Auf Flugeln Des Gesanges

Christoph Prégardien (tenor) & Cyprien Katsaris (piano)

Two highly regarded artists of the current classical scene, Christoph Pregardien and Cyprien Katsaris, join together for a unique project: A simple and effective programme which intertwines Lieder and piano transcriptions. The album smoothly flows through a variety of moods and atmospheres creating a hugely pleasurable listening experience and features pieces by Schubert, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Wagner, Wolf, Brahms and Richard Strauss.

Precise vocal control, clear diction, intelligent musicality and an ability to get to the heart of everything he sings ensures Christoph Prégardien's place among the world's foremost lyric tenors. Especially revered as a Lieder singer, he can be heard this season at the Phiharmonie de Paris, the Palace of Arts Budapest, and the Wigmore Hall in London, as well as in Zurich, Lucerne, Kyoto, Tokyo and Bogotá. He will also perform at the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Chopin Festival in Warsaw, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg Hohenems, as well as part of the "Schubert!" concert series with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Cyprien Katsaris, the French-Cypriot pianist and composer, is a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire where he studied piano with Aline van Barentzen and Monique de la Bruchollerie (piano First Prize, 1969), as well as chamber music with René Leroy and Jean Hubeau (First Prize, 1970), he won the International Young Interpreters Rostrum-UNESCO (Bratislava 1977), the First Prize in the International Cziffra Competition (Versailles 1974) and he was the only western-European prize-winner at the 1972 Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition. He was also awarded the Albert Roussel Foundation Prize (Paris 1970) and the Alex de Vries Foundation Prize (Antwerp 1972).

Brahms:
 5 Lieder, Op. 49: IV. Wiegenlied (Transc. by Gerald Moore)
 8 Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 59 V. Agnes (Transc. by Theodor Kirchner)
 Romanzen und Lieder Op. 84: IV. Vergebliches Ständchen (Transc. by Eduard Schütt)

Kirchner, T:
 Frühlingslied

Liszt:
 Die Forelle, S563/6bis

Mendelssohn:
 Auf Flügeln des Gesanges, Op. 34 No. 2

Schubert:
 Die Forelle, D550
 Schwanengesang, D957

Schumann, Clara:
 Geheimes Flüstern hier und dort, Op. 23 No. 3
 30 Lieder und Gesänge von Robert Schumann: No. 28 Frühlingsnacht
 Frühlingsnacht (No. 12 from Liederkreis, Op. 39)

Strauss, R:
 Fünf Lieder, Op. 48: I. Freundliche Vision (Transc. by Walter Gieseking)

Wagner:
 5 Wesendonck-Lieder: V. Träume (Transc. by August Stradal)

Wolf, H:
 Anakreons Grab (No. 29 from Goethe-Lieder)

"Prégardien can always be relied upon to approach art song thoughtfully and adventurously… [He] sounds like he’s in his element, striding assuredly through this hit parade and savouring each word. But Katsaris does not always have the light and sense of fantasy to rescue the heavier-handed or slavish transcriptions from their redundancy."
BBC Music Magazine - February 2019 ***(Performance) / ****(Sound)