is releasing the digital album Hugo Wolf: Geistliche Lieder performed by Bernarda Fink (mezzo-soprano), Marcos Fink (bass-baritone) and Vladimir Mlinarić (piano). "Spanisches Liederbuch (Spanish Songbook), which Hugo Wolf began to set to music in 1889, was the magnificent fruit of the composer’s love of everything from the south, a love that flowered very early in his life and remained with him until the very last flickering of his creative powers. In Spanisches Liederbuch, the art of the lied reached one of its most sophisticated and intricately wrought stages, with the piano and vocal parts integrated into an indivisible whole. The concentrated characterisation of each song is unequalled in the lieder repertoire, demanding the utmost artistry – both psychological as well as vocal and instrumental – from the performers. On 25 September 2020, a concert evening entitled Wo find’ ich Trost (Where I will find solace) was held in the parish church of St Elizabeth in Slovenj Gradec with mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink, bass-baritone Marcos Fink, pianist Breda Zakotnik and drama actor Bojan Maroševič. In addition to religious songs from Spanisches Liederbuch, the programme also included selected lieder based on religious lyrics by Eduard Mörike,” writes curator Marko Košan. This digital album which also contains 10 songs translatad by Pavel Oblák into Slovenian, has been recorded in the Slovenian Philharmonic in the Marjan Kozina Hall. “Hugo Wolf’s spiritual songs are an expression of a man in distress, a man looking towards the afterlife in search of the transcendent, in order to find solace and meaning in his suffering and to enrich himself spiritually. They are in fact prayers in a musical form. This highly emotional music demands a great deal of interpretive maturity from the performer. That is why I delayed recording the works for the Radio Slovenia archive in a desire to ensure as far as possible that the content would mature within me, both intellectually and emotionally. I personally asked the master wordsmith Pavel Oblák to provide a Slovenian rendition of the poems, but he initially rejected the request, »because the poetic form is very ascetic and condensed, and I don’t want to compromise its demanding nature». At the time, I thanked him for his honesty. A few months later, we happened to cross paths on the streets of Ljubljana. Before we even had time to greet each other, he recited something in verse in Slovenian. I understood immediately that it was one of Wolf’s spirituals songs. Did you succeed? Yes! All ten? Yes!!! His eyes lit up, as did mine. A moment of eternity?!” wonders Marcos. Bernarda added: “Immersing myself in Hugo Wolf’s songs was a profound and challenging heartfelt experience. I sense that Wolf was seeking his own personal peace of mind through these works. They contain an entire rainbow of colours and feelings, from calm emotions when he extols the infant Saviour in the manger, through the fear and uncertainty surrounding the journey of the Holy Family, to disquiet when seeking salvation and consolation beside the Cross, a search full of pain and inner cries. The time that I was able to devote to preparing and performing these songs was a period of great spiritual enrichment for me. With my performance, I tried to capture and convey at least a small ray of the light that shines from these works by the great Hugo Wolf.”