Befreit – A Soul Surrendered Kitty Whately & Joseph Middleton

• Johanna Müller-Hermann (1868 - 1941): Wie eine Vollmondnacht, Op. 20 No. 4:
• 1Müller-Hermann: Wie eine Vollmondnacht, Op. 20 No. 402:54
• Der letzte Abend, Op. 2 No. 4:
• 2Müller-Hermann: Der letzte Abend, Op. 2 No. 403:30
• Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949): Befreit, Op. 39, TrV 189 No. 4:
• 3Strauss: Befreit, Op. 39, TrV 189 No. 405:10
• Allerseelen, Op. 10, TrV 141 No. 8:
• 4Strauss: Allerseelen, Op. 10, TrV 141 No. 803:06
• Margarete Schweikert (1887 - 1957): Wolke I:
• 5Schweikert: Wolke I01:36
• Totenhausen:
• 6Schweikert: Totenhausen04:26
• Zusammen sterben:
• 7Schweikert: Zusammen sterben02:02
• Richard Strauss: Auf ein Kind, Op. 47, TrV 200 No. 1:
• 8Strauss: Auf ein Kind, Op. 47, TrV 200 No. 102:15
• Rückleben, Op. 47, TrV 200 No. 3:
• 9Strauss: Rückleben, Op. 47, TrV 200 No. 304:09
• Morgen!, Op. 27, TrV 170 No. 4:
• 10Strauss: Morgen!, Op. 27, TrV 170 No. 404:05
• Johanna Müller-Hermann: Die stille Stadt, Op. 4 No. 1:
• 11Müller-Hermann: Die stille Stadt, Op. 4 No. 102:20
• Herbst, Op. 20 No. 2:
• 12Müller-Hermann: Herbst, Op. 20 No. 202:53
• In Memoriam, Op. 28 No. 5:
• 13Müller-Hermann: In Memoriam, Op. 28 No. 502:31
• Margarete Schweikert: Unser Haus:
• 14Schweikert: Unser Haus02:40
• Die Entschlafenen:
• 15Schweikert: Die Entschlafenen02:24
• Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911): Kindertotenlieder:
• 16Mahler: Kindertotenlieder: No. 1, Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgeh'n!04:40
• 17Mahler: Kindertotenlieder: No. 2, Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen04:31
• 18Mahler: Kindertotenlieder: No. 3, Wenn dein Mütterlein04:05
• 19Mahler: Kindertotenlieder: No. 4, Oft denk' ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen!02:58
• 20Mahler: Kindertotenlieder: No. 5, In diesem Wetter!06:05
• Johanna Müller-Hermann: Widmung, Op. 20 No. 1 (Bonus Track):
• 21Müller-Hermann: Widmung, Op. 20 No. 1 (Bonus Track)03:07
• Margarete Schweikert: Einem Vorangegangenen (Bonus Track):
• 22Schweikert: Einem Vorangegangenen (Bonus Track)02:23
• Total Runtime01:13:50

Info zu Befreit – A Soul Surrendered

Die Mezzosopranistin Kitty Whately wurde an der Chetham's School of Music, der Guildhall School of Music and Drama und der International Opera School des Royal College of Music ausgebildet. Nachdem sie im selben Jahr sowohl den Kathleen Ferrier Award als auch den Royal Overseas League Award gewonnen hatte, nahm sie an der renommierten Akademie des Verbier Festivals teil. Sie schreibt über dieses Projekt: "Es war mir eine große Freude, wieder einmal mit Joseph aufzunehmen. Wir teilen seit langem eine gemeinsame Leidenschaft für die romantischen Lieder des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts und sprachen darüber, eine CD mit Liedern von Mahler und Strauss aufzunehmen. Die Möglichkeit, weniger bekannte Komponisten aus ihrer Zeit zu entdecken und zu erforschen, war aufregend und faszinierend. Als die Welt von der Pandemie heimgesucht wurde, erlebten wir alle Angst, Gefahr und Verlust auf eine Art und Weise, wie es die meisten unserer Generation noch nie zuvor getan hatten, und zwar in einem solchen globalen Ausmaß. Joseph und ich fühlten uns dazu hingezogen, über Trauer, Sterblichkeit und Hinterbliebene nachzudenken. Die beiden weniger bekannten Komponistinnen, die in dieser Aufnahme zu hören sind, sind Johanna Müller-Hermann (die bei einigen der prominentesten Lehrer in Wien studiert hat - Josef Labor, Guido Adler, Alexander Zemlinsky, Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Franz Schmidt) und Margarete Schweikert, deren Aufwachsen und Leben in Karlsruhe und Studium bei Joseph Haas in Stuttgart kaum einen größeren Kontrast bilden könnten - deutlich hörbar in ihrer Musik.

Kitty Whately, Mezzosopran
Joseph Middleton, Klavier

Kitty Whately
trained at Chetham’s School of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Royal College of Music International Opera School. She won both the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the 59th Royal Overseas League Award in the same year, and was part of the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy where she appeared as Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy. Kitty was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2013-15, during which time she recorded her debut solo album This Other Eden, made recordings with the BBC orchestras, commissioned a new song cycle from Jonathan Dove, and made several appearances at the Proms.

Current engagements include Hansel Hansel and Gretel and Donna Elvira Don Giovanni (Scottish Opera), Kate Owen Wingrave (Grange Park Opera), Annina Der Rosenkavalier (Garsington Opera), Dog / Forester's Wife / Woodpecker / Owl The Cunning Little Vixen with the CBSO in Birmingham, Paris, Hamburg and Dortmund and her usual assortment of recitals. Recent opera highlights include Isabella Wuthering Heights and Kate Owen Wingrave(Opera National de Lorraine, Nancy), Paquette Candide (Bergen National Opera, following a concert performance of the role at The Grange Festival), Mother/Other Mother in the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s latest opera Coraline (Barbican, produced by the Royal Opera House), Meg Little Women and Dorabella Così fan tutte (Opera Holland Park), Nancy Albert Herring (The Grange Festival) and as Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Aix-en-Provence Festival and in Beijing). Kitty also performed in the world premiere of Vasco Mendonça’s The House Taken Over directed by Katie Mitchell, with performances in Antwerp, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Bruges and Lisbon. Other operatic roles include Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia and Stewardess in Jonathan Dove’s Flight (Opera Holland Park); Hermia A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bergen National Opera); Dorabella Così fan tutte (English Touring Opera) and Ippolita / Pallade in Cavalli’s Elena in Montpellier and Versailles for the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Kitty is in high demand as a recitalist and concert artist. She made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, singing Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as a recital alongside Malcolm Martineau at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Recent concert performances include Mahler Das Lied von der Erde at the Mizmorim Festival in Basel, The Dream of Gerontius with Crouch End Festival Chorus at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and recitals of English song at Wigmore Hall and the Salisbury International Festival. She has given performances with most of the UK’s major orchestras, including Duruflé’s Requiem and Mozart’s Requiem (in Oslo with the Dunedin Consort and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Bach’s B Minor Mass (Royal Northern Sinfonia and Scottish Chamber Orchestra), Beethoven’s Mass in C Major (Philharmonia Orchestra), Haydn’s Nelson Mass (Britten Sinfonia on tour in Spain and the Netherlands), Bach’s Magnificat (Britten Sinfonia and Choir of King’s College Cambridge), Elgar The Dream of Gerontius at St John’s Smith Square and Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Handel's Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall. Kitty has given recitals at the Edinburgh International, Salisbury International, Oxford Lieder, Leeds Lieder and Buxton festivals, working regularly with renowned accompanists including James Baillieu, Julius Drake, Graham Johnson, Simon Lepper, Malcolm Martineau, Gary Matthewman, Joseph Middleton, Anna Tilbrook and Roger Vignoles.

Kitty made her BBC Proms debut in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Suite from Act II of Caroline Mathilde, and also appeared in a Chamber Music Prom singing the music of Stephen Sondheim. Her frequent performances with the BBC orchestras include De Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat (BBC National Orchestra of Wales) and Nancy in a concert performance of Britten’s Albert Herring (BBC Symphony Orchestra), as well as recordings of Ravel’s Sheherezade (BBC Philharmonic Orchestra), Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne (BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra), and songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter (BBC Concert Orchestra).

In 2017 Kitty released her second album, Nights not spent alone, to critical acclaim. Recorded in a co-production between Champs Hill Records and the BBC, and accompanied by distinguished pianist Simon Lepper, the disc presents complete works for mezzo-soprano by Jonathan Dove. It includes a song cycle of the same name dedicated to Kitty, which she premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival in 2015.

Joseph Middleton
specialises in the art of song and was the first accompanist to win the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award. He is Director of Leeds Lieder, Musician in Residence at Pembroke College, Cambridge and Fellow and Professor of his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music. Alongside the world’s finest singers, Joseph appears at major music centres including Wigmore Hall, New York’s Lincoln Centre, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Konzerthaus Vienna, Kölner Philharmonie, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Musée d’Orsay, Oji Hall Tokyo and Festivals in Aix-en-Provence, Aldeburgh, BBC Proms, Edinburgh, San Francisco, Schubertiade Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, Seoul, and Vancouver. He frequently curates his own series for BBC Radio and his critically acclaimed and fast-growing discography have won the Diapason D’or, Edison Award and Priz Caecilia.

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