# Favorite lieder beyond the "obvious"?



## Guest (Feb 22, 2014)

Really been on a lieder kick lately, both orchestral and piano. And I'm pretty much aware of all the major stuff like Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler, Strauss, and all the Schoenberg/Berg/Webern stuff. It's all great. Anyway, I recently listened to some Grieg lieder and wanted to ask you guys and gals here at TC about your favorite songs/cycles/sets/etc beyond the obvious stuff we've all heard. Of course, if what I listed is missing something obvious, feel free to include that too 

Oh and I don't know if they count as lieder but I do know things like Ravel's Scheherazade and some of the Britten works for tenor and orchestra too.


----------



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

As a sworn lover of vocal music and "art song" I would include the following recordings and works among my essentials:







.....


----------



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)




----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

arcaneholocaust said:


> Really been on a lieder kick lately, both orchestral and piano. And I'm pretty much aware of all the major stuff like Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler, Strauss, and all the Schoenberg/Berg/Webern stuff. It's all great. Anyway, I recently listened to some Grieg lieder and wanted to ask you guys and gals here at TC about your favorite songs/cycles/sets/etc beyond the obvious stuff we've all heard. Of course, if what I listed is missing something obvious, feel free to include that too
> 
> Oh and I don't know if they count as lieder but I do know things like Ravel's Scheherazade and some of the Britten works for tenor and orchestra too.


No they don't and neither does Grieg.


----------



## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

I love the songs of Sibelius (especially in the recordings by Anne-Sophie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg on BIS). Many are very dark and melancholy and I notice that I can only approach them if in the right mood. But you may find them interesting and worthwhile.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> Really been on a lieder kick lately, both orchestral and piano. And I'm pretty much aware of all the major stuff like Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Mahler, Strauss, and all the Schoenberg/Berg/Webern stuff.


You seem to think that "major" and "German" are synonyms. Too bad for you.

StLukes offered some covers, I'll offer some links to start you off:

Bellini: 




Chopin: 




Tosti: 




Leoncavallo: 




Karłowicz: 




Chausson: 




Berlioz: 




Tchaikovsky:


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

A cycle of Schumann lieder that I find particularly attractive is "Aus Myrten" (From Myrtle) . Fischer-Dieskau made a fine recording for DG.
You should look into Russian songs such as those by Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Some of mine from the 20th cent.

Crumb - Songs, Drones & Refrains of Death (Naxos) - perhaps not allowed because the songs are divided by instrumental passages.
Eisler - Hollywood Songbook (Berlin Classics)
Shostakovich - 6 Maria Tsvetaeva, 7 Aleksandr Blok and 11 Michelangelo settings (Delos)
Rorem - Santa Fe Songs (Black Box)
Falla - 7 Canciones populares espanolas (Decca)


----------



## User in F minor (Feb 5, 2014)

Vaughan Williams - Songs of Travel
Vierne - Spleens et dètresses


----------



## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> As a sworn lover of vocal music and "art song" I would include the following recordings and works among my essentials:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. I'm blown away. _Bravissimo_! I'll be burning the midnight oil with this homework assignment. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. . . squared and cubed. _Délice_. _Merci beaucoup. _


----------



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

To answer your question, Hugo Wolf, of course, but "beyond the obvious," it could easily be Hanns Eisler's _Hollywood Songbook_.


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Another lieder composer you should listen to is Pfitzner and don't forget de Falla's Spanish songs.


----------



## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

I was mightily impressed by this disk of Jon Leifs' Söngvar.


----------



## Guest (Feb 23, 2014)

Aramis said:


> You seem to think that "major" and "German" are synonyms. Too bad for you.


As do most people who post about art songs on this forum then, I suppose, since I take recs based on what keeps getting mentioned. IOW: no need to be a jerk to me specifically.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

arcaneholocaust said:


> As do most people who post about art songs on this forum then, I suppose, since I take recs based on what keeps getting mentioned. IOW: no need to be a jerk to me specifically.


Oke, if pointing out some confinement and sparing time to post selection of alternative recommendations is being a jerk, I'll make sure not to make such faux-pas in the future.


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

I can't see why nobody has mentioned Ravel's songs ,wonderful compositions.


----------



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Now, now, Moody. I most certainly included Ravel's songs in my post. I would add this disc of Souzay singing Ravel, Poulenc, Duparc, Hahn, etc...:


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Now, now, Moody. I most certainly included Ravel's songs in my post. I would add this disc of Souzay singing Ravel, Poulenc, Duparc, Hahn, etc...:


I think I have all his records,he is fantastic .


----------



## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

In addition to StLukesguild's excellent list, I would like to add (whether he agrees or not) Messiaen's song cycles, Poemes pour mi and Harawi.


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Aramis said:


> Oke, if pointing out some confinement and sparing time to post selection of alternative recommendations is being a jerk, I'll make sure not to make such faux-pas in the future.


Hah. The post to which offense was taken would have been 'generalized' by the insertion of 'people' after 'you'. Spreads out the observation so thin that the ToS can't find it. The mods always say "If you can't insult everybody, don't narrow your focus."


----------



## PMarlowe (Feb 5, 2014)

I found this to be a good sampler of lieder that I was not very familiar with. Not sure how many would be considered "obvious" though. Not obvious to me, at least. It covers 1850-1950.


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Mussorgsky ~ the song cycles _Songs and Dances of Death_ / _The Nursery_. I think a must for anyone who loves art song. There are a good number of other single songs by this composer with which I am not familiar.

Henri Duparc
Francis Poulenc
Ravel

Charles Ives (100 + songs)

P.s. 
N.B. "Lieder:" any native speakers of another language than English might forgive many of us English-speakers. While some of us know _Chanson - Melodie / Canzone_, and maybe a few other designations for art song in other languages, many of us are often 'foreign language' challenged as can be.

Generally, for many an English speaker, _Lieder_ is not just a German word for only German art song, but it stands for all art song from any composer.


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

PetrB said:


> [...]
> N.B. "Lieder:" any native speakers of another language than English might forgive many of us English-speakers. While some of us know _Chanson - Melodie / Canzone_, and maybe a few other designations for art song in other languages, many of us are often 'foreign language' challenged as can be.
> 
> Generally, for many an English speaker, _Lieder_ is not just a German word for only German art song, but it stands for all art song from any composer.


Ignorance Is No Excuse - for breaking the Lieder Law. We Yanks seem to expect forgiveness for all sorts of _faux pas_.



 (faux pas?) OK then, the creation of things and situations that are fubar.


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Mussorgsky ~ the song cycles _Songs and Dances of Death_ / _The Nursery_. I think a must for anyone who loves art song. There are a good number of other single songs by this composer with which I am not familiar.
> 
> Henri Duparc
> Francis Poulenc
> ...


Sorry but you are wrong,it is a recognizable category that includes only German art songs in classical context--but any German song in general outside classics.
French art songs are Melodies and Russian plus all others are just songs. Unless you know the Russian,,Finnish etc. for song.
Why in Heaven's name would you call a Russian song a lied ?
I have before me two books: 1) Song On Record. vol.1 Lieder. Edited by Alan Blyth.
2) The Fischer Dieskau Book Of Lieder.
I can assure you that there are only German songs in both.
Now if you can show me anything that says the word lieder is used for non-German songs let's see it. 
You can call an elephant a giraffe if you wish to---but it's not.


----------



## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Actually, this confusion of calling "lied" any art song, in any language, it's pretty common in Spanish too. I think there is a metonymy at work here.

For instance, look at this programme of a "Lied Cycle" at Madrid's Teatro de la Zarzuela:

http://teatrodelazarzuela.mcu.es/es/temporada-2012-2013/recitales-2012-2013/recital-3

You can see there are not only songs by Brahms and Wagner, but also by Duparc, Quilter and Howarth.

Of course, it's definitely more correct to use "mélodie" than "lied" for Duparc's _L'invitation au voyage _but I guess that's life.


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Ukko said:


> Ignorance Is No Excuse - for breaking the Lieder Law. We Yanks seem to expect forgiveness for all sorts of _faux pas_.
> 
> 
> 
> (faux pas?) OK then, the creation of things and situations that are fubar.


Shall we _endeavour_ then to correct all words used with a different shade of _colour_ then?

As a Yank, I blame the colonizing Brits... walking in to places around the world and spewing English at the locals as if they were all students who had signed up for a Berlitz immersion course


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

moody said:


> Sorry but you are wrong,it is a recognizable category that includes only German art songs in classical context--but any German song in general outside classics.
> French art songs are Melodies and Russian plus all others are just songs. Unless you know the Russian,,Finnish etc. for song.
> Why in Heaven's name would you call a Russian song a lied ?
> I have before me two books: 1) Song On Record. vol.1 Lieder. Edited by Alan Blyth.
> ...


Uh, _parlance, not print_... of course if we all talked like books, then everything would be not only clear, but hunky-dory.

As much as I use it, I don't like "art song," -- sounds so damnably _prissy._

Of course we could all fixate instead upon folks calling instrumental pieces "songs." -- If we had little else important to do, that is


----------



## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

moody said:


> Sorry but you are wrong,it is a recognizable category that includes only German art songs in classical context--but any German song in general outside classics.
> French art songs are Melodies and Russian plus all others are just songs. Unless you know the Russian,,Finnish etc. for song.
> Why in Heaven's name would you call a Russian song a lied ?
> I have before me two books: 1) Song On Record. vol.1 Lieder. Edited by Alan Blyth.
> ...


When people stop generally calling Beethoven a Romantic composer, maybe I will then have the time to correct my terrible ways in how I refer to 'art song.'


----------



## HumphreyAppleby (Apr 11, 2013)

Alfven's Skogen sover and others

The cycle "Poema en forma de canciones" by Turina (There's no good recording on YT that i found, but Nicolai Gedda does an amazing rendition, in perfect Spanish, of course).

How fair it is here, by Rachmaninov (the video's title is incorrect). Also: Bles dores, moisson vaste and the f

Sibelius' Svarta rossor

Korngold, Come Away Death, Tomorrow

Stornellatrice, Notte, Bella porta di rubini, Nebbie by Respighi

The astounding Il mio bel foco, the authorship of which is unknown/disputed

Bixio, Parlami d'amore Mariu

Tosti's L'alba separa dalla luce l'ombra


----------



## Guest (Mar 13, 2014)

I have elected to check out some Ravel songs...since pretty much everything else by him (haven't heard the "operas" or whatever they are) has granted him a spot in my top 10-15 

Edit: Not ignoring the others, just a few at a time...any recs for a recording of Mussorgsky lieder, btw?


----------



## Wood (Feb 21, 2013)

PetrB said:


> Of course we could all fixate instead upon folks calling instrumental pieces "songs." -- If we had little else important to do, that is


I've started to fixate on this. It is becoming irritating. I blame I-tunes.

I also get annoyed that I can't seem to write a sentence without it beginning (and sometimes ending) in 'I'.


----------



## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

Not German, but what the hell… get over yourself. 

Vaughan Williams
Finzi
Buttersworth
Ives
Warlock
Quilter
Britten
Ireland
Walton


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

A recording I loved on LP as a youngster and now love on CD (Decca/London 440 492-2) contains orchestral versions of songs of Sibelius, conducted by Oivin Fjeldstad and sung by legendary Wagnerian soprano Kirsten Flagstad. Her majestic voice was like no other - it always makes me visualize mountains and fjords and feel the clean Nordic air in my nostrils - and here she is at the age of 63, sounding deep as a contralto, singing as well songs of her fellow Norwegians Grieg, Alnaes, Eggen and Lie. If you like Sibelius you should also have his songs in their original piano versions (Anne Sophie von Otter is fine on DG), but Flagstad is _sui generis_.


----------



## mila (May 16, 2014)

Berlioz "nuit d'ete"

Lieder of Fanny Hensel


----------



## Guest (May 17, 2014)

I daresay the art song list adequately addresses my hunger for now


----------



## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I love the "Three Lullabies Among The Native Tribes On The Island Of Sakhalin", by Akira Ifukube, especially this one sang in evenki:


----------

