Schubert Lieder

Started by Harry, June 19, 2007, 02:30:58 AM

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knight66

I agree, do make it a bit hotter and tell us about the disc.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

MN Dave

What's to tell? It's Fischer-Dieskau.  ;D The guy everyone else is compared to. Er... the men anyway.

Que

Quote from: Beethovenian on January 31, 2010, 05:21:07 AM
What's to tell? It's Fischer-Dieskau.  ;D The guy everyone else is compared to. Er... the men anyway.

You mean: compared to ..... Hotter? 8)

Q

MN Dave

Well, I mentioned above that this thread should be "hotter".  ;D

knight66

#84
DFD was mentioned on the Vocal Recital threads a day ago. There I repeated an opinion that although much admired, he is not greatly loved as a singer and that, it was suggested, his discs were often bought, then not much listened to.

He was one of the postwar singers who supposedly pushed lieder into a more expressive art form. But listen to a number of earlier singers and you will hear as much detail, vocal colouring and that ability to tell a story or to take you on a journey. But DFD developed an unusually wide repertoire, in song and Lied as in opera. He recorded all the solo Schubert songs for male voice.

For almost all the tracks on the disc you have bought he was 40, only 33 for the final track, Erlkonig. The voice was still in its prime along with his ability to carry legato, yet point the words.

Much later, the voice darkened, dried out and he often had a tendency to break up the line and was accused of barking the words, an exaggeration of course. But on this disc he has achieved the balance between the art of singing and the art of communication.

As to the songs, there is no theme, no particular poet, but rather a miscellaneous selection of out of the way songs, sprinkled with a handful of the most famous. If you listen to 'Litanei' you can hear the interpretation of this meditation to be inward with a wonderful sense of legato. 'Nachtgesang' brings out a darker colouring to the voice and that wonderful ability to follow Schubert's leaps in the vocal line and integrate the sound.

By contrast, 'Erlkonig' pushes the drama to the point where the vocal sound becomes ugly. Here some may part company with him by suggesting that Schubert does not call for that kind of sound, seemingly no longer schooled for a number of desperate bars at a time. But this is really carefully calculated; if not drama here in extremis, then in Schubert's output where?

'Das Lied im Grünen' is one of Schubert's nature songs, relishing the countryside, it is strophic, eight verses. But Schubert retains interest by cleverly varying the rhythms in the vocal line. Here is one song that really has to be carried by the singer and it takes a good one to bring this off. So often it is more of a partnership between pianist and singer, but here the accompaniment suggests a swift, jaunty walk without the need to offer much more than reliable support.

The very next song, 'Der Tod und das Madchen', only two short verses, the anxious maiden entreats Death, who beguiles her with an easeful death. Here the pianist has to set the atmosphere and Moore is always attentive, the rubato showing how closely they connected when performing. A beautiful performance.

I could go on.....and on. Lots of things to say about each song. It is a rewarding disc. No translations, but here is a site where they can be found.

http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/

Mike


DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

MN Dave

As usual, you are a vocal information trove, Mike.  :) Thanks, again. I was using that site you linked just yesterday.

I'm sticking to single discs for lieder--no boxes; that way I can try out different singers.

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Beethovenian on January 31, 2010, 07:33:06 AM
As usual, you are a vocal information trove, Mike.  :) Thanks, again. I was using that site you linked just yesterday.

I'm sticking to single discs for lieder--no boxes; that way I can try out different singers.

That being the case, Dave, I strongly recommend this one...

The singing is outstanding and the accompaniment too. I am delighted with, and I think maybe you would be too. :)

8)

----------------
Listening to:
Ingrid Haebler / Ludwig Hoffman - K 497 Sonata in F for Piano 4 Hands 2nd mvmt - Andante
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

MN Dave

That's actually been recommended before in this thread, so it MUST be good. I think by Bruce. And it's still on my wishlist.  :-[

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Beethovenian on January 31, 2010, 07:44:22 AM
That's actually been recommended before in this thread, so it MUST be good. I think by Bruce. And it's still on my wishlist.  :-[

Yeah, Bruce is a big fan of; I think he has seen him in recital a couple times. He may have been the one that recommended to me, although all of the mods responded positively when I queried them last year. :)

8)

----------------
Listening to:
Ingrid Haebler / Ludwig Hoffman - K 497a 357 #1 Sonatensatz in G for Piano 4 Hands - Allegro
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Antoine Marchand

Quote from: Beethovenian on January 31, 2010, 07:33:06 AM
I'm sticking to single discs for lieder--no boxes; that way I can try out different singers.

I don't know if has been previously recommended in this thread, but the Winterreise by Max van Egmond and Penelope Crawford on Musica Omnia is just superb. Not van Egmond/Immerseel on Channel Classics - I also have it-, but van Egmond/Crawford. A great and seasoned singer, a sensitive pianist and a delightful fortepiano.

AMAZON   

:)



MN Dave

Thanks, Antoine. Much appreciated...and wishlisted.  :)

rickardg

Just de-lurking to say that this recording of Winterreise with DFD and Gerald Moore was one of the records that got me into classical music.


I found the interplay between the voice and the piano, the constant shifts that lets the lyrics colour the music and vice versa, abolutely fascinating.

A friend who studied piano lent it to me and when I finally got around to returning it he said I could keep it since he'd already bought a new copy.  So this particular copy was certainly much listened to, and still is.

This is not much of a recommendation BTW since I haven't heard any of the alternatives.

MN Dave

I actually had that one, Rickard; and I agree, it's stellar.

kishnevi

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on January 31, 2010, 07:40:48 AM
That being the case, Dave, I strongly recommend this one...

The singing is outstanding and the accompaniment too. I am delighted with, and I think maybe you would be too. :)

8)

----------------
Listening to:
Ingrid Haebler / Ludwig Hoffman - K 497 Sonata in F for Piano 4 Hands 2nd mvmt - Andante

He is now doing a sort of cycle (IIRC, twelve CDs, of which 4 have been issued, but not meant to be a "complete" set of the songs) on Harmonia Mundi, with a different pianist for each installment.

is the latest, most of them songs that are, if not exactly off the beaten path, aren't usually on it, either.

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: kishnevi on January 31, 2010, 05:49:18 PM
He is now doing a sort of cycle (IIRC, twelve CDs, of which 4 have been issued, but not meant to be a "complete" set of the songs) on Harmonia Mundi, with a different pianist for each installment.

is the latest, most of them songs that are, if not exactly off the beaten path, aren't usually on it, either.

Cool, thanks for that info. Seems like everyone and his brother does Winterreise, it is nice to hear something else for a change. :)

8)

----------------
Listening to:
English Baroque Soloists / Gardiner Bilson - K 503 Concerto #25 in C for Piano 1st mvmt - Allegro maestoso
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Lethevich

Re. Bostridge in Schubert - does this criticism have any merit?

"Bostridge will never learn German. In 'Auf der Bruck' he actually manages to sing "Was scheisst(!) du dich vor Busch und Ast', in 'Ständchen' he mixes up the words 'wachen' and 'wachsen' and in 'Der Tod und das Mädchen' he sings 'guten Muts' instead of "gutes Muts'. And there was nobody in the studio to tell him. Very embarrassing!"

(In reference to The Wanderer CD.)
Peanut butter, flour and sugar do not make cookies. They make FIRE.

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on January 31, 2010, 06:08:34 PM
Cool, thanks for that info. Seems like everyone and his brother

and sister

Quotedoes Winterreise

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Sergeant Rock

Quote from: Beethovenian on January 31, 2010, 07:33:06 AM
I'm sticking to single discs for lieder--no boxes; that way I can try out different singers.

The Hyperion box employs 58 singers plus two choral groups. Just sayin'  ;)

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Gurn Blanston

Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

bhodges

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on January 31, 2010, 07:50:28 AM
Yeah, Bruce is a big fan of; I think he has seen him in recital a couple times. He may have been the one that recommended to me, although all of the mods responded positively when I queried them last year. :)

8)

----------------
Listening to:
Ingrid Haebler / Ludwig Hoffman - K 497a 357 #1 Sonatensatz in G for Piano 4 Hands - Allegro

Yes, I'm a big fan of Goerne.  He has a beautiful instrument and uses it intelligently, and as you said, Haefliger is splendid, too. 

Now if only they would release a DVD of him in Wozzeck...oh sorry, off-topic.  ;D

--Bruce