Mahler Songs Sarah Connolly & Joseph Middleton

• Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911): Rückert-Lieder (Version for Voice & Piano):
• 1 Mahler: Rückert-Lieder (Version for Voice & Piano): II. Ich atmet' einen linden Duft! 02:40
• 2 Mahler: Rückert-Lieder (Version for Voice & Piano): I. Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder! 01:33
• 3 Mahler: Rückert-Lieder (Version for Voice & Piano): IV. Um Mitternacht 06:24
• 4 Mahler: Rückert-Lieder (Version for Voice & Piano): V. Liebst du um Schönheit 02:30
• 5 Mahler: Rückert-Lieder (Version for Voice & Piano): III. Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen 07:07
• Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Version for Voice & Piano):
• 6 Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Version for Voice & Piano): No. 1, Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht 03:51
• 7 Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Version for Voice & Piano): No. 2, Ging heut morgen übers Feld 04:25
• 8 Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Version for Voice & Piano): No. 3, Ich hab' ein glühend Messer 03:21
• 9 Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Version for Voice & Piano): No. 4, Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz 06:00
• Kindertotenlieder (Version for Voice & Piano):
• 10 Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (Version for Voice & Piano): No. 1, Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n 05:08
• 11 Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (Version for Voice & Piano): No. 2, Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen 04:50
• 12 Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (Version for Voice & Piano): No. 3, Wenn dein Mütterlein 04:29
• 13 Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (Version for Voice & Piano): No. 4, Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen 02:46
• 14 Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (Version for Voice & Piano): No. 5, In diesem Wetter 06:12
• Total Runtime 01:01:16

Info for Mahler Songs

One of the finest Mahlerians of our time, Dame Sarah Connolly brings her fierce intellect and glorious voice to the music she has spent a lifetime studying and performing.

In the first release of series curated and performed by Joseph Middleton that will champion the complete piano accompanied Lieder of Mahler, the “superlative” (New York Times) duo of Connolly and Middleton present the three great song cycles of Mahler: Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen, Fünf Rückert Lieder and Kindertotenlieder.

This is the first time Sarah has performed all three cycles on one album, which she is justly famous the world over for, performing with rare insight and consummate artistry. Her voice is the perfect Mahlerian instrument.

“It is such an enormous honour to have made this recording for Signum with Sarah, the greatest possible advocate for this repertoire. Sarah and I have been performing together for a decade and the music of Mahler has run through that period of my life like a well-spring, bringing countless hours of profound enjoyment, self-reflection, and indeed gratitude that music of such quality and humanity exists for both performer and audience alike. Mahler’s music can teach us so much about the human condition, our connection with nature and our empathy towards other humans. A deep spirituality is built into every bar he writes. Performing this music with Sarah never fails to teach me something new about being a musician and being an artist and I’m so grateful that Signum have given me the opportunity to record all the piano accompanied songs by Mahler.” - Joseph Middleton

Dame Sarah Connolly, Mezzosopran
Joseph Middleton, Klavier

Sarah Connolly
Born in County Durham, Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow. She was made a DBE in the 2017 Birthday Honours, having previously been made a CBE in the 2010 New Year’s Honours. In 2011 she was honoured by the Incorporated Society of Musicians and presented with the Distinguished Musician Award. She is the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2012 Singer Award.

Highlights in Dame Sarah’s 2018/19 season include Fricka Das Rheingold and Die Walküre for the Royal Opera and in Das Rheingold, Teatro Réal in Madrid. ​

On the concert platform, her engagements include Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin/Jurowski & London Philharmonic Orchestra/Jurowski), his Symphony No. 8 (Wiener Symphoniker/Jordan), Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Orchestre national de Paris/Saraste) and Tippet’s A Child of our Time (Orchestre de Paris/Adès). ​

Dame Sarah also curates a Residency at Wigmore Hall in the 2018/19 season and gives recitals for the Schubertíada a Vilabertran, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.

Joseph Middleton
specializes in the art of song accompaniment and chamber music and has been highly acclaimed in this field. Described in Opera Magazine as ‘the rightful heir to legendary accompanist Gerald Moore’, by 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. He is Director of Leeds Lieder, Musician in Residence and a Bye Fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge and a Fellow of his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music, where he is also a Professor. He was the first accompanist to win the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award.

Joseph is a frequent guest at major music centres including London’s Wigmore Hall (where he has been a featured artist), Royal Opera House and Royal Festival Hall, New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Park Avenue Armory, Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus and Musikverein Vienna, Zürich Tonhalle, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Berlin BoulezSaal, Kölner Philharmonie, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Lille and Gothenburg Opera Houses, Baden- Baden, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Musée d’Orsay Paris, Oji Hall Tokyo and Festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Aldeburgh, Barcelona, Schloss Elmau, Edinburgh, Munich, Ravinia, San Francisco, Schubertiade Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, deSingel, Soeul, Stuttgart, Toronto and Vancouver.

He made his BBC Proms debut in 2016 alongside Iestyn Davies and Carolyn Sampson and returned in 2018 alongside Dame Sarah Connolly where they premiered recently discovered songs by Benjamin Britten.

Joseph enjoys recitals with internationally established singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Louise Alder, Mary Bevan, Ian Bostridge, Allan Clayton, Dame Sarah Connolly, Marianne Crebassa, Iestyn Davies, Fatma Said, Samuel Hasselhorn, Christiane Karg, Katarina Karnéus, Angelika Kirchschlager, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, John Mark Ainsley, Ann Murray DBE, James Newby, Mark Padmore, Mauro Peter, Miah Persson, Sophie Rennert, Ashley Riches, Dorothea Röschmann, Kate Royal, Carolyn Sampson, Nicky Spence and Roderick Williams.

He has a special relationship with BBC Radio 3, frequently curating his own series and performing alongside the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists. His critically acclaimed and fast-growing discography has seen him awarded a Diapason D’or, Edison Award and Priz Caecilia as well as receiving numerous nominations for Gramophone, BBC Music Magazines and International Classical Music Awards. His interest in the furthering of the song repertoire has led Gramophone Magazine to describe him as ‘the absolute king of programming’.

Booklet for Mahler Songs