Mystic Landscapes

"Mystic Landscapes" is the eighth of 10 CDs in WERGO’s continuing "Edition Enjott Schneider".

The Rhine and the Black Forest are mystical and legendary landscapes that throughout the world are seen as inspirations for German Romanticism. Enjott Schneider conceived this recording as a tribute to these landscapes, not as illustrative program music, but as an attempt to capture a certain mood in sound. Both symphonies have a strongly biographical background and are musical embodiments of personal memories of the composer.

Not without a certain tongue-in-cheek intent, the music in Symphony No. 5 "Black Forest Saga" sometimes takes on an archaic tone that presents the Black Forest in the context of films depicting Celtic legends. The choral effects are sometimes distilled into Romantic vocalises or onomatopoeic sounds like the whistling of the wind or the rustling of leaves. As literary material Enjott Schneider used texts from the poem "Der Mummelsee" by August Schnezler.

The “Romantic” central sections of the river between Mainz and Cologne are sometimes considered symbolic of Germany itself and have long inspired poets, painters, and visitors from around the world.  In four movements the Symphony No. 6 "The Rhine" thematicizes different moods and atmospheres of this legendary river.