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Schubert Disc 3 (2015)

The Schubertian figure of the lonely wanderer is central to Disc 3, which places Schubert’s lied Der Wanderer and his virtuosic “Wanderer” Fantasy for Solo Piano between works by his idols Haydn and Beethoven. Composed towards the end of each of their lives, Haydn’s elegant, unfinished String Quartet in d minor opens this recording, while Beethoven’s profound String Quartet in c-sharp minor, op. 131, offers a spellbinding conclusion.

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Selections

String Quartet in d minor, op. 103, Hob. III: 83 (unfinished) | Joseph Haydn (10:53)

Dover Quartet

Der Wanderer, op. 4, no. 1, D. 489 | Franz Schubert (4:49)

Der Wanderer (The Wanderer), op. 4, no. 1, D. 489

Ich komme vom Gebirge her,
Es dampft das Tal, es braust das Meer.
Ich wandle still, bin wenig froh,
Und immer fragt der Seufzer: wo?

Die Sonne dünkt mich hier so kalt,
Die Blüte welk, das Leben alt,
Und was sie reden, leerer Schall,
Ich bin ein Fremdling überall.

Wo bist du, mein geliebtes Land?
Gesucht, geahnt und nie gekannt!
Das Land, das Land, so hoffnungsgrün,
Das Land, wo meine Rosen blühn,

Wo meine Freunde wandeln gehn,
Wo meine Toten auferstehn,
Das Land, das meine Sprache spricht,
O Land, wo bist du?

Ich wandle still, bin wenig froh,
Und immer fragt der Seufzer: wo?
Im Geisterhauch tönt’s mir zurück:
“Dort, wo du nicht bist, dort ist das Glück!”

Georg Philipp Schmidt von Lübeck (1766–1849)

I come from the mountains;
the valley steams, the ocean roars.
I wander, silent and joyless,
and my sighs forever ask: where?

Here the sun seems so cold,
the blossom faded, life old,
and men’s words mere hollow noise;
I am a stranger everywhere.

Where are you, my beloved land?
Sought, dreamt of, yet never known!
The land so green with hope,
the land where my roses bloom,

Where my friends walk,
where my dead ones rise again,
the land that speaks my tongue,
O land, where are you?

I wander, silent and joyless,
and my sighs forever ask: where?
In a ghostly whisper the answer comes:
“There, where you are not, is happiness!”

English: Richard Wigmore © 2005