Malvern Concert Club: Roderick Williams & Iain Burnside

PRESIDENT’S SUNDAY AFTERNOON SCHUBERT CYCLE SERIES 2017-2019

Roderick Williams, baritone

Iain Burnside, piano

Schubert Schwanengesang, D.957         

Im Frühling, D.882; Herbst, D.945; Im Haine, D.738;
Der Einsame, D.800; Liebhaber in allen Gestalten, D.558;
An Rosa, D.316; Die Liebe hat gelogen, D.751; Rückweg, D.476;

Totengräbers Heimweh, D.842; Auf den Tod einer Nachtigall, D.399

Malvern Concert Club’s President, Roderick Williams OBE, and Iain Burnside return to Malvern for this last annual recital in their series encompassing all three of Schubert’s major song cycles. The five-star reviews and near-capacity houses in The Forum for their Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise are testament to these artists’ sublime interpretataions of this repertoire.

The songs in Schwanengesang (‘Swansong’) were described by Schubert’s publisher Haslinger as ‘the final blooms of Schubert’s creative muse’. Containing some of Schubert’s greatest music, it tells no particular story, but the two sets of songs are linked by their poetic themes – nature, love and separation in the case of the settings of Ludwig Rellstab; bitterness, loss and despair in the case of Heinrich Heine. The final song in Schwanengesang is by Johann Gabriel Seidl: Die Taubenpost, considered to be Schubert’s last song

There is disagreement amongst both performers and academics as to whether Schwanengesang is strictly a cycle rather than just a song collection: either way, it is a masterpiece. In this afternoon’s performance, Roderick Williams and Iain Burnside present the main work in sections, interwoven by a generous selection of other songs by Schubert.

This is a full-length recital with interval.

Ticket price includes a £1 contribution to our heritage fund.