Performed in the Gewehrsaal at Schloss Ettersburg, near Weimar, baritone and DG artist Andrè Schuen and his long-term recital partner, pianist Daniel Heide, begin their programme with Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer). This four-song cycle, with texts by the composer, follows a young man as he sets out on a journey. Initially lost in grief at the thought of his beloved marrying someone else, he finally finds peace as he sleeps beneath a linden tree. Next we hear three of Schubert’s best-loved and most beautiful songs. All three set poems by Friedrich Rückert, who also inspired Mahler: his Rückert Lieder were originally published as independent pieces, and can therefore be sung in the performers’ chosen order. Schuen and Heide end with Mahler’s “Urlicht” (Primal Light), the moving final song from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn), which later became the fourth movement of his Second Symphony.

Gustav Mahler
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
I      Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht
II     Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld
III    Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer
IV    Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz

Franz Schubert
Sei mir gegrüßt, D741
Du bist die Ruh, D776
Dass sie hier gewesen, D775

Gustav Mahler
Rückert-Lieder
I      Liebst du um Schönheit
II     Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder!
III    Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft
IV    Um Mitternacht
V     Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Urlicht

Andrè Schuen baritone
Daniel Heide piano