![]() ![]() "For me, there’s no such thing as early music or new music," Christine Schäfer remarks in a mission-statement sleeve note for her new album, Apparition - one of the most startling recital discs of recent years. Short spoken lines from Shakespeare’s sonnets connect the songs perfectly Apparition (after poems by Walt Whitman written following the assassination of President Lincoln) presents a vision of death’s beauty. Then comes a wedding, a love song and then we move towards jealousy, abandonment and death. It begins with music – ‘Music for a while’ and as the ‘food of love’. Rather than a traditional ‘CD’ order for the songs ie Purcell, then Crumb, the songs are interspersed so that a story emerges. ![]() Though 300 years separate them, she finds they have much in common. Schäfer and Schneider have juxtaposed these composers many times in recital. The selection of Purcell’s songs is mainly well-known (especially Dido’s Lament) but this is only the second recording of the Crumb – Apparition in particular is unusual for its use of a prepared piano and wordless vocalises, but is highly approachable music nonetheless. The 2nd ONYX CD (following their Winterreise - ONYX4010) from the outstanding partnership of Christine Schäfer and Eric Schneider focuses on two song composers in the English language – the great 17th century master Henry Purcell, and the contemporary American George Crumb (b1929). ![]()
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