Reinaldo Dopp, Albrecht Hartmann: Gelebte Lieder - Living Songs

When asked to think of the classical Lied composer who set Goethe’s texts to music, the name Schubert will, of course, come to mind immediately – with less justification than one might think, though, for the ‘prince of poets’ preferred a different artist: Johann Friedrich Reichardt, whose death two hundred years ago is commemorated in 2014, was highly esteemed by Goethe. Indeed, not only by him: other great intellectuals of the day such as Brentano and the Brothers Grimm also sought the company of this composer, who was renowned especially for his Lieder. This treasure trove is rediscovered by the singer Reinaldo Dopp and the pianist Albrecht Hartmann; both live in Halle, where Reichardt was buried. When the performers began to grapple with Reichardt’s songs, they realised how pertinently these bring together texts and music and fix themselves in one’s memory. The tenor is inspired particularly by the compositions’ directness and emphasises that in Reichardt’s oeuvre the poetic text retains absolute priority. This feature is particularly intriguing, since the composer reveals himself as a stylistic chameleon: Reichardt is indebted to the Baroque yet points far into the Romantic future, evoking comparisons with later colleagues such as Mendelssohn Bartholdy.

This CD enables listeners to set off on an exciting journey into the far-flung and almost unchartered territories of the Classical Lied – in future, texts such as Goethe’s ‘Heidenröslein’ or the ‘Erlkönig’ will evoke an additional sound-world to that of Schubert…

Reinaldo Dopp
Albrecht Hartmann