PENTATONE releases Twilight Schumann Songs, featuring Saskia Giorgini & Ian Bostridge, in February 2025.
Twilight: A Song Portrait Of Schumann’s Troubled Soul
Twilight is the third album of tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Saskia Giorgini, dedicated to Robert Schumann song cycles, all written in the miraculously productive year of 1840. The album title and cover photography were inspired by the song Zwielicht, which together with Mondnacht from the same Op. 39 cycle is often considered to be the epitome of German nineteenth-century Romanticism. It is also a fitting metaphor for Schumann’s troubled soul, constantly oscillating between light and dark, between hope and despair. Shedding a fascinating light on Schumann’s dark inner world, the recorded songs are both an expression of his profound love for his wife Clara and of euphoria after having overcome a period of severe mental disturbance. It is hard to think of better ambassadors for this repertoire than Ian Bostridge and Saskia Giorgini, whose acclaimed partnership has made them seasoned champions of the German lied.
Ian Bostridge is one of the most celebrated tenors and lied interpreters of his generation. His PENTATONE recording of Schubert’s Winterreise(2019) was crowned with the ICMA Vocal Music Award 2020. Bostridge has since released Schwanengesang (2022), The Folly of Desire (2023) as well as Die schöne Müllerin (2020) and Respighi Songs (2021), both together with Saskia Giorgini, on the label. Giorgini’s Liszt recordings Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (2021) and Consolations (2023), as well as her Debussy recital album Images (2024), have all received extensive praise.
“Robert Schumann’s music had a great influence on my musical growth. His songs often move me to tears, with that very rare intensity which is uniquely his. It makes you believe that an intense life, however difficult, is a gift: only by embracing and living the darkest despair can you reach a level of joy so high that you feel you could burst.” – Saskia Giorgini, pianist
“When I became a professional singer Dichterliebe became a part of my life, something I carried with me everywhere, a piece that reflected my life, my emotions, my interests. “Dichterliebe” is very definitely a cycle, a narrative pieced together from poems by Heinrich Heine. In the Lieder universe there are, actually, very few true cycles in this sense – the purest of all, perhaps, being Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, which returns to its opening music, and which was a favourite piece of Schumann’s.” – Ian Bostridge, tenor
Digital Release Date: 28 FEBRUARY 2025
Physical Release: FEBRUARY 2025
Released in digital formats for streaming and high-resolution downloads.
