Marie Seidler & Wolfram Rieger

Claude Debussy
Trois Chansons de Bilitis

Charles Martin Loeffler
Quatre Poèmes Op. 5

Arnold Schoenberg
15 Poems from Stefan George's Das Buch der hängenden Gärten Op. 15

Not many composers have transformed the power of temptation into music as convincingly as Claude Debussy in his Chansons de Bilitis. Barely known but equally irresistible, the Quatre Poèmes by Debussy’s contemporary Charles Martin Loeffler form an illuminating counterpoint to these songs in Marie Seidler and Wolfram Rieger’s recital, who are joined by violist Sindy Mohamed for the Loeffler pieces. The program’s second half is dedicated to rarely heard Stefan George settings by Arnold Schoenberg that evoke seduction and desire in an expressionist and atonal musical language.