Ludwig van Beethoven - Benjamin Britten - Gustav Mahler - Johannes Brahms - Béla Bartók - Jean Sibelius - Ottorino Respighi - Jan Vogel

Folk Stories - Songs by Beethoven, Britten, Mahler, Respighi, Sibelius a.o.

Cora Burggraaf / Simon Lepper

Label: Challenge Classics
Format: SACD hybrid
Barcode: 0608917234626

Catalog number: CC 72346
Releasedate: 19-10-12

Folk music has a yearning, it gives a feeling of home, where ever that is. This is the feeling Cora Burggraaf and her colleagues want to share with us: a direct emotion and getting rid of some of the classical formalities. This is all about the purity of music!

Debut cd on Challenge Classics for Cora Burggraaf
Cora Burggraaf has been the recipient of many prizes including the 2009/2010 ECHO Rising Star Award, the 2006 Elizabeth Everts Prize, the second prize in the International Vocalist Competition Den Bosch 2004, the 2003 Maggie Teyte Prize and the Miriam Licette Scholarship
She was awarded ‘Most Promising Newcomer of the Year’ by The Observer for her performance at the Royal Opera House in London
On this cd Cora works with the internationally known violinist Liza Ferschtman, with pianist Simon Lepper and cellist Floris Mijnders

Many classical composers have been inspired by folk texts and folk music. They were caught by the universal character of the folk texts, by the simple, direct and basic expression of collective emotions. Through their classical arrangements these composers have turned the folk songs into ‘art song’ and hence they ended up on the concert platform. But the natural habitat of these texts and melodies is the living room, or the pub. These musicians aspire with this programme to let go of the formalities of the classical concert, and return to the simplicity of the music, the story telling, to the beauty of it, the recogisable, and to the collective experience.

A Sprig of Thyme