Eisler: Elegien No1&2; Die Hollywood-Elegien

On this CD:

1. Spruch for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

2. Elegien for voice & piano, Nos 1 & 2, complete In Die Städte Kam Ich
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

3. Elegien for voice & piano, Nos 1 & 2, complete An Die Überlebenden
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

4. Uber die Dauer des Exils for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

5. Zufluchtsstatte for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

6. Elegien for voice & piano, Nos 1 & 2, complete
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

7. An den Schlaf for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

8. An den Kleinen Radioapparat for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

9. In Den Weiden for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

10. Fruhling
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

11. Auf der Flucht for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

12. Über den Selbstmord, for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

13. Gedenktafel for voice & piano, "Fur 4000 Soldaten die in Krieg Gegen Norwegen Versenkt Wurden"
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

14. Spruch for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

15. Hotelzimmer for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

16. Die Maske des Bosen for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

17. Lieder (2) Nach Worten Von Pascal Despite These Miseries
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

18. Lieder (2) Nach Worten Von Pascal The Only Thing
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

19. Die Letzte Elegie for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

20. Die Hollywood-Elegien for voice & piano Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

21. Die Hollywood-Elegien for voice & piano Die Stadt ist dach den Engeln genannt
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

22. Die Hollywood-Elegien for voice & piano Jeden Morgen, mein Brot zu verdienen
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

23. Die Hollywood-Elegien for voice & piano Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

24. In der Fruhe for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

25. Erinnerung an Eichendorff und Schumann for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

26. Holderlin for voice & piano No 1, An die Hoffnung
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

27. Holderlin for voice & piano No 2, Andenken
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

28. Holderlin for voice & piano No 3, Elegie
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

29. Die Landschaft des Exils for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

30. Vergehlte Liebe for voice & piano
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

31. Monolog des Horatio
Composed by Hanns Eisler
Performed by Aribert Reimann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Customer Reviews:

incredible songs, like a document of time.......2005-01-28

Reimann has been Fischer Dieskau's(hereafter DFD) accompanist for decades now in fact DFD commissioned the former for their powerful collaborative opera on Shakespeare's "Lear". Hearing DFD nice,seemless pulsive smooth baritone to render these serious dark tunes of Eisler has a kid of irony. Eisler is like the Schubert of the 20th Century, he however(unlike Schubert) had lived through the darkest pages of hatred inhabiting the human spirit, the rise of facism in Europe, terror bombings,London,Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki,genocide,euthansia,in short the beginnings of what Foucault later came to speak aboutthe dimension of the bio-politic.

Much of these songs here, the entire "Hollywood Songbooks" Eisler reveals his gift, his work and perserverance for being able to set any text convincingly, any arduous turn(s) of phrases of his friend-poet Bertold Brecht he found as an aesthetic challenge for the art song. Eisler's piano accompaniments can be studied by themselves for what they provide how they move the drama of the song along in subtle formations and economy of means.An unforgettable rhythm usually propells a melodic tunr, very sparse texture, only one or two voices, and punctuation. The "Gedektafel fur 4,000 Soladaten. . . " is a miniature portrait of a tragic event of the drowning of soldiers, here however the song is one unrelenting crescendo forward with pulsed ostinato chromatic chords, no real melody in the piano more as a declamation in the voice. My other favorite is "An den kleinen Radioapparat" "To my Radio" this was the little box that quite literally in Nazi Germany was the difference between life and death in knowing specific information of policies implementedincursions, landings roundups. The tune here again is a miniature, quite simply disarming in its progression from d major to b minor. It is quite touching, a reminscence that we have in fact lost in the post-modern period. We no longer reflect on things,merely consume them,and not with the inherent Virilio-an speed of data today."Elegie 1939" reveals the apparant darkness of the times, text of Brecht says that if a man smiles it because he hasn't heard the news yet, something like Iraq today I beleive. These songs have this timeless dimension to them. Before he was deported by the House Committee on un-American Activities, (Sen McCarthy's opportunist career-building witch-hunts) Eisler lived in exile in and around Los Angeles, supported himself in the film industry writing film scores. The "Elegien 1&2 " from the Hollywood Songbooks are here, again text of Brecht, here the threadbare piano has its own restrained hidden beauty, as if beauty is denied and is itself in exile.All these Songs have terrible subject matter from suicide,to points of darkness to relief in the lifeworlds as the "radio" previously mentioned, also life in exile, and hope,peace as well. The more indulgent sides to Eisler are here in the "Holderlin Fragments" this is another side to Eisler one more concerned with past references, and coming to terms with duration, time, of German history, when it is transgressing, art is a means of sustaining propping up for a time.

Music Track:

Music Track

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