CARL REINECKE (1824-1910): Die wilden Schwäne for Soloists, Women’s Choir, Harp, Cello, 2 Horns, Piano and Declamation, Op. 164.

Description: Dating from 1882, this setting of an H.C. Andersen fairy tale was directed at the educated middle class for home music-making. Reinecke’s small instrumental forces bely the variegated and colorful writing he employs to characterize his three main characters as well as minor supporting ones. There are 16 vocal numbers (solos, duets and choruses) and 13 narrations (the latter takes up about a third of the work’s 52 minutes). German-English texts. Kirsten Labonte (soprano), Gerhild Romberger (alto), Markus Köhler (baritone), Schwanen Ensemble; Peter Kreutz (piano).