Elena Xanthoudakis Sings Rare Romantic Lieder with Jason Xanthoudakis, Clarinet and Clemens Leske, Piano by Andrew Miller

1940-12

The Mermaid, 1910 Howard Pyle (1853-1911) Oil on canvas, 57 7/8 x 40 1/8 inches. Delaware Art Museum, Gift of the children of Howard Pyle in memory of their mother, Anne Poole Pyle, 1940

Recital Hall West, Sydney Conservatorium of Music: 24 March, 2012
The Trio plays again in Melbourne at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Salon at 6 PM on 31 March.

Johann Baptist Wenzel KalliwodaHeimathlied
Conradin KreutzerDas Mühlrad
Franz LachnerSeit ich ihn gesehen and Er, der Herrlichste von allen from Frauenliebe und -leben
Johann Baptist Wenzel Kalliwoda – Der Sennin Heimweh
Franz SchubertRomanze (Helen’s air from Die Verschworenen) and Der Hirt auf dem Felsen
Robert SchumannDrei Fantasiestücke
Heinrich Proch – Schweitzers Heimweh and Die gefangene Nachtigall
Johann SobeckMeine Heimat
Peter von Lindtpainter - Der Hirt und das Meerweib

TrioKROMA -
Elena Xanthoudakis – soprano
Jason Xanthoudakis – clarinet
Clemens Leske – piano

With an impressive list of singing competition wins and opera roles, not least her brilliant Eurydice and Sibyl in the Pinchgut Opera’s production of Haydn’s opera of the Orpheus myth L’anima del Filosofo in 2010, Elena Xanthoudakis is now directing her energies toward researching and rediscovering Romantic Lieder written for trio, here soprano, clarinet, and piano, and she is doing done so in style with a definite passion for the genre, which is fitting to the original spirit of the music. The trio have recorded a CD called “The Shepherd and the Mermaid” of some of their finds (which I haven’t yet heard) and here perform the songs on it, including parts of Franz Lachner’s version of von Chamisso’s Frauenliebe und -leben cycle better known perhaps in the Schumann version and perhaps even the Loewe version. They are also publishing these pieces in print under the Kroma Editions name so all can have the opportunity to play them, obviously many of these are not on the usual free sheet music sites on the ‘net, having had to be dug out of libraries in London and Vienna, and some (according to Xanthoudakis) have never been recorded.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an international journal for the arts!