Fin de Siecle: Lieder of the Early 20th Century

This is the first solo album of the Mezzo Soprano Anke Vondung, who is travelling the world and the most prominent Opera Houses and Concert Halls.

Two years ago, inspired by their shared love of Viennese music and visual arts at the turn of the 20th century, Anke and Christoph put together a vocal recital programme featuring lieder by Alban Berg, Arnold Schoenberg, Alexander Zemlinsky and Gustav Mahler.

This recording is based on that programme with the addition of the strikingly expressive early songs of Franz Schreker.

As the investigated the repertoire more closely, they were fascinated to discover the degree of musical and biographical connections the composers shared - the many ways these five composers inspired and had a reciprocal influence on one another. The music of Gustav Mahler was the focal point around which all subsequent 'Viennese' compositions were centered therefore they chose to place Mahler's songs at the end of their selection.

The performers on this disc say: 'Over a century ago - in Vienna in 1913 - Schoenberg conducted a concert featuring Mahler's Songs on the Death of Children and Zemlinsky's Four Orchestral Songs on poems by Maeterlinck, an evening that went down in history as the Skandalkonzert. Over a century later, we are glad to note that this music is now acknowledged as an integral part of the great European musical legacy.'