Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
5 Mélodies, op. 13
5 Mélodies allemandes, op. 25
3 Mélodies, op. 29
"Mayenblümlein, so schön", op. 23 n° 3, J 117
"Bach, Echo und Kuß (Ein Mädchen ging)", op. 71 n° 2, J 243
"Des Künstlers Abshied", op. 71 n° 6, J 105
"Leise weht es", J 223
"Sagt, wohen stammt Liebeslust", J 280
"Serenade", J 65
Romance "Ein König einst gefangen sass", J 195
"Rase, Sturmwind, blasé", J 111

Patrizia Cigna, soprano
Adriano Sebastiani, guitare
Paola Cigna, soprano
Lucia Paffi, soprano
Cristina Bonaca, soprano
Dennis ChorHang Lau, ténor
Paolo Leonardi, baryton

Tout au long de sa courte vie, Weber composa des mélodies pour la voix et la guitare, qui resta son instrument de prédilection. Brillant nous en livre l’intégrale. De belle facture, l’opus 13 est d’un musicien de 20 ans, très doué, mais l’œuvre reste conventionnelle. Quelques années plus tard, tout change : dans l’opus 25, le compositeur utilise toutes les ressources expressives de la guitare (les subtils changements d’atmosphère de "Liebe-Glühen", le fantomatique "Lass mich schlummern"). Weber va encore plus loin dans ses dernières mélodies, ou au-delà du simple accompagnement mélodique, guitare et voix dialoguent ("Ein Mädchen ging, Leise weht ese) d’égal à égal. Patricia Cigna séduit par la fraîcheur de son timbre, malgré quelques défauts d’intonation et de contrôle du souffle. Adriano Sebastiani est un accompagnateur attentif, mais une trop forte réverbération rend précaire l’équilibre entre la chanteuse et le guitariste. Les textes sont à chercher sur le site internet de l’éditeur. En aucun cas anedoctique ou réservé aux amateurs de guitare, un beau disque est destiné à tous ceux qui aiment Weber. (Olivier Gutierrez)

The German tradition of Lieder accompanied by guitar is overlooked but surprisingly rich. Several of the great Lieder singers have recorded Schubert songs with guitar (Christoph Pregardien and Peter Schreier principal among them), and to highly expressive effect. In many ways the change of instrument draws back these songs to their medieval heritage, to the Minnesänger (minstrels, or troubadours) who fulfilled courtly functions, or at a more humble level travelled from town to town, lute slung over the back, entertaining nobles and commoners alike with tales of love and war. It is this tradition that Patrizia Cigna and Adriano Sebastiani have tapped into with the first complete recording of the Lieder composed by Carl Maria von Weber for which he had a guitar in mind. In fact Weber, more than most of his native contemporaries, nurtured a great affection for the instrument while it was more celebrated abroad – notably in the Classical tradition by Mauro Giuliani, and we should not forget that the guitar was the first instrument of Hector Berlioz. Weber would accompany himself like a early-Romantic troubadour in his own songs, and he scored for the guitar in several of his stage-works such as Abu Hassan. The Op.25 Lieder bring together these two strands, written as incidental music for August von Kotzebue’s one-act play Der arme Minnesänger (The Poor Minstrel). Some of the songs here such as the Op.13 set and the Op.29 Canzonettas were written with either keyboard or guitar accompaniment in mind, for obvious, commercially attractive reasons, but the standalone Mayenblümelein was only ever intended for the guitar, as was the lovely, polyphonic Sagt, woher stammt Liebeslust which calls for two sopranos, a three-voice female choir, and a guitar accompaniment. These, like several other songs on this recording, have no rivals in the current catalogue, making this a new recording an essential acquisition for all lovers of Romantic Lieder.