Burnished Gold 後期ロマン派の歌曲集

金箔を多く施した官能的な絵画で知られるグスタフ・クリムトを中心とする「ウィーン分離派」運動と同時期に書かれた歌曲を集めた1枚。収録されているのはエーリヒ・コルンゴルトやリヒャルト・シュトラウス、アルバン・ベルクから、アルマ・マーラー、ヨハンナ・ミュラー=ヘルマンといった女性作曲家の作品まで多種多様ですが、どれも後期ロマン派の重厚な和声を持ち、クリムトの描く女性像のように、どこか暗く退廃的な雰囲気を宿しています。
ロビン・アレグラ・パートンは英国出身でコンクール入賞歴を持つソプラノ。2022/23シーズンはドイツのミュンスター歌劇場と契約して活動しています。サイモン・レッパーは歌曲伴奏で高く評価され、ウィグモア・ホールで歌曲シリーズを担当しています。
ナクソス・ジャパン

The title of this release by soprano Robyn Allegra Parton refers not only to a general mood of circa-1900 Vienna but specifically to the frequent use of burnished gold-leaf in the paintings of Gustav Klimt, whose Vienna Secession movement in art had many affinities to what was happening in the musical world. Parton uses the gold as lipstick in the graphics; one may or may not go for this, but the package here is coherent and satisfying in several ways. Richard Strauss is present on the program, and Parton, writing her own notes, correctly points out that his influence loomed large on all the composers heard here. But in a way, the interest of Partons program lies in the differences among the styles of the composers on the program. Parton puts the listener in the place of an audience member at a vocal recital of the time, hearing the Impressionist hints of Joseph Marx, the new simplicity of the young Erich Korngold, the decisive steps toward atonality in the Seven Early Songs of Berg (at the time Schoenbergs student), and the works of two female composers, the quite playful experimental Johanna Muller-Hermann and Alma Mahler-Schindler, both of whom were heard fairly frequently at the time but were later forgotten. Partons voice is an absolutely distinctive soprano, with a bit of rough texture flashing unexpectedly into a brilliant top. Quite a few recordings lately have explored the rich repertory of Austrian vocal music of this period, but this one is especially well thought-out and executed; it appeared on classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2023. ~ James Manheim