Strauss & Mahler - Piano Quartets & Lieder Simone Kermes & Faure Quartet

• Richard Strauss (1864–1949): Piano Quartet in C minor op. 13
• 1 I. Allegro 13:36
• 2 II. Scherzo 06:17
• 3 III. Andante 07:44
• 4 IV. Finale - Vivace 09:30
• 5 Cäcilie, Op. 27, Nr. 2 02:13
• 6 Die Nacht, Op. 10, Nr. 3 02:42
• 7 Morgen, Op. 27, Nr. 4 04:14
• 8 Zueignung, Op. 10, Nr. 1 01:26
• 9 Heimliche Aufforderung, Op. 27, Nr. 3 03:18
• 10 Allerseelen, Op. 10, Nr. 8 03:01
• Gustav Mahler (1860–1911):
• 11 Erinnerung 03:07
• 12 Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen 07:29
• 13 Klavierquartett in A-Moll 12:15
• Total Runtime 01:16:52

Info for Strauss & Mahler - Piano Quartets & Lieder

Collaborating for the first time the Fauré Quartett and soprano Simone Kermes perform pieces by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss: Featuring Lieder from Strauss‘s early productive period and Mahler Lieder arranged by Dietrich Zöllner.

Simone Kermes underlines with these Lieder interpretation the diversity of her stylistic sensibility. In equal measure the Fauré Quartett once again demonstrates the enormous range of its repertoire. The Fauré Quartett’s new recording of works by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss borders on a small miracle: Strauss, as the founding father of the German performance and reproduction rights organisation GEMA, personally ensured that musicians were not permitted to make arrangements of his works until 70 years after his death (2019). After months of research, a direct call to the great-granddaughter of Richard Strauss allowed this arrangement to happen.

In time for the 150th birthday of Richard Strauss, and to express reverence to Gustav Mahler, this recording includes two works dating from the young years of these geniuses: their great and seldom recorded piano quartets.

“These have been skilfully undertaken by Dietrich Zollner and are nicely sung by Simone Kermes. The recorded sound too is sensitive to the nuances of the music.” (MusicWeb International)

“A flamboyant star in her native Germany, Simone Kermes is a dangerous, no-holds-barred singer.” (Gramophone)

Simone Kermes, soprano
Faure Quartet

Simone Kermes
studied under Professor Helga Forner at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre in Leipzig, her home town. She completed her studies and two additional courses of study with distinction. She is the holder of many prizes awarded at international singing competitions.

Opera performances have taken her as Konstanze, the Queen of the Night, Fiordiligi, Donna Anna, Giunia, Rosalinde, Lucia, Gilda, Ann Truelove, Alcina and Laodice, among other roles, to New York, Paris, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Moscow, Beijing and German state opera houses. She has given solo concerts and lieder evenings all over Europe, as well as in the USA, Australia, the Sultanate of Oman, China, Russia, Mexico and Japan.

In addition to many radio and television productions, she has recorded numerous CDs. For her solo albums she has received a number of international awards, such as the annual award of the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik, the Diapason d`Or, Midem Award, Choc Le Monde de la Musique and Gramophone magazine’s Recording of the Month. For her album entitled Colori d`amore she was the winner of the Echo Klassik in the highest category, Female Singer of the Year, in 2011. In 2012 the Munich Abendzeitung awarded Simone Kermes its Star of the Year Award, and in April 2013 she received one of Russia’s highest cultural awards, the Golden Mask, for her performances as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Tchaikovsky State Academic Theatre in Perm.

Simone Kermes received the Echo Klassik 2014 award for the opera of the year.

Booklet for Strauss & Mahler - Piano Quartets & Lieder