ME and the middle and later ones. A result of the the Pandemic and challenging the re discovery of Beethoven’s sonatas Vol. III.

Austrian composer Thomas Larcher’s new album features premiere recordings of three strongly contrasting works. The Times has hailed Larcher’s music as a world “of haunting landscapes and dreams, stylistically disparate but fused by the composer’s astonishing ear and quizzical attitude to traditional forms”, a description borne out by the compositions here. The Living Mountain, for soprano and ensemble, draws upon the memoir of the Scottish poet and nature writer Nan Shepherd. Unerzählt is an intimate song cycle for baritone and piano, deploying texts of German writer W.G. Sebald. And Ouroboros, named for the serpent of eternity, is a powerful piece for cello and chamber orchestra. Recorded in Munich and Weerberg in 2021 and 2022 and produced by Manfred Eicher, The Living Mountain is the fourth New Series album of Larcher’s compositions.

Baritone Konstantin Krimmel, voted ‘Best Newcomer’ of the year at the 2023 Oper! Awards in Germany and a member of the eminent Bavarian State Opera company since 2021, presents his third recording for Alpha Classics. In close partnership with pianist Daniel Heide, he places his artistry and his feeling for words at the service of the lied repertory. This is also an opportunity to discover his vision of the work, an unexpectedly contemporary, socio-psychological analysis: ‘ Die schöne Müllerin is a work that romanticises the development of a mental illness, and shows, unfiltered, how a young person can feel without a tempered emotional world. With all its dark sides.’

Schubert’s enigmatic final collection of songs, Schwanengesang, is the subject of baritone Andrè Schuen and his longstanding accompanist Daniel Heide’s second release for DG. Baritone Andrè Schuen calls Schwanengesang “my greatest love among the Schubert lieder. Especially the Heine settings; they move me the most!” His admiration for the cycle dates back to a time before he had even become a professional singer: “It’s one of the first lied compositions I got to know. I remember a recording with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau that I played over and over again.”

Schuberts Die schöne Müllerin ist eine Bewährungsprobe für jeden Liedsänger. Der Südtiroler Bariton Andrè Schuen hat sich ihr gestellt und veröffentlicht den zeitlosen Liederzyklus als sein Debütalbum bei Deutsche Grammophon – gemeinsam mit dem Pianisten Daniel Heide.

Andrè Schuen releases his debut album on DG after signing as an exclusive artist 2020. Together with his partner pianist Daniel Heide, he performs Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin. Andrè and Daniel have been performing together since Andrè’s early twenties, next to their stellar musical performance they are sparking with enthusiasm and wit in conversation with each other and the audience.