Gramophone Awards
2024
Shortlisted - Song

Presto Recording of the Week
29th March 2024

Sabine Devieilhe (soprano), Mathieu Pordoy (piano)

Mozart: Komm, liebe Zither, komm, K. 351
Strauss, R: Die Nacht, Op. 10 No. 3
Mozart: Das Kinderspiel, K598
Strauss, R: 8 Gedichte aus "Letzte Blätter", Op. 10: No. 2, Nichts
Strauss, R: 6 Lieder, Op. 17: No. 2, Ständchen
Strauss, R: Waldseligkeit, Op. 49 No. 1
Strauss, R: 6 Lieder, Op. 37: No. 3, Meinem Kinde
Strauss, R: 4 Lieder, Op. 27: No. 4, Morgen (Version with Violin)
Mozart: Sei du mein Trost, K391
Mozart: Oiseaux, si tous les ans, K307
Strauss, R: 3 Lieder, Op. 29: No. 2, Schlagende Herzen
Strauss, R: Brentano Lieder, Op. 68: No. 5, Amor
Strauss, R: Mädchenblumen (4 songs), Op. 22
Mozart: Das Veilchen, K476
Mozart: An Chloë, K524
Strauss, R: 8 Gedichte aus "Letzte Blätter", Op. 10: No. 8, Allerseelen
Strauss, R: Fünf Lieder, Op. 48. No. 4, Winterweihe, No. 2, In Schwebe, No. 3, Kling
Mozart: Das Traumbild, K.530
Mozart: Abendempfindung an Laura, K523

The French coloratura soprano and her new recital-partner draw all manner of illuminating parallels between the two composers in a recital which includes Mozart's Das Kinderspiel and Abendempfindung & Strauss's Mädchenblumen, Morgen! and Amor.

Richard Strauss considered Mozart to be “the most sublime of all composers”. On this disc, French soprano Sabine Devieilhe, with pianist Mathieu Pordoy, presents a programme of Mozart and Strauss’ most exquisite Lieder. Highlights include Mozart’s ‘Abendempfindung’, ‘Oiseaux, si tous les ans’, and ‘An Chloe’, alongside Strauss’ ‘Wiegenlied’, ‘Mädchenblumen’, ‘Morgen!’, and others. When Devieilhe and Pordoy recently performed Mozart and Strauss at London’s Wigmore Hall, The Spectator wrote of a “heart-stopping soprano” who made the songs “sound dewy-fresh”. Devieilhe and Pordoy will return to Wigmore Hall with this programme in April.

"Pordoy and Devieilhe both do a wonderful job of emphasising the kinship between Mozart and Strauss’s approach to song-making, bringing an almost Classical clarity and elegance to the earlier Strauss Lieder and subtly spotlighting the harmonic surprises in Mozart songs like Einsamkeit and Abendempfindung...All in all, this is a very special song-recital indeed, remarkable as much for Pordoy’s contribution as for Devieilhe’s." - Presto Music, 29th March 2024.