Eternal Love: 17th Century German Lute Songs
The whole genre of German lute songs will appeal to a particular kind of music-lover. If you enjoy crisp, clean sounds, you will be delighted by the 20 varied tracks on offer on this particular recording, which features the impressive talents of Martin Hummel's baritone voice accompanied by Karl-Ernst Schroder on lute.
The selection recorded includes composers as diverse as Gabriel Voigtlander, Jakob Kremberg, Andrea Hammerschmidt and Thomas Selle.
The delicate and simple lute was introduced to Europe from the East in mediaeval times. As its popularity grew through the 17th Century so did the repertoire for the instrument. Compositions for the single voice and instrument, as opposed to a number of voices, found favour in Germany and suddenly took off in the early part of the century, seeing a glut of compositions for this new form.
The publishers have kindly included complete translations of the texts, some of which adhere to strict forms, and others, like those of Albert, remain graphic but slightly less formal.
The gentle sonority of the lute is admirably suited to the genre of love songs, but the German language sounds harsh and stilted, despite the beauty of the poetry in translation.
As you can imagine, there is nothing gushing or slushy about any of the compositions. Form is impeccable, with plenty of satisfying, perfect cadences, bringing verses to a predictable end.
Hammerschmidt moves away from stanzas of all one length in the madrigal form to texts with different settings, mostly from Saxon poets. Because he rejects the rigid, his com-
positions sound softer and more charming than some of his contemporaries featured here. Track number 7, How He Would be Kissed, is a lovely example.
And because the voicing is so sparse there are very few jarring, chordal moments. The performances, throughout, are impeccably recorded. This type of music would appeal to those of you who enjoy clean, almost mathematically precise works with a wondrous sense of symmetry.
Naxos DDD 8.555935
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