"Spanische Liebeslieder", op. 138

Robert Schumann's set of ten Spanish love songs -- a cycle of solos, duets and a quartet. Sung here by Lois Marshall, soprano, Regina Sarfaty, mezzo-soprano, Léopold Simoneau, tenor, and William Warfield, baritone. Arthur Gold & Robert Fizdale are the pianists. From a 1961 Columbia recording.

Link to my Lois Marshall playlist:
   • Lois Marshall (1925-1997)  

Link to my Regina Sarfaty playlist:    • Regina Sarfaty (1934-2024)  

Link to my Léopold Simoneau playlist:
   • Léopold Simoneau (1916-2006)  

Link to my Warfield playlist:
   • William Warfield (1920-2002)  

The "Spanische Liebeslieder", op. 138 (composed in 1849) should not be confused with Schumann's other cycle, "Spanisches Liederspiel", op. 78 -- also set to translation of Spanish folksongs by Emanuel von Geibel. One interesting difference is that the op. 138 is composed for piano four hands -- a style Brahms would later use in his Liebeslieder Waltzes. The op. 138 also contains two movements of purely instrumental (piano) music.

Noted critic Martin Bernheimer wrote of this recording: "Columbia's soloists bring obvious affection to their task, coupled with a unanimous sense of style and hindered only by diction that is sometimes less than echt. They are reinforced by the masterful, remarkably introverted duo-pianism of Gold and Fizdale. Furthermore, Marshall and Simoneau offer their customary tonal sweetness, Warfield sings with an added degree of artistry to counterbalance slightly diminishing resources, and Sarfaty makes a poignant thing of her aria, "Hoch sind die Berge."