During his lifetime, Johann Vesque von Püttlingen was both an accomplished lawyer and a celebrated composer, renowned even beyond his native Vienna. Shortly after his death, however, he and his music were quickly forgotten. The distinguished bass-baritone Klaus Mertens and pianist Volodymyr Lavrynenko show that this was perhaps unjustified with their recording of selected romantic songs by Püttlingen, including some first recordings, under the motto "Unheard!". The songs are grouped around four core themes of Romanticism: love, farewell, pain and death. They are all based on texts by well-known contemporary poets, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Franz Grillparzer and Adelbert von Chamisso, but above all Heinrich Heine, whose "romantic irony" von Püttlingen also knew how to translate musically. Von Püttlingen's clear musical language follows in the footsteps of Franz Schubert's lieder. Klaus Mertens and Volodymyr Lavrynenko interpret the sometimes lively and entertaining, sometimes gloomy and melancholy songs in a multifaceted manner.
