Mein Liebeslied

A conversation together with Helena van Heel and Naomi Tamura

Helena: Recording Lieder on CD is an almost impossible project, isn’t it? After all, performing songs is based on the close proximity of the audience to the musicians, and sharing the moment together.  
Naomi: Fortunately, we do use that experience as a base. We have already shared this repertoire with audiences, and we convey the memory of those concerts in the recording. And hopefully with it, the spontaneity of our interpretations.
Helena: Although I have already premiered one song (‘Hinter Bäumen berg ich mich’) with another pianist, Thomas Jennefelt’s songs are quite new to us. We were only able to present Sieben Liebeslieder to an audience once.
Naomi: On the other hand, we had the chance to delve into this cycle last summer when we traveled to Sweden and worked with Thomas for a few days. It’s a great advantage to be able to work with a living composer and to refine our interpretation…
Helena: …and to approach these pieces in chamber music form, although Les nuits d’été and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen have received most of their recognition from the orchestral versions.
Naomi: Yes, true, but the piano versions came first. Apparently Berlioz had never even heard the orchestral version in its’ entirety.
Helena: He composed mainly for large orchestra and opera and was also the first composer to write a song cycle with orchestra. In fact, it took almost fifty years for someone else to compose in this form, and that was Mahler.
Naomi: To be honest, Berlioz’s piano part is not very pianistically written. You have to embellish it here and there but then you have something very special! Mahler, on the other hand, writes very logically for the fingers and you interpret the music according to his precise notations. There is also nothing superfluous in Jennefelt’s work, every note has meaning.
Helena: All three song cycles on this CD are about love, or rather, follow the course of a love relationship. With Berlioz you can see a development from early love to melancholy and death, only to become more hopeful about love in the last song. And Mahler, from a searching and restless youth, eventually comes to resignation in Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. There is also a certain storyline in Sieben Liebeslieder.
Naomi: (laughs) Quite simply, the essence of the Lieder tradition! By the way, I have to tell you something that happened when I was studying the virtuosic piano part of ‘An den Gralprinzen’ from Sieben Liebeslieder. A little girl in a princess dress, rang the doorbell and asked, ‘May I play hide and seek here by your door, because you play so beautifully? I’ll knock on the window when I go again, okay ?!’ As I continued to practice, the blond little princess laid down and listened to my playing for at least five minutes, all the while, resting her head in her hands! Helena: What a wonderful audience!
Naomi: Let’s hope that we are able to give that intimate feeling with our recording!