四季 - シューベルトの季節にまつわる歌曲集

バッハ・コレギウム・ジャパンのソリストとして、バッハのカンタータをはじめ、ヘンデルやパーセルなどのバロック作品、さらにはマーラーやストラヴィンスキーまで幅広いレパートリーを持ち、伸びやかな歌声と完璧なコロラトゥーラ技術で知られる歌姫、キャロリン・サンプソン。
本アルバムは、彼女にとって3作目となるシューベルトの歌曲集です。アルバム全体を通じてシューベルトの自然への愛が鮮やかに表現されており、四季の移り変わりが歌曲を通して描かれています。冬では失われた愛を描く3曲が歌われ、春では自然の目覚めとともに希望が広がります。「岩の上の羊飼い」では、名クラリネット奏者マイケル・コリンズが参加し、ヨーデル風の趣を持つこの曲に瑞々しい響きを加えています。夏には人生の最高潮が表現されるものの愛の行方には不安が残り、秋には主人公の失望が描かれ、自然の衰退とともに希望も薄れていくというストーリー。ピアノ伴奏は、サンプソンと数多く共演してきたジョゼフ・ミドルトン。サンプソンが絶大な信頼を寄せる彼は、彼女の歌に寄り添いながら素晴らしい演奏を聴かせています。SACDハイブリッド・ディスクでのリリース。
ナクソス・ジャパン

Schubert didnt write a work called "The Four Seasons," but he might as well have, given the importance of the rhythms of nature in the minds of the German Romantic poets whose texts he set. Carolyn Sampson is one of todays most versatile sopranos. She is known above all for Baroque music, but she is excellent in Schubert and has made several convincing recordings of his songs. This one, which made classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2025, continues the trend with a collection of seasonal pieces from Schubert, running through the imagery of the year. The middle ranges, the clarity of her voice, her sensitivity to the harmonic details that once led a teacher to say that "Schubert didnt study chromatic harmony; he invented most of it" -- all of these fit Sampsons talents to a T and result in readings that get away from the heaviness of German interpretations. One attraction of the album is that the program brings a number of Schubert songs that arent often heard. Mixed in are some standards that fare especially well in Sampsons readings. Consider the lengthy Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D. 965 (whose pastoral theme makes the cut due to its final longing for spring), where Sampson has perfect control over the complexities of the melody, and the ultra-smooth clarinet of Michael Collins fits in subtly like a horn quietly overspreading the rural scene. Sampson puts the pieces together into a program, taking some tempo liberties with folkish songs like Die Forelle, D. 550, so as to give some flow to the whole, but this aspect is not overdone, and the individual song readings are without exception careful and thoughtful. Add in ideal Wyastone Concert Hall sound, and the result is an extremely satisfying Schubert recital. ~ James Manheim