Marine Fribourg & Flore Merlin
Forests of the Night
Physical and digital release: 25 April 2025
Distribution: PIAS – Integral NL
Contact persons:
Label/ 7 Mountain Records NL: Frerik de Jong info@7mntn.com
Artists: Flore Merlin merlin.flore@gmail.com, Marine Fribourg marinefribourg@gmail.com
Short description album:
Forests of the Night brings together German Romantic lieder performed by mezzo-soprano Marine Fribourg and pianist Flore Merlin (Streicher 1847 piano), about the more or less frightening creatures that can be encountered at night in a forest in Germanic mythology: elves, nymphs, witches celebrating the Sabbath, the Lorelei or the Alder King, but also Death himself. The poems are at times disturbing, even tragic, and at other times jubilant or mocking. Themes such as seduction, the contemplation of nature and the night, the danger of desire and love, and the strangeness of the unknown are all explored in a great symbolic journey.
The composers: Pauline Viardot-García, Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann-Wieck, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Carl Loewe, Franz Schubert, Franz Liszt, Edvard Grieg, as well as Frenchman Benjamin Attahir, whose premiere closes the programme.
Album promo video and music video Mendelssohn: Hexenlied Op.8 No.8:
Videographer and editor: Hugo Warynski
Links:
Wetransfer download with full album, booklet and cover
password: forests of the night _ downloads
Audio fragments:
C. Loewe
Erlkönig, Op.1 No.3
Franz Liszt
Lorelei, S.273/2
Benjamin Attahir
Lore Lay
Robert Schumann
Waldszenen, Op.82: VII. Vogel als Prophet
Johannes Brahms
Liebestreu, Op.3 No.1
C. Loewe
Walpurgisnacht, Op.2 No.3
Full tracklist:
Carl Loewe (1796 – 1869)
1. Herr Oluf, Op.2 No.2
Edvard Grieg (1843 – 1907)
2. Alfedans, Op.12 No.4
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847)
3. Neue Liebe, Op.19a No.4
4. Hexenlied, Op.8 No.8
C. Loewe
5. Walpurgisnacht, Op.2 No.3
F. Mendelssohn
6. Winterlied, Op.19a No.3
E. Grieg
7. Småtroll, Op.71 No.3
Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856)
8. Liederkreis, Op.39: III. Waldesgespräch
Waldszenen, Op.82:
9. I. Eintritt
10. II. Jäger auf der Lauer
11. III. Einsame Blumen
12. IV. Verrufene Stelle
13. V. Freundliche Landschaft
14. VI. Herberge
15. VII. Vogel als Prophet
16. VIII. Jagdlied
17. IX. Abschied
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
18. Die Mainacht, Op.43 No.2
19. Liebestreu, Op.3 No.1
R. Schumann
20. Liederkreis, Op.39: V. Mondnacht
Fanny Hensel – Mendelssohn (1805 – 1847)
21. Dämmrung senkte sich von oben
Pauline Viardot – García (1821 – 1910)
22. Nixe Binsefuss, VWV1131
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886)
23. Lorelei, S.273/2
Clara Schumann – Wieck (1819 – 1896)
24. Lorelei, KochS WoO19
C. Loewe
25. Erlkönig, Op.1 No.3
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
26. Der Tod und das Mädchen, D.531
Benjamin Attahir (*1989)
27. Lore Lay