Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Hindemith: Das Marienleben, Op. 27 (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Hindemith: Das Marienleben, Op. 27 (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:45 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alpha Classics

Glenn Gould, whose talents as an agitator and showman are well known, didn’t hesitate to declare himself “firmly convinced that Das Marienleben, in its original form [because there exists a revised version made around twenty years after the first – SM], was the greatest song cycle ever composed.” That should be taken with a pinch of salt, of course, but one can’t ignore a statement like that. Taking words by Rilke, Hindemith set to work putting them to music between June 1922 and July 1923. The dates are significant because they marked a fundamental turning point for the composer: the move from expressionism to “New Objectivity”, a very Germanic movement which sought to erase the slightest trace of postromanticism by developing a pared-down and less emotive language. That said, in musical terms, it is all rather more fluid than in painting. However, throughout the seventy-odd minutes of this cycle, Hindemith moves constantly from one to the other, as its fifteen pieces were written in no particular order: the oldest are the eleventh and the fifteenth; the last ones to be written are the thirteenth and fourteenth. Knowing Hindemith, of course, one might think that he could never resist an emotional charge, even when set firmly in his rigorous counter-punctual language. Note that Juliane Banse and Martin Helmchen have chosen to record the 1922-23 version, and not the revision of 1936-48 – and so we’re listening to Gould’s favourite version.

Tracklist:
1-1. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Geburt Mariä (03:24)
1-2. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Die Darstellung Mariä im Tempel (09:09)
1-3. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Mariä Verkündigung (04:13)
1-4. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Mariä Heimsuchung (02:45)
1-5. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Argwohn Josephs (01:43)
1-6. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Verkündigung über den Hirten (05:12)
1-7. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Geburt Christi (03:34)
1-8. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Rast auf der Flucht in Ägypten (03:45)
1-9. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Von der Hochzeit zu Kana (04:37)
1-10. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Vor der Passion (06:55)
1-11. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Pietà (03:15)
1-12. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Stillung Mariä mit dem Auferstandenen (02:23)
1-13. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Vom Tode Mariä I (08:53)
1-14. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Vom Tode Mariä II (07:18)
1-15. Juliane Banse & Martin Helmchen – Das Marienleben, Op. 27: Vom Tode Mariä III (03:32)

Personnel:
Juliane Banse, soprano
Martin Helmchen, piano

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