Renée Fleming Has Given Berg To The World For 30 Years On Disc

Modern Medium: Renée Fleming performs with the Emerson String Quartet

Soprano Renée Fleming is known for singing the Germanic repertoire of Richard Strauss, but it is the music of Alban Berg that continue to surprise audiences with its intensely difficult vocal line and soaring range. Her first foray into the recorded repertoire of Berg began in 1996 when

she partnered with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under the direction of James Levine to record "Lied der Lulu" from Lulu Suite and excerpts from Wozzeck for Sony Classical. The next installment of the 20th century composer came when Ms. Fleming collaborated with Claudio Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic for a live recording of the Sieben frühe Lieder in 2005. A decade later, she is releasing a new disc  accompanied by the Emerson String Quartet: "This release unites on record for the first time Americas reigning star soprano Renée Fleming and its premier string quartet, The Emersons, to take us on a journey into the twilight world of Vienna in the 1920s and 30s in music imbued with late romanticism and burgeoning modernism. Berg's Lyric Suite is a work of intricate, complexity believed to have a secret

dedication and to outline a secret programme relating to Berg's affair with Franz Werfels sister (Werfel was married to Mahler s widow, Alma). Theodor Adorno called the work a latent opera and in its sixth and final movement, the Largo desolato, Berg introduces the soprano voice and quotes Wagner's Tristan motif to evoke his doomed, impossible love. This was still secessionist Vienna: a world of paintings by Klimt, psychoanalysis by Freud and a musical life where you could hear Bruno Walter conduct Mahler and Clemens Krauss lead the operas of Richard Strauss. Egon Welleszs highly expressive setting of Sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett-Browning was one of the last works he completed before leaving Austria ahead of the Anschluss in 1938. It is heard here in its original version for soprano and string quartet. Barrett-Browning was one of the most popular English poets of the Victoria era, although Wellesz turned to

German translations by Rainer Maria Rilke for his setting. Renée Fleming is famed for her intense and luxurious (Evening Standard) performances of Richard Strauss and Korngold, Berg and Mahler. Her sumptuous sound is uniquely suited to this repertoire. As Edward Seckerson wrote of her fin de siècle recital at the Barbican in 2012: 'We were back in Viennas golden age and it seemed like that was where she had always belonged.'" The disc will be released internationally on September 11, 2015. Pre-order your copy here. [Source] See the full track list, watch a video of Renée Fleming and the Emerson String Quartet performing Berg's Lyric Suite, and see more photos, after the jump.

In Session: Renée Fleming recording Alban Berg with the Emerson String Quartet

Track List

Alban Berg (1885 - 1935)
Lyric Suite for String Quartet (1926)
1. I. Allegretto gioviale 3:08
2. II. Andante amoroso 5:45
3. III. Allegro misterioso - Trio estatico 3:19
4. IV. Adagio appassionato 5:35
5. V. Presto delirando - Tenebroso 4:40
6. VI. Largo desolato 5:35
7. Largo desolato (Version with Soprano) 5:58 

Egon Wellesz (1885 - 1974)
Sonnets From The Portuguese, Op.52
8. 1. Un es geschah mir einst 5:05
9. 2. Nur drei jedoch in Gottes ganzen All vernahmen es 3:43
10. 3. Du bist da droben im Palast begehrt 3:09
11. 4. Ich denk an dich 3:13
12. 5. Mir scheint, das Angesicht der Welt verging 4:24

Eric Zeisl (1905 - 1959)
13. Komm, süsser Tod 2:52