Recent acquisitions in the field of Lieder and mélodies

[mjwal]

I'm not sure (yet) about putting these remarks on the thread Favourite Vocal Recitals - besides, they are discussing Gounod's Faust at the moment, and I would hate to disturb them. One of these acquisitions may revise your idea about Lieder singing in the 60/70s: Barry McDaniel acc. by Herta Klust and Aribert Reimann, singing Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Duparc, Ravel, Debussy.

When I came to Germany in the mid-60s for 2 years I knew next to nothing about Lieder but had heard some beautiful recordings by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Fi-Di for short) and actually possessed a second-hand copy of Hans Hotter's great EMI recording of Winterreise. I came here for good (or bad) in 1970, by which time I knew more and was able to hear a lot of recordings on German radio - a couple of times I heard a mellifluously phrasing baritone called Barry McDaniel singing Bach, Mozart and some Lieder. Practically none of all that has appeared on record - to what extent he was excluded by market forces saying "FiDi and Prey are our main men", I don't know. But now Audite has begun a retrospective of radio recordings with these 2 CDs.
I cannot go into all the riches here: I will mention a few of those interpretations that particularly appealed to me or struck me most powerfully. Schubert's "Dass sie hier gewesen" is a song that has somehow passed under my radar (I have never listened to all of Schubert's songs taking notes) - it stunned me with its Hugo Wolfian chords of aching memory that give way by means of an almost (but soft) declamatory line to the yearningly Schubertian setting of the words "dass sie hier gewesen" (that she was here); Barry McDaniel sings with a warm legato, all the interpretation lies in the almost inaudible slowing, or slight alteration of volume, never does he point meaning in a didactic fashion with emphatic tonal knowingness (like some I could mention...).
Among the Schumann Lieder i was much taken by the setting of "Kennst du das Land", better known in Wolf's setting. Again a short song, sung simply with heartfelt intensity and sweetness of tone; you expect on the repetition of "ruhest du auch" (you too will rest) that the voice will fall to a conclusive low note on "auch" (also) - as indeed the piano does - but McDaniel (and Schubert too, of course!) suddenly "swivels" the voice up into an ecstatic but muted agony of acceptance. -
The second CD offers Wolf, then the 3 French composers. Here I was blown away by his Ravel interpretation: these Chansons Madécasses, songs of Madagascar were not hitherto a big feature of my listening and appreciation, though I have heard them - these songs are in this singer's rendering alternately mysterious yet suggestive and, in the second chanson, wild and almost ferally aggressive: it's here that you may begin to reflect on the slightly false impression of Ravel you have gathered over the years (I did); I mean, this is brutally savage, and the singer responds with tremendous power. His French is if anything even more idiomatic than his German, amazing (I know of no Anglo-Saxon singers, not even Janet Baker, who are quite so impressive in this respect). Aribert Reimann's piano playing in the third of my examples is superb, Herta Klust very good in the others. -
McDaniel finally recorded Winterreise with Reimann at the age of 39 when he felt ready for it, but RCA left it in the vaults. Go figure...

The other CDs I shall briefly cover: they are not exactly new but I have just acquired them: Dame Margaret Price's (1987 released 2006) and Carolyn Sampson's (2010) Wigmore Hall recitals, brilliantly accompanied by Geoffrey Parsons and Matthew Wadsworth respectively. Dame Margaret sings Schubert, Mahler and Strauss with mostly finely concentrated tone except in fortissimo passages, when her voice spreads and billows a little, which might be partly the acoustics and the recording technique - I was always especially moved by her quiet singing, of great tonal beauty. I would single out "Der blinde Knabe", an exceptional "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen", and "Ruhe, meine Seele", but they are all very impressive and delightful. -
The Sampson recital is very nice, the lute solos are fun (Kapsberger), Dowland's "Fortune My Foe" may be a first as a vocal setting (I have been searching for years to find one), and the final "Have you seen the bright lily grow?" is lovely, even if  I retain a special love for the version by Peter Pears with Bream. But one cannot have too many versions of this transcendent song, with the greatest lyrics (Ben Jonson) of any lute air set by an English composer.

[The new erato]

I share your interest in this stuff but without some breaks in the text reading it simply is too wearisome.

[mc ukrneal]

I'm not sure (yet) about putting these remarks on the thread Favourite Vocal Recitals - besides, they are discussing Gounod's Faust at the moment, and I would hate to disturb them. One of these acquisitions may revise your idea about Lieder singing in the 60/70s: Barry McDaniel acc. by Herta Klust and Aribert Reimann, singing Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Duparc, Ravel, Debussy.

When I came to Germany in the mid-60s for 2 years I knew next to nothing about Lieder but had heard some beautiful recordings by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Fi-Di for short) and actually possessed a second-hand copy of Hans Hotter's great EMI recording of Winterreise. I came here for good (or bad) in 1970, by which time I knew more and was able to hear a lot of recordings on German radio - a couple of times I heard a mellifluously phrasing baritone called Barry McDaniel singing Bach, Mozart and some Lieder. Practically none of all that has appeared on record - to what extent he was excluded by market forces saying "FiDi and Prey are our main men", I don't know. But now Audite has begun a retrospective of radio recordings with these 2 CDs.
I cannot go into all the riches here: I will mention a few of those interpretations that particularly appealed to me or struck me most powerfully. Schubert's "Dass sie hier gewesen" is a song that has somehow passed under my radar (I have never listened to all of Schubert's songs taking notes) - it stunned me with its Hugo Wolfian chords of aching memory that give way by means of an almost (but soft) declamatory line to the yearningly Schubertian setting of the words "dass sie hier gewesen" (that she was here); Barry McDaniel sings with a warm legato, all the interpretation lies in the almost inaudible slowing, or slight alteration of volume, never does he point meaning in a didactic fashion with emphatic tonal knowingness (like some I could mention...).
Among the Schumann Lieder i was much taken by the setting of "Kennst du das Land", better known in Wolf's setting. Again a short song, sung simply with heartfelt intensity and sweetness of tone; you expect on the repetition of "ruhest du auch" (you too will rest) that the voice will fall to a conclusive low note on "auch" (also) - as indeed the piano does - but McDaniel (and Schubert too, of course!) suddenly "swivels" the voice up into an ecstatic but muted agony of acceptance. -
The second CD offers Wolf, then the 3 French composers. Here I was blown away by his Ravel interpretation: these Chansons Madécasses, songs of Madagascar were not hitherto a big feature of my listening and appreciation, though I have heard them - these songs are in this singer's rendering alternately mysterious yet suggestive and, in the second chanson, wild and almost ferally aggressive: it's here that you may begin to reflect on the slightly false impression of Ravel you have gathered over the years (I did); I mean, this is brutally savage, and the singer responds with tremendous power. His French is if anything even more idiomatic than his German, amazing (I know of no Anglo-Saxon singers, not even Janet Baker, who are quite so impressive in this respect). Aribert Reimann's piano playing in the third of my examples is superb, Herta Klust very good in the others. -
McDaniel finally recorded Winterreise with Reimann at the age of 39 when he felt ready for it, but RCA left it in the vaults. Go figure...

The other CDs I shall briefly cover: they are not exactly new but I have just acquired them: Dame Margaret Price's (1987 released 2006) and Carolyn Sampson's (2010) Wigmore Hall recitals, brilliantly accompanied by Geoffrey Parsons and Matthew Wadsworth respectively. Dame Margaret sings Schubert, Mahler and Strauss with mostly finely concentrated tone except in fortissimo passages, when her voice spreads and billows a little, which might be partly the acoustics and the recording technique - I was always especially moved by her quiet singing, of great tonal beauty. I would single out "Der blinde Knabe", an exceptional "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen", and "Ruhe, meine Seele", but they are all very impressive and delightful. -
The Sampson recital is very nice, the lute solos are fun (Kapsberger), Dowland's "Fortune My Foe" may be a first as a vocal setting (I have been searching for years to find one), and the final "Have you seen the bright lily grow?" is lovely, even if  I retain a special love for the version by Peter Pears with Bream. But one cannot have too many versions of this transcendent song, with the greatest lyrics (Ben Jonson) of any lute air set by an English composer.

Very interesting. I enjoy new recitals (new to me that is), so something to look out for!

[Sergeant Rock]

I cannot go into all the riches here: I will mention a few of those interpretations that particularly appealed to me or struck me most powerfully. Schubert's "Dass sie hier gewesen" is a song that has somehow passed under my radar (I have never listened to all of Schubert's songs taking notes) - it stunned me with its Hugo Wolfian chords of aching memory that give way by means of an almost (but soft) declamatory line to the yearningly Schubertian setting of the words "dass sie hier gewesen" (that she was here)....

That's a song that doesn't spring to mind but your description makes it sound so intriguing. I've dug out my, I think, only recording of it (from the Hyperion cycle: Langridge and Johnson) and will listen to it.

Sarge