Reason in Madness Carolyn Sampson & Joseph Middleton

• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Opheilia-Lieder, WoO 22 (Excerpts):
• 1 Opheilia-Lieder, WoO 22 (Excerpts): No. 4, Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloß 00:54
• Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856):
• 2 Herzeleid, Op. 107 No. 1 01:43
• Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949): 6 Lieder, Op. 67, TrV 238 (Excerpts):
• 3 6 Lieder, Op. 67, TrV 238 (Excerpts): No. 1, Wie erkenn ich mein Treulieb vor andern nun? 02:23
• 4 6 Lieder, Op. 67, TrV 238 (Excerpts): No. 2, Guten Morgen, 's ist Sankt Valentinstag 01:05
• 5 6 Lieder, Op. 67, TrV 238 (Excerpts): No. 3, Sie trugen ihn auf der Bahre bloß 03:38
• Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950):Chansons de Bilitis, Op. 39:
• 6 Chansons de Bilitis, Op. 39: No. 1, Hymne à Astarté 01:48
• Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918): Chansons de Bilitis, L. 90:
• 7 Chansons de Bilitis, L. 90: No. 1, La flûte de Pan 02:50
• 8 Chansons de Bilitis, L. 90: No. 2, La chevelure 03:35
• 9 Chansons de Bilitis, L. 90: No. 3, Le tombeau des naïades 02:51
• Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950): Chansons de Bilitis, Op. 39:
• 10 Chansons de Bilitis, Op. 39: No. 5, Épitaphe de Bilitis 03:36
• Henri Duparc (1848 - 1933):
• 11 Romance de Mignon, Op. 2 No. 3 04:26
• Hugo Wolf (1860 - 1903): Goethe-Lieder (Excerpts):
• 12 Goethe-Lieder (Excerpts): No. 9, Kennst du das Land? 06:18
• 13 Goethe-Lieder (Excerpts): No. 5, Mignon I "Heiß mich nicht reden" 03:39
• 14 Goethe-Lieder (Excerpts): No. 6, Mignon II "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt" 02:01
• 15 Goethe-Lieder (Excerpts): No. 7, Mignon III "So lasst mich scheiden, bis ich werde" 03:38
• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828):
• 16 Gretchen am Spinnrade, Op. 2, D. 118 03:40
• Johannes Brahms: Opheilia-Lieder, WoO 22 (Excerpts):
• 17 Mädchenlied, Op. 107 No. 5 01:39
• Robert Schumann:
• 18 Die Spinnerin, Op. 107 No. 4 01:18
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921):
• 19 La mort d’Ophélie 03:10
• Ernest Chausson (1855 - 1899): Ernest Chausson
• 20 Chansons de Shakespeare, Op. 28: No. 3, Chanson d’Ophélie 01:35
• Johannes Brahms: Opheilia-Lieder, WoO 22 (Excerpts):
• 21 Opheilia-Lieder, WoO 22 (Excerpts): No. 1, Wie erkenn ich dein Treublieb? 04:00
• Henri Duparc:
• 22 Au pays où se fait la guerre 05:04
• Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963:
• 23 La Dame de Monte-Carlo, FP 180 (Arr. for Voice & Piano) 07:15
• Total Runtime 01:12:06

Info for Reason in Madness

Throughout history men have feared madwomen, burning them as witches, confining them in asylums and subjecting them to psychoanalysis – yet, they have also been fascinated, unable to resist fantasizing about them. For their new disc, Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have created a programme that explores the responses of a variety of composers to women whose stories have left them vulnerable and exposed. As a motto they have chosen an aphorism by Nietzsche: ‘There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness.’

Brahms’ Ophelia Songs, composed for a stage production of Hamlet, appear next to those by Richard Strauss and Chausson, while Ophelia's death is described by both Schumann (in Herzeleid) and Saint-Saëns. Goethe’s mysterious and traumatized Mignon appears in settings by Hugo Wolf as well as Duparc, while his ill-used Gretchen grieves by her spinning-wheel in Schubert's matchless setting. Sadness and madness tip into witchery and unbridled eroticism with Pierre Louÿs's poems about Bilitis, set by Kœchlin and Debussy. Sampson and Middleton end their recital as it began, with a suicide by drowning: in Poulenc’s monologue La Dame de Monte-Carlo, the elderly female protagonist has been unlucky at the gambling tables and decides to throw herself into the sea.

Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Joseph Middleton, piano

No biography found.

Booklet for Reason in Madness