Almost an exact contemporary of Saint-Saëns, Hans Sommer partly faced the same dilemma as the great Camille: born in 1837, in the heart of the Romantic period, he passed away in 1922 and saw many evolutions, even revolutions, pass him by without taking part. He was part of the circles of Richard Strauss (who even conducted one of his operas in Weimar in 1892) and some of his younger colleagues, but never approached the language – even the least avant-garde – of a Schoenberg for instance, including in his later works. A late romantic, fascinated with modern forms but still attached to tone, harmony and strong architecture, he got into music rather late in life, following a first career as a mathematician, physician and naturalist. He authored ten operas and most importantly an imposing repertoire of Lieder in line with the works of Wagner, Schumann, Liszt and the first Strauss, written for the most part before the 1900s. Baritone Sebastian Noack performs a nice range of Sommer’s creations in this field that he so masterfully explored. © SM/Qobuz