The baritone Georg Nigl is fascinated by ballads, which unfold in him "dream images". Schubert's long and little-known lied Viola, based on a poem by Franz von Schober, or the great ballads based on texts by Goethe "opened up a world that has always accompanied me, that of the storyteller (...) stories of frightening beauty, with as many colours as possible...". The magnificent pianos on this recording - a Christoph Kern fortepiano after Conrad Graf (Vienna, 1826) and a Steinway & Sons concert grand piano (New York, 1875) - beautifully played by Olga Pashchenko, with whom Georg now forms an intimate and inspired duo, allow us to hear "unknown sounds and sometimes unheard-of colours"...
Works:
•Loewe, C: Odins Meeresritt "Meister Oluf, der Schmied auf Helgoland", Op. 118
• Schubert: Der Vater mit dem Kind, D906 (Bauernfeld)
• Schubert: Viola, D786 (Schober)
• Schumann: Lieder (5), Op. 40