A Soprano's Schubertiade Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton

• Franz Schubert (1797-1828):
• 1Suleika I, Op. 14 No. 1, D. 720 "Was bedeutet die Bewegung"05:21
• 2Suleika II, Op. 31, D. 717 "Ach um deine feuchten Schwingen"04:17
• 3Rosamunde, D. 797: No. 3b. Der Vollmond strahlt auf Bergeshöhn "Romanze"03:13
• 4Blondel zu Marien, D. 62603:37
• 5Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister, Op. 62, D. 877: No. 2, Lied der Mignon "Heiss mich nicht reden"03:36
• 6Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister, Op. 62, D. 877: No. 4, Lied der Mignon "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt"03:01
• 7Gesänge aus Wilhelm Meister, Op. 62, D. 877: No. 3, Lied der Mignon "So laßt mich scheinen"03:31
• 8Mignon, D. 321 "Kennst du das Land?"04:14
• 9Gretchen am Spinnrade, Op. 2, D. 11803:38
• 10Gretchen im Zwinger, D. 564 "Gretchens Bitte" (Completed by B. Britten)06:47
• 11Der König in Thule, Op. 5 No. 5, D. 36703:31
• 12Viola, Op. 123, D. 78613:15
• 13Ellens Gesang I, Op. 52 No. 1, D. 837 "Raste, Krieger"08:15
• 14Ellens Gesang II, Op. 52 No. 2, D. 838 "Jäger, ruhe von der Jagd!"03:13
• 15Ellens Gesang III, Op. 52 No. 6, D. 839 "Ave Maria – Hymne an die Jungfrau"06:08
• Total Runtime01:15:37

Info for A Soprano's Schubertiade

Schubert’s empathy with women is everywhere evident in his body of songs, which include songs to, by, about and for women. Devised by Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton, the present recital brings us each of those possibilities and more.

The playwright Helmina von Chézy wrote the text to the tender Romanze, intending it for her play Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus to which Schubert composed incidental music. Another female author, Marianne von Willemer, wrote the two Suleika poems for Goethe, who included them (under his own name) in the collection West-östlicher Divan. And no less than seven of the other songs on the disc are also associated with Goethe, and his characters Mignon (from Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre) and Gretchen (from Faust). Schubert was for a while almost obsessed with the mysterious and waif-like Mignon, making several settings of the poems associated with her. Less of an enigma but equally moving, Schubert’s Gretchen sings of awakening desire (Gretchen am Spinnrade) and laments her coming disgrace (Gretchens Bitte).

Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have collaborated on several acclaimed projects for BIS, most recently with the counter-tenor Iestyn Davies as their companion. Here they close their Soprano’s Schubertiade with three settings of poems by Walter Scott, albeit in German translations. The three ‘Ellen Songs’ are from the verse-romance The Lady of the Lake from 1810, with the last one, ‘Schubert’s Ave Maria’, being one of the composer’s best-known and most loved compositions.

Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Joseph Middleton, piano

Carolyn Sampson
Equally at home on the concert and opera stages, Carolyn Sampson has enjoyed notable successes in the UK as well as throughout Europe and the US. On the opera stage her roles for English National Opera have included the title role in Semele and Pamina in The Magic Flute. For Glyndebourne Festival Opera she sang various roles in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, now released on DVD. In 2012 she sang Anne Truelove/The Rake’s Progress in Sir David McVicar’s new production for Scottish Opera. Internationally she has appeared at Opéra de Paris, Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Montpellier and Opéra National du Rhin. She also sang the title role in Lully’s Psyché for the Boston Early Music Festival, which was released on CD and was subsequently nominated for a Grammy in 2008.

Carolyn Sampson’s numerous concert engagements in the UK have included regular appearances at the BBC Proms and with orchestras including The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The English Concert, Bach Collegium Japan, Britten Sinfonia and The Sixteen. She is a frequent guest with the Hallé and has performed with City of London Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras.

In Europe her many appearances have included concerts with Bergen Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerische Rundfunk, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Gürzenich Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and a performance of J C Bach’s Lucio Silla with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra. She recently made her debut with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in the Musikverein In the US Carolyn Sampson has featured as soloist with San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, St Paul Chamber Orchestra and is a regular guest at the Mostly Mozart Festival. In October 2013 she made her Carnegie Hall recital debut to a sold-out audience in the Weill Recital Hall.

Carolyn works regularly with conductors such as Sir Mark Elder, Markus Stenz, Ivor Bolton, Philippe Herreweghe, Harry Bicket, Trevor Pinnock, Riccardo Chailly, Louis Langrée, Harry Christophers and Robert King. A consummate recitalist, Carolyn Sampson appears regularly at the Wigmore Hall where a recital of lute songs with Matthew Wadsworth was recorded on the Wigmore Live label and released to huge critical acclaim. She has given regular recitals at the Saintes and Aldeburgh Festivals as well as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

Carolyn’s recent Harmonia Mundi recording of Poulenc’s Stabat Mater and Sept Répons de Ténèbres was awarded the Choc de l’Année Classica 2014. Other recent recordings include ‘A French Baroque Diva’ – celebrating Marie Fel, a star soprano of Rameau’s time, and Mozart’s Requiem with Bach Collegium Japan. Her recording of Purcell songs for BIS was selected as Editor’s Choice in the December 2007 issue of Gramophone Magazine Her many recordings for Hyperion with The King’s Consort include a highly acclaimed CD of Mozart sacred music ‘Exsultate jubilate’ which was selected as BBC Music Magazine’s “Record of the Month” and was also the recipient of an ECHO Award. She recorded a highly-acclaimed CD of Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Mass for Harmonia Mundi and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly for the Decca label. Future recording projects include Carolyn’s debut song recital disc, with the pianist Joseph Middleton. Entitled ‘Fleurs’ and planned for release in Spring 2015, it features songs by composers such as Fauré, Debussy, Schumann, Strauss, Quilter and Britten, amongst others. Highlights of the forthcoming season include Carolyn’s debut with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, concert performances of Semele with Concerto Köln and Ivor Bolton, and several recitals with Joseph Middleton.

In the 14/15 season Carolyn will be featured as one of the artists in residence at the Wigmore Hall.

Joseph Middleton
specialises in the art of song accompaniment and chamber music and has been highly acclaimed within this field. Described in the BBC Music Magazine as ‘one of the brightest stars in the world of song and Lieder’, he has also been labeled ‘the cream of the new generation’ by The Times and ‘a perfect accompanist’ by Opera Now. He performs and records with many of the world’s finest singers in major music centres across Europe, the Americas and Far East. Joseph is Director of Leeds Lieder, a Professor at his alma mater the Royal Academy of Music, and holds the position of Musician in Residence at Pembroke College Cambridge, where he curates an imaginative song recital series as well as directing the University’s Lieder Scheme.

Joseph enjoys recitals with internationally established singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Ian Bostridge, Benjamin Appl, Sarah Connolly, Lucy Crowe, Iestyn Davies, Wolfgang Holzmair, Christiane Karg, Katarina Karnéus, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, John Mark Ainsley, Ann Murray, Mark Padmore, Joan Rodgers, Amanda Roocroft, Kate Royal, Matthew Rose, Carolyn Sampson and Roderick Williams. He regularly collaborates with rising stars from the younger generation and in 2012 he formed the Myrthen Ensemble to further explore lesser-known song repertoire with regular duo partners Mary Bevan, Clara Mouriz, Allan Clayton and Marcus Farnsworth.

Recent seasons have taken him to London’s Wigmore Hall, Royal Opera House and Royal Festival Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Köln Philharmonie, Zürich Tonhalle and Luxembourg Philharmonie. He made his New York debut at the Alice Tully Hall accompanying Sarah Connolly in a recital described in the New York Times as ‘superlative…everything a song recital should be’. Elsewhere in the Americas he has appeared at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Vancouver’s Chan Centre, San Francisco’s Nourse Theatre and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. He is a regular guest at Festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Aldeburgh, Brighton, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Munich, Oxford Lieder, Stuttgart and West Cork.

Joseph’s 2016/17 plans include his début BBC Prom with Iestyn Davies and Carolyn Sampson; three US recital tours with Kate Royal, Sarah Connolly and Carolyn Sampson taking him to New York (Park Avenue Armory & Alice Tully Hall), San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre and Atlanta’s Spivey Hall; as well as recitals with Christopher Maltman in Strasbourg and deSingel Antwerp, Katarina Karnéus in Gothenburg, Simon Keenlyside and Ian Bostridge in Leeds; and European Myrthen Ensemble débuts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris. His appearances at the Wigmore Hall include recitals with Sarah Connolly and Clara Mouriz (BBC Lunchtime series) and with Carolyn Sampson. He has also programmed a 4-part Mahler series for BBC Radio 3. His critically acclaimed discography includes ‘Fleurs’ with Carolyn Sampson for BIS Records (nominated for a Gramophone Award & Radio France’s Disc of the Month); and, for Champs Hill Records: ‘Nocturnal Variations’ with Ruby Hughes (Recording of the Month – BBC Music Magazine), ‘Elgar in Sussex’ with Dame Felicity Lott, ‘Tell me the Truth about Love’ with Amanda Roocroft, ‘This other Eden’ with Kitty Whately (Shortlisted for Best Disc of 2015 – American Record Guide), the Lieder of Ludwig Thuille with Sophie Bevan and Jennifer Johnston and the complete Purcell/Britten realizations with Ruby Hughes, Allan Clayton and Matthew Rose. The Myrthen Ensemble’s début disc – ‘Songs to the Moon’ – was recently released on Signum Records. Joseph has a special relationship with the BBC through his work with their New Generation Artists Scheme and as such has made numerous live broadcasts of solo, chamber and song repertoire for BBC Radio 3, including frequently being invited to curate his own weeklong series of lunchtime concerts.

Born in Gloucestershire, Joseph graduated with an MPhil from the University of Birmingham, studied piano on an EMI Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music and went on to win the accompanist prizes at the Wigmore Hall International Song, Kathleen Ferrier, Richard Tauber, Royal Over-Seas League and Geoffrey Parsons Awards. He lives near London with his family.

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