‘O solemn-beating heart of nature! I have knowledge that thou art bound unto man’s by cords he cannot sever’, wrote Elizabeth Barret Browning in A Sea-Side Walk, an important poem about the strong connection between nature and mankind’s innermost feelings.

This connection is present in different forms in Elgar’s Sea Pictures, Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder and Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder.

Mezzo-soprano Ruth Willemse and pianist Vital Stahievitch have been working together since 2005, following masterclasses from Ed Spanjaard, Rudolf Jansen and Julius Drake. They perform regularly as a duo, in a variety of works from the song repertoire.

This new debut recording promising young Dutch mezzo Ruth Willemse features Edward Elgar - Sea Pictures, Gustav Mahler - Rückert Lieder and Richard Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder. Ruth Willemse says of this recording: “The songs of Elgar, Mahler and Wagner expose these fears,but in the end they also bring hope and consolation. Nature seems at times to be a reflection of our human inner world. Something similar happens in the music, where the emotional connection with this interior world is extremely direct.”