The Songs of Robert Schumann Vol 9

Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Februiary 2005)

"More fascinating, well-researched Schumann in an enjoyable series. There's nothing like a dame - except, perhaps, two! Here, Dames Felicity and Ann are reunited not in the 'encore' fare that made their EMI discs so delightful, but in duets from Schumann's substantial output for two voices. The songs from his Albums for the Young make a magical effect in these delightful performances. Yet another Hyperion winner!"
(Gramophone)

"There are few if any more sensitive singers than Felicity Lott and Ann Murray, whose performances are idiomatic and scrupulously prepared. In this repertoire youthfulness of voice is an obvious issue, but each singer maintains a fresh and eager approach which suits the purpose to perfection. The sensitive recorded balance of voice and piano is another tribute to Hyperion's now familiar standards in such matters. Again and again the simple yet telling nature of the songs brings particular benefit for the listener, to the extent that calling forth highlights seems invidious.

However, highlights there probably are, and one is certainly Ann Murray's delightful rendering of Der Sandmann, while Dame Felicity shows her artistry to perfection in the three Mignon settings. These latter songs share a theme but do not repeat one another. Rather each builds in intensity of expression from one to the next, reaching to a finely drawn climax. Perhaps this forms the climax of the whole impressive enterprise."
- MusicWeb Dec 2004

This delightful disc is dedicated to the music Schumann wrote for children. The Op 79 Liederalbum für die Jugend - twenty-nine songs and duets composed in 1849 - leads us on a journey through Schumann's affinity with the mind and imagination of the musical child, a journey which here is sensitively punctuated by fifteen items from the Op 68 piano collection Klavieralbum für die Jugend.