Mozart-Lieder

Peter Schreier (tenor) & Erik Werba (piano)

The recital given on January 25, 1978 by Peter Schreier, the leading Mozart tenor of the 1970s from Dresden, and Erik Werba, the distinguished Viennese song accompanist, presented 17 songs, the cantata with piano accompaniment of Die ihr des unermesslichen Weltalls Schöpfer ehrt, K 619, from the final year of Mozart’s life, and two encore pieces.

Schreier and Werba apparently wanted to present Mozart’s song repertoire in its full breadth while also omitting those songs which were very clearly to be sung from the viewpoint of a female protagonist.

Seen from today’s perspective, the Mozart songs in this recording are remarkably homogeneous. To Peter Schreier the operatic singer, Mozart was the first true Romantic. The songs are interpreted in a highly emotional manner, without ever becoming sentimental. The tempos tend to be more on the slow side of the spectrum here, as is also true in the ballad-like Das Veilchen, K 476, in which Schreier clearly interprets the mature, through-composed songs by Mozart as text-based and text-centric compositions, as if they were early forerunners of Schubert, Schumann or Brahms.

Mozart:
 Abendempfindung an Laura, K523
 An Chloë, K524
 An die Hoffnung, K390
 Dans un bois solitaire, K308
 Das Kinderspiel, K598
 Das Lied der Trennung, K519
 Das Traumbild, K.530
 Das Veilchen, K476
 Die betrogene Welt, K474
 Die ihr des unermeßlichen Weltfalls - Kantate, K619
 Die Verschweigung, K518
 Die Zufriedenheit, K473
 Die Zufriedenheit,K.349
 Im Frühlingsanfang, K597
 Komm, liebe Zither, K351
 Lied der Freiheit, K506
 Lied zur Gesellenreise, K468
 Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge, K596
 Sei du mein Trost, K391
 Wie unglücklich bin ich nit K147