Christine Schäfer Debut on Sony Classical Covers 240 Years

The acclaimed soprano Christine Schäfer is making her label debut for Sony Classical with a highly unconventional aria album. The arias she has recorded range in time from Handel to Messiaen, and in style from virtuosic bel canto to the drama of Verdi and the serenity of Richard Strauss. Christine Schäfer’s first-ever recital of operatic arias is a carefully composed musical essay that combines popular and lesser-known works. This highly personal programme is no selection of greatest hits, but a journey of adventure in search of musical beauty. In the manner of a resounding essay Schäfer takes well-known but intentionally diverse pieces from the Baroque period to the present and relates them to each other in unexpected ways. Seductive as they are on their own, in this changed context each seems to have been illuminated anew. The orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin under Julien Salemkour, is the singer’s artistic counterpart and peer, and can shine in a variety of roles.

Release dates: UK - November 21, Germany - December 2, USA - December 27, 2011. See more images for the album by photographer Bodo Vitus by clicking here.

TRACK LISTING:
01 - "Sein wir wieder gut" Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss)
02 - "O sleep why dost you leave me" Semele (Georg Frideric Händel)
03 - "Ah! Non credea mirarti" La Sonnambula (Vincenzo Bellini)
04 - "Overture" Raymond ou le secret de la Reine (Ambroise Thomas)
05 - "Oui pour ce soir...Je suis Titania" Mignon (Ambroise Thomas)
06 - "Morgen Mittag um elf!" Capriccio (Richard Strauss)
07 - "Adagietto" Arlesienne Suite, No. 1 (Georges Bizet)
08 - "Canzone del salice" Otello (Giuseppe Verdi)
09 - "Ave Maria" Otello (Giuseppe Verdi)
10 - "Sommermorgen an einem See" Five orchestal pieces, Op.16, No. 3 "Farben" (Arnold Schoenberg)
11 - "Ah! Dieu nous par éblouit excess verité" St. François d'Assise (Olivier Messiaen)