Raoul Steffani releases new live album 'Sehnsucht' with Barbara Hannigan, Camerata RCO and Rolf Verbeek on Alpha Classics
Barbara Hannigan: “Sehnsucht, a central and nearly untranslatable word of the Viennese fin-de-siècle period, referring to aspects of longing, melancholy, and nostalgia. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a collective Sehnsucht arose, in performers and audiences alike. Sehnsucht: Live in Rotterdam, played to the empty concert hall of De Doelen. We decided to issue the recording as an album, recognizing that the performance also represents continuity and mentorship through music. Both young Dutch artists, conductor Rolf Verbeek and baritone Raoul Steffani are associated with the initiatives Equilibrium and Momentum, and joined me and the Camerata RCO for this intimate journey…
In Sehnsucht, we explore two song cycles of Berg, written shortly after Mahler’s 4th Symphony. All these works are presented in special arrangements for chamber ensemble. The Berg songs are expanded from their original voice and piano to a dialogue of new colours and instrumentation. Mahler’s 4th Symphony is reduced to an intimate soloistic journey, a tender conversation.”
Raoul Steffani sings Alban Berg’s 4 Gesänge, Op. 2 in an arrangement for baritone and chamber orchestra by Henk de Vlieger, following on Berg’s 7 Frühe Lieder sung by Barbara Hannigan.
Review in The Times
“Longing has never been so appealing[...] Young baritone Raoul Steffani steps up pleasingly for Berg’s four songs, op 2.”
Raoul Steffani has been a member of Equilibrium, the Young Artist Programme of Barbara Hannigan, since May 2021.
While Lieder from the Viennese fin de siècle remain among his favourite music to sing, Raoul Steffani continues to perform a remarkably broad repertoire in the 2022/23 season, from baroque music to operetta, collaborating with a great variety of ensembles, orchestras, and chamber music partners.
Tonight, October 28th, he performs the bass solo’s in Händel’s oratorio Alexander’s Feast with the Dutch Händel Society at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Throughout September, October and November, he performs Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch in recital with soprano Laetitia Gerards and pianist Daan Boertien for chamber music series throughout the Netherlands.
In November he will perform solo recitals at the Recital Hall of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with Daan Boertien, followed by his house debut at Dutch National Opera the same weekend in the new production Operetta Land.
At the end of November, he will perform songs with pianist Sholto Kynoch at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam for the Erasmus Prize Ceremony in presence of Their Majesties the King and Queen of the Netherlands.
Later this season, he will perform Frank Martin’s Ode à la Musique with the Rado Philharmonic Orchestra, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with the Residentie Orchestra with Anja Bihlmaier and numerous St Matthew Passion concerts with the orchestra Phion (part: Jesus) led by Reinhard Goebel and with philharmonie zuidnederland (part: bass arias) led by Duncan Ward. He will end the season with his debut at Wigmore Hall, performing Händel’s Chandos Anthems with the London-based ensemble Arcangelo, led by Jonathan Cohen.