Voci a corde - Duets with Harp

The Kunstlied of the nineteenth century is dominated by compositions by Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Fanny Hensel, and it reflects the Romantic Zeitgeist of the era. Together with the soloists Christine Wolff, Britta Schwarz, and Maria Graf, Rondeau Production approaches this Zeitgeist from a new perspective: well-known and unknown duets are clothed in fresh robes by the accompanying harp, and the spirit of chamber music making in private homes is reawakened. Most of the selected songs were in fact composed for this intimate setting, and the performers insist on looking beyond the great artistic gesture, hoping “to make singing in twos or threes become normal and more common again.”

Especially noteworthy is the performance of four seldom recorded songs by Luigi Cherubini which were written for two female voices and harp accompaniment. The harp is presented as a solo instrument in Louis Spohr’s Phantasie, op. 35.

Christine Wolff
Britta Schwarz
Maria Graf