Aribert Reimann’s (* 1936) songs are works by Mendelssohn, Brahms and Schumann arr. for soprano and string quartet and are performed on this new recording by renowned soprano Christiane Oelze, accompanied by the Leipzig String Quartet.
The title of Reimann's collection of songs by the genial early romanticist is a quotation from one of the Heine texts set by Mendelssohn and quite significantly refers to death: "... oder soll es Tod bedeuten?"
The very first verse heard on this CD, "Leise zieht durch mein Gemüt liebliches Geläute," captures the essence of romanticism. The program ranging from "Auf Flügeln des Gesanges" to "Was will die einsameTräne?" then goes on to include familiar and less familiar songs.
The six freely composed intermezzi connecting the eight songs comment on Heine's ambivalent poems, employing them as interpretive points of departure and points of return.
Brahms set five songs by Ophelia from the fourth act of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Greatly reduced musical means depict the gradual development of madness in Hamlet's female beloved. Aribert Reimann's quartet version intensifies the impression of fragile forsakenness - gripping simplicity that goes straight to the heart! Robert Schumann also opens his op. 107 cycle with the ill-fated dreamer Ophelia but then happily comes up with a comforting and conciliatory ending in the "Evening Song."
