Presto Recording of the Week
7th February 2025

Fatma Said (soprano), Malcolm Martineau (piano), Joseph Middleton (piano), Huw Montague Rendall (baritone), Sabine Meyer (clarinet), Anneleen Lenaerts (harp), Quatuor Arod

Schubert: Ständchen 'Leise flehen meine Lieder', D957 No. 4
Schubert: Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D965 (Von Chezy / Muller)
Schubert: Ständchen 'Zögernd leise', D920 / 921
Mendelssohn: Die Liebende schreibt (Goethe) Op. 86 No. 3
Schubert: Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D774
Schubert: Der Zwerg, D771 (Collin)
Mendelssohn: Hexenlied, Op. 8 No. 8
Mendelssohn: Suleika (Goethe / von Willemer) Op. 34 No. 4
Mendelssohn: Ich wollt' meine Lieb' ergösse sich, Op. 63. No. 1
Mendelssohn, Fanny: Suleika und Hatem (Goethe)
Brahms: Lerchengesang Op. 70 No. 2
Brahms: 5 Lieder, Op. 105: No. 1, Wie Melodien zieht es mir (Version with Harp)
Brahms: 49 Deutsche Volkslieder, WoO 33, Vol. 1: No. 6, Da unten im Thale (Version with Harp)
Brahms: 5 Lieder, Op. 105: No. 2, Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer (Version with Harp)
Brahms: Ophelia-Lieder (5), WoO posth. 22
No. 1, Wie erkenn ich dein Treulieb (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
No. 2, Sein Leichenhemd Weiss wie Schnee zu sehn (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
No. 3, Auf morgen ist sankt Valentins Tag (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
No. 4, Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloss (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
No. 5, Und kommt er nicht mehr zurück (Arr. Reimann for Voice and String Quartet)
Schumann: Widmung, Op. 25 No. 1
Schumann: Singet nicht In Trauertönen Op. 98a No. 7 (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Schumann: Liebhabers Ständchen, Op. 34 No. 2
Schumann: Liebeslied, Op. 51 No. 5
Schumann: In der Nacht, Op. 74 No. 4

While soprano Fatma Said’s previous Warner Classics releases crossed cultures and musical genres, this album focuses entirely on German-language songs of the Romantic era: lieder by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms.

At the age of 18, Fatma left her native Cairo to study at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin and “Ever since then, the joy of singing this genre has been central to my musical life … I am very passionate about lieder … This wonderful combination of great German poetry and genius composers like Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Brahms.”

In the conventional course of things, a lieder recital involves one singer and one pianist, but Fatma Said, saying “I’ve always wanted to make music with friends”, has called on the talents of no fewer than three pianists – Malcolm Martineau,

Joseph Middleton and Yonatan Cohen. Also, harpist Anneleen Lenaerts, clarinettist Sabine Meyer (in Schubert’s ‘Der Hirt auf dem Felsen’), Quatuor Arod (accompanying Brahms’ Ophelia-Lieder in an arrangement by Aribert Reimann, who died in March 2024), male-voice ensemble Walhalla zum Seidlwirt, and another singer on the ascent – baritone Huw Montague Rendall.

The programme features some of the world’s best-loved lieder, such as Schubert’s ‘Ständchen’, Schumann’s ‘Widmung’ and Brahms’ ‘Wie Melodien zieht es mir’, but it also explores less familiar repertoire. Throughout the album, Fatma Said places a crucial emphasis on the poetic texts: “My priority was to convey the characterisation of the words most of all … Differentiating between diverse kinds of expressive worlds is for me what lieder-singing is all about.”

"Said’s love and affinity for the German language shine through in every phrase...the stand-outs for me were the two Gothic vignettes in the first half of the programme: a genuinely chilling account of Schubert’s macabre ‘Der Zwerg’ (where Said digs deep into chest-voice for the titular dwarf’s vengeful ravings) and Felix Mendelssohn’s ‘Hexenlied’, a miniature Night On The Bare Mountain which she dispatches with pitch-black, witchy glee as Middleton scampers fearlessly around the keyboard." - Presto Music, 7th February 2025