Saturday 26 June 2010 at 7.30pm
Wigmore Hall
36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP
Catherine Hopper (mezzo-soprano)
Joseph Middleton (piano)
Loewe: Erlkönig
Schubert: An den Mond; Meeres Stille; Suleika; Erster Verlust; Ganymed
Wolf: 4 Mignon Lieder
Debussy: Proses lyriques
Tchaikovsky: At the Ball; My Guardian, My Angel, My Friend; Over Burning Ashes; Why?
Weill: Je ne t'aime pas; Speak Low; I'm a Stranger Here Myself
"In the five years that Joseph and I have been performing together, German Lieder of the nineteenth century has formed the core of our repertoire. For this, our first full-length recital at the Wigmore Hall, we have taken the opportunity to explore various settings of Goethe, a poet whose work has inspired so many great examples of the German art song. We have chosen songs by Wolf and Schubert, two very well known exponents of the genre. To begin our recital, we have chosen Loewe's Erlkönig, which is one of the first songs we ever performed together, as students at the Royal Academy of Music.
Rather than set someone else's poetry, Debussy chose to compose his own text for his Proses Lyriques. It is a substantial song cycle, yet one of his lesser known works and so we are really looking forward to performing it. As well as exploring more deeply repertoire which is familiar to us, in planning this recital we were also keen to expand our horizons. The songs of Tchaikovsky, of which there are over one hundred, have held a fascination for both of us for some while. The selection we are presenting is only a very small taster, but for us we hope it will be the start of a lifelong discovery. To finish our recital we decided to choose some of the songs of Kurt Weill. Something that we hope everyone will enjoy and which will just be great fun for us to perform!"
Catherine Hopper & Joseph Middleton
Tickets: £8 - £13
Box office tel: 020 7935 2141
or visit www.wigmore-hall.org.uk
"Catherine Hopper is a mezzo who commands attention - Barber's Nocturne showed off all the gloss in her voice in a quite sultry performance." Serena Fenwick, Musical Pointers.co.uk