At first glance, the term »art song« is misleading: despite its high artistic and technical demands, its origins lie in folk song. Concentration on the essential is its nature, raising the question of the futility and transience of our own actions – or vanitas. Baritone Georg Nigl and pianist Olga Pashchenko interpret selected songs by Franz Schubert and Ludwig van Beethoven’s cycle »An die ferne Geliebte« in an intimate setting, breaking emotions down into filigree threads. They juxtapose these works with the song cycle »Vermischter Traum«, written especially for Nigl by the contemporary composer Wolfgang Rihm. Here, in his first work written after a severe illness, Rihm examines the same fundamental issues of human existence which the art song has been exploring for three centuries: love, death and loneliness.

Image © Anita Schmid