They Call Me Mignon CD (Annie Wu)

Artists:  Annie Wu, flute Feng Niu, piano  In 1795, German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe created the character Mignon, a young girl whose suffering was so great that she sang tragic songs in moments of expressive excess. But these songs are trapped in the novel - a narrator misinterprets, misrepresents, and reduces her performances, and we never get to hear Mignon. This album presents ten different musical settings of two poetic texts as well as a Fantasy on themes from Mignon's eventual opera, to let Mignon sing her own story. With each composition, Mignon expands from inside out: she gains more and more agency to express her inner self. In the novel, her first words - "They call me Mignon" - focus on the power of external forces. Now, with music, we finally hear her voice.    Tracks: Settings of Mignon's First Song: "Kennst du das Land" 1. Poem Recitation by Sima Reinisch 2. Beethoven 3. Schubert 4. Schumann 5. Wolf 6. Berg Settings of Mignon's Second Song: "Nur wer die Sehnsuc