April Fredrick & Alessandro Viale - Geoffrey Álvarez- Hölderlinfenster (2020) Hi-Res

The German Romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin spent most of his life in isolation in a tower on the banks of the Neckar river, following a mental illness. His poems have long fascinated composers. 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of his birth. The Nicaraguan-British composer Geoffrey Álvarezs monumental song cycle, Hölderlinfenster imagines the poet through a frame of Schuberts Schwanengesang. Poet and composer never met in real life but perhaps here their spirits do. Álvarez writes music of great intensity and intimate drama on a sometimes epic scale. His highly personal tonal language defies easy categorization but conveys a Hölderlin river journey with admirable expressiveness.