CCMusic.com

Today Carl Loewe is almost exclusively remembered as a composer of songs and ballads, many of them settings of Goethe. He wrote more than four hundred, thus challenging even his almost contemporary Franz Schubert. But he wrote a lot more: operas, oratorios and other choral works, chamber and piano music and two symphonies. Even in his lifetime his fame rested primarily on his songs - being an excellent singer he often performed them himself. Those who have heard his songs know that besides a nice melodic gift he also possessed a natural feeling for drama; his setting of Erlkönig is worthy of a place beside Schubert's. Thus it came as no great surprise to learn that he also turned to oratorio as a means of expression.