Search - Hughes Cuenod :: Hughes Cuenod, Volume II - Bach: Geistliche Lieder

Hughes Cuenod and Hildegard Rossl-Magdan sing Bach lieder.

Jeremy D Vosburgh | West Sand Lake, NY United States | 05/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Hughes Cuenod was not your average tenor. He had a thin uneartly sounding voice and was more of a weak baritone than a tenor. But his incredible ability to express himself and bring life to a song makes every one of his recordings worth their price.
Cuenod is still alive (as far as I know) at 101 years old. His longevity (he still sung professionally at 93) is only surpassed by his repertoire and personality.
This recording of some well known, but mostly lesser known Bach religious lieder music was done with Hughes singing the tenor lieder and Hildegard Rossl-Majdon singing the alto lieder. As you probably know already, German lieder is usually a solo voice accompanied by a keyboard instrument. In this case a harpsicord as well as a cello. Cuenod sings about 60% of the selections and over three cds that makes for alot of singing.
The tunes are simple, but highly emotional and soothing. Hildegard (who is very experienced with Bach's lieder) has a great alto voice and is highly expressive, but Cuenod surely is the star of this recording with his delicate and sensitive intonation and timbre.
As far as I can understand, the recording was made in 1954 with Westminster Records. It includes, on the third cd, a wonderful 13 minute conversation with Hughes about his life and music. The conversation is in french so you'll have to get your french friends to translate.
The booklet unfortunately doesn't contain the libretto for all the lieder (would've been nice), and doesn't even provide an english translation for the titles. There is a nice 4 page description of Cuenod's life and musical experiences in French and English.
The sound quality was very good for 1954. This recording was a joy to listen to. Its too bad that it is out of print!"