Discs Reviewed:
● Disc of the Month: CECILIA BARTOLI: OPERA PROIBITA
- DECCA B0005151-02
● CHANTICLEER: SOUND IN SPIRIT - WARNER R2 61941
● LINDA EDER: BY MYSELF: THE SONGS OF JUDY GARLAND
- ANGEL/EMI 0946 E 37733 2
5V
● LEGEND: DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU - SCHUBERT - EMI 7243 5 580370 2
● DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU: SALZBURGER LIEDERABENDE 1956-1965
- ORFEO C3390501
● THE ART OF DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU - DG 2 DVD B0004498-09
● DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU: AN DIE MUSIK - DG 000289 477 5556
● OSVALDO GOLIJOV: AYRE - DG B0004782-02
● LOTTE LEHMANN: FRAUENLIEBE UND LEBEN, ETC. - HƒNSSLER CLASSIC CD 94.508
● LOTTE LEHMANN: MASTER CLASSES VOL. 1 LIEDER - VAI DVD 4326
● LOTTE LEHMANN: MASTER CLASSES VOL. 2 OPERA - VAI DVD 4327
● MY LADY RICH: HER TEARES AND JOY - EMILY VAN EVERA & CHRISTOPHER
MORRONGIELLO - AVIE 0045
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CECILIA BARTOLI: OPERA PROIBITA -
DECCA B0005151-02
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Rarely do we encounter vocalism so inspired that it makes you want to stand
up and shout. But that's just the reaction Cecilia Bartoli's sensational new
CD, Opera Proibita, engenders. The mezzo-soprano's coloratura technique,
high extension, and emotional commitment are so thrilling that it is
virtually impossible to contain oneself as she spins out one impossibly
difficult aria after another.
Given the sheer difficulty of execution Bartoli's highly ornamented
repertoire presents, one might surmise that the CD's title Opera Proibita
refers to prohibitive nature of the writing. While the double entendre is
undoubtedly intentional, the title actually describes music written during
the ban on operatic performance enforced in Rome during the first decade of
eighteenth century.
In 1701, Pope Clement XI, taking his cue from his predecessor, Pope Innocent
XII, placed a ban on all public operatic performance. While Clement's
initial excuse may have been the worsening political conflict between Italy
and Spain, the real reason lay in the Church's moral conflict with the very
idea of theatre, which the papacy had condemned as a harbinger of sin and
damnation. It certainly did not help the Church's image that members of its
own clergy had been seen in theaters openly enjoying themselves at the sides
of courtesans or castratos.
Two years later, after Rome suffered two violent albeit non-lethal
earthquakes, Clement extended his ban on all forms of theatrical
entertainment as supposed act of thanksgiving. Not until 1710 did theaters
renew attempts to stage operas. Even then, the Church continued to ban women
from the public stage, leaving high vocal parts to castrati (male vocalists
who genitals were intentionally sacrificed in boyhood for the sake of
Christian purity).
The Papacy's decade-long ban was about as successful as Bush's War on Drugs.
Cardinals and Princes continued to commission lavish musical works staged at
private palaces, and operatic composers merely shifted vehicles from writing
operas to oratorios centering on allegorical discourses or sacred subjects.
Nor was Christian morality maintained in such works as Caldara's Il Trionfo
dell'innocenza (The Victory of Innocence) – one of whose arias is heard here
-- in which two male castratos sing the roles of two girls courting each
other.
Bartoli sings arias written during the decade of prohibition by Alessandro
Scarlatti (1660-1725), Antonio Caldara (c.1670-1736), and George Frideric
Handel (1685-1759). While these men could certainly write soft and gentle
arias – a case in point being Scarlatti's "Mentre io godo in dolce oblio"
from Il Giardino di Rose, in which the singer sweetly rests among the
flowers as the orchestral writing unmistakably simulates a gentle breeze –
they also seem to have reacted to the Papal ban with a vengeance.
Scarlatti's "All'arme si accesi guerrieri," which Bartoli tears through with
astounding speed and force, is but one of several arias in which Biblical
tales or moral allegories provide the excuse for composition of breathtaking
force and virtuosic display.
There are times when Bartoli's extended phrases are so perfectly executed
that her breath control reminds one of CaballÈ's. One example occurs in St.
Francesca's aria from Caldara's Oratorio per Santa Francesca Romana, where
Bartoli also demonstrates her fabled ability to convey pathos via
mesmerizing soft, sustained tones. Equally impressive is her trill, held for
several seconds in the disc's final selection, Mary Magdalene's moving
recitative and aria from Handel's La Resurrezone di Nostra Signor Geso
Cristo.
While much of this repertoire is newly recovered and previously unknown to
modern audiences, vocal lovers will recognize the trumpet accompaniment in
Handel's "Come nembo che fugge col vento" from the great aria "Vivi, tiranno"
from Rodelinda, and the touching melody of "Lascia la spina" as a variation
of the poignant Lascia ch'io pianga" from Rinaldo (Bartoli's most heavily
applauded encore on her last U.S. recital tour). Not all the arias count
among a composer's best, but such beauties as the dance of voice and winds
in Handel's aria for Mary Magdalene, the solo harpsichord that begins
Caldara's aria for Empress Faustina, and the delicious winds in Scarlatti's
Aria for Ismael make one long for more.
Conductor Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre deserve applause. The
playing is delicious. Thanks to such name musicians as JÈrÙme HantaÔ and
Jory Vinikour, a gratifying rainbow of clear, authentic instrument colors
highlights the myriad wonders of the mezzo-soprano's voice.
At 39, Cecilia Bartoli is clearly in her prime. The voice has never been
more beautiful. Just when we think we know all that she can accomplish, she
confounds the senses by conquering her most challenging repertoire to date.
Indeed, the searing highs in the da capo variations that conclude Beauty's
aria from Handel's Il Trionfo del Tempo e de Disinganno defy all reasonable
expectation. This is vocal mastery of the highest order.
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CHANTICLEER: SOUND IN SPIRIT -
WARNER R2 61941
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Sound in Spirit, the latest CD from the pitch-perfect male vocal ensemble
Chanticleer glows with a pantheistic reverence for the transcendent. It's
the same warm glow we have come to expect from a group that consistently
sells out its annual Christmas concerts in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
way in advance.
The 27-year old group, founded by the late countertenor Louis Botto, has
frequently addressed the spiritual through song and poetry. But from their
earliest recordings of Renaissance vocal music, Christmas songs, gospel, and
spirituals, Chanticleer has mostly focused on sacred Christian music. Here
they open their arms wider, embracing Buddhist, metaphysical and other
spiritual paths.
The vehicle for Chanticleer's spiritual coming out of sorts is a virtually
seamless soundscape, especially conceived for CD, that unites contrasting
traditional and cutting edge composition in a manner that underscores the
ultimate oneness of diverse spiritual paths.
In the tradition of much New Age music, Sound in Spirit begins with the
sounds of water, crickets and wind. These soon segue into "Incantation" one
of three excerpts from Jan Gilbert's NightChants, a seventy-minute,
theatrical/vocal celebration comprised of fourteen experimental chant
settings. One the setting's call for nature sounds inspired Chanticleer's
members walked outside the recording studio, connected with nature, and
engage in some rare on-site nighttime improvisation.
Gilbert's mysterious incantation opens the door to "Axion Estin," a more
familiar sounding19th century Romanian chant notable for its mystical bass
drone. Next follow Chanticleer Music Director Joseph Jennings' short "Sound
in Spirit," a primitive-sounding tribute to Buddhism, and several pieces of
the Gregorian and Renaissance sacred music for which Chanticleer is famed.
All are performed with Chanticleer's characteristic sincerity and purity of
tone.
One of the disc's most gratifying selections, "In Winter's Keeping," was
composed especially for Chanticleer by Japanese traditional music specialist
Jackson Hill. Hill adapts tunings, effects, and ornamentation common to
Buddhist chant to create a gorgeous setting of a seventh-century poem about
the most beautiful season of the year.
Such memorable music paves the way for the most experimental work on the
program, Giacinto Scelsi's "Gloria" from Tre canti sacri (Three sacred
songs) for eight mixed voices. "Gloria" is an especially wild ride in which
traditional Roman Catholic chant seems to break apart.
According to musicologist Michel Rigoni, Scelsi's songs use "elements from
known traditions in order to go beyond the ä conflicts between the
religions, striving for a religion without god or worship but in search of a
profound reality of the universe and a spirit of peace." The men of
Chanticleer outdo themselves , imbuing Scelsi's extraordinary music with
vital power.
Even when a piece such as Sarah Hopkins' "Past Life Melodies" again employs
harmonies familiar to western ears, Chanticleer enlivens matters by
indulging in the kinds overtone chanting sometimes encountered in Tibetan
ritual. Tibet also surfaces in the final selection, "Grace to You" from Jan
Gilbert's NightChants, where Joseph Jennings plays Tibetan singing bowl.
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LINDA EDER: BY MYSELF: THE SONGS OF
JUDY GARLAND - ANGEL/EMI 0946 E 37733 2 5V
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The release of Linda Eder's By Myself: The Songs of Judy Garland
(Angel/EMI) seems like a natural step in her vocal evolution. Like Judy,
Linda was raised in Minnesota farm country. She too has a stunning set of
pipes, as well as a voice that encompasses a wide range. And she also has a
large \ following, one that will certainly want to check out this tribute to
a much-loved icon who perpetually struggled to transcend her own demons.
Eder credits Garland as a major influence on her career.
"I always felt a connection to her," she explains. "She was all about the
goose bump factorä From the time I was a kid, my 'teachers' were Judy
Garland, Barbra Streisand and [classical/jazz soprano] Eileen Farrell."
Eder may have an uncanny ability to alter the timbre of her voice – the
innocent, sweet soprano heard performing "Build my House and "Dream with Me"
from Bernstein's Peter Pan hardly sounds like the same woman who captures
more than a bit of Garland's style as she belts out Judy's classic "By
Myself" – but she does not, at least on much of this recording, sound
anything like Garland. Her instrument is simply too healthy-sounding, and
too pure and sweet as it climbs the stave.
Nor does she possess anywhere near Judy's ability to produce sounds of
heartbreak and self-torture.
According to Linda's PR, her goal was not to mimic the Garland style, "but
rather to capture the contrasting strength and fragility of Judy's voice."
She cites her own challenges of the last few years, including a recent
divorce that brought both freedom and the responsibilities of single
motherhood, as deepening her ability to credibly tackle Judy's repertoire.
"No one escapes the lows," she says, "and Judy's were extreme, but you felt
you knew her."
I'm not sure I can say the same thing about Linda. After listening to this
recording any number of times, I don't feel I know her any better.
I admire Eder's singing, to be sure. But there's nothing on this recording
that grabs me in the way that Garland or Streisand or the phenomenal force
of nature known as Eileen Farrell did and continue to do. Perhaps it's the
plastic polish of some of the arrangements, or the characteristically modern
Broadway/pop vocal touches that often sound far more Streisand than Garland.
For whatever reasons, Judy's soul-gripping whir of sound that so touched our
hearts with its raw emotion and vulnerability is sadly absent from this
tribute.
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LEGEND: DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU -
SCHUBERT - EMI 7243 5 580370 2
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DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU: SALZBURGER
LIEDERABENDE 1956-1965 - ORFEO C3390501
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DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU: AN DIE
MUSIK - DG 000289 477 5556
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TRIBUTE: DIETRICH FISCHER-DIESKAU AT 80
"This voice is too beautiful," I reflected upon first hearing baritone
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sing Schubert. "I'm so entranced by the glories of
this man's voice that I can't focus on the music."
Opinions do change, however, especially as we age. Thanks to a fair amount
of new and reissued performances, some on DVD, we can now reassess the
artistry of the man who, for close to 40 years until his retirement in 1993,
reigned as the world's most respected and prodigiously recorded exponent of
German classical song.
One need only turn to EMI Classics' Legend: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau -
Schubert reissue of the 1962 Schubert Schwanengesang -the posthumously
published collection of 14 Swansongs somewhat arbitrarily lumped together
after Schubert's death -- to hear the voice near first bloom. Selflessly
accompanied by the great Gerald Moore, the baritone lavishes his many gifts
on some of Schubert's greatest lieder (songs). With hardly a trace of the
over-emphasis that frequently marred his interpretations in later years,
Fischer-Dieskau treats us to his ravishing, honeyed mezza voce on highs,
thrilling virile declamation, and impeccable legato. The sensitive variation
of vibrato alone is remarkable. Even if one might quibble with individual
interpretations - Gerhard H¸sch's lighter, subtly nuanced rendition of "Die
Taubenpost," for example, far more successfully captures the airborne hope
and pain of this ode to carrier pigeon and beloved - the performances, taken
as a whole, are nothing short of magnificent.
One of the greatest treasures of this year's 80th birthday tribute is
Orfeo's 11-CD Die Salzburger Liederabende boxed set of the song recitals (liederabende)
Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore performed annually at Salzburg between 1956
and 1965. (The 11th bonus disc features the baritone paired with soprano
Irmgard Seefried in 1960 Wolf recitals accompanied by Erik Werba and Gerald
Moore).
The first disc includes excerpts from Schubert's Schwanengesang plus
Schumann's complete Dichterliebe song cycle. Recorded live in 1956 in
beautiful mono sound, both reveal the singer in irresistibly fresh and
resonant voice. Yes, there are times when one might wish that he'd stop
trying to make his Dichterliebe convey every possible meaning Schumann and
poet Heinrich Heine may have intended, and instead trust that the heart and
voice can speak their truth without fussing. ("Why in the world is he doing
that?" is hardly a unique reaction). Regardless, this rendition rates as one
of the finest I've heard from a baritone's throat. How many others can offer
such caressingly sweet, tenor-tinged tones on top, manly resonance in the
lower range, and the wealth of color Fischer-Dieskau brings to these 16
songs?
That's just the first CD in this extraordinary set. Fischer-Dieskau usually
programmed a single composer in an evening, believing that mixed composer
programs prohibited audiences from fully entering the creator's sonic,
philosophical, and spiritual universe. As a result, he delivered entire
Salzburg recitals devoted solely to Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Wolf, or
Beethoven; only one Salzburg recital mixes composers, in this case Busoni,
Mahler, Pfitzner, and Strauss. We don't have translations - for that you'll
need to turn to other recordings, or to F-D's paperback volume of his own
translations of German lieder - but we do have interpretations graced by the
extra frisson of live performance.
Mention of Mahler leads to another treasure, Deutsche Grammophon's The Art
of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau two-DVD set of operatic performances and lieder.
In writing this five-song orchestral cycle, Mahler somehow presaged the
death of his own daughter, alienating his wife Alma in the process. Not even
the great contralto Kathleen Ferrier's extant performances of Mahler's
Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) prepared me for the
emotional intensity of Fischer-Dieskau's live 1968 performance with Lorin
Maazel and the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Just taking in the
intensity of Fischer-Dieskau's facial expressions proves shattering.
The DVD also includes a program of collected lieder with Wolfgang Sawallisch
at the piano. Filmed for television in 1974, the frequent change of composer
and clichÈd sets (busts of Greek statuary, books, stained glass, pedestals,
and the like) must have disturbed the baritone, because the performances
grow progressively uneasy. The voice is also occasionally hectoring, with
less resort to sweet head tones. Nonetheless, there are breathtaking
revelations. Richard Strauss' "Morgen!" may begin rushed, with more than one
wrong note in the mix, but the ad libitum conclusion is mesmerizing,
sustained with a rapt intensity few singers can achieve.
We can begin to assess Fischer-Dieskau's operatic greatness via the DVD
excerpts from Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Il tabarro, Die Frau ohne
Schatten, Arabella, and the extraordinary 1982 performance of Aribert
Reimann's Lear. Everything is sung in German, which for better or worse was
the convention of the period. (Hey, if Giacomo Puccini insisted that Lotte
Lehmann sing the Viennese premiere of his Suor Angelica, and was moved to
tears even though she undoubtedly performed it in German, we can get over
it). The voice at times seems too soft-edged and warm, but the acting is
surprisingly good, with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's stage direction in Figaro
placing great emphasis on the eyes.
The tribute also includes two "bonus" interviews conducted by Jens Malte
Fischer. Not one for small talk, the octogenarian baritone freely interrupts
his interrogator's pedantic rehashing of what anyone reading the set's
contents and notes already knows. Even with judicious editing, we manage to
learn about half of what we could have learned had Fischer gotten out of the
way.
EMI Classics has released a two-CD set of Fischer-Dieskau's 1978 Mahler
collaborations with pianist Daniel Barenboim. I trust there are revelations
to be had from this set, but a brief listen revealed the artist in slightly
shaky, off-putting voice. Better to forego its Mahler rarities and turn to
orchestral versions of Mahler cycles with Furtw‰ngler, Kempe and others.
TDK has issued a DVD of Fischer-Dieskau's rendition of Schubert's beloved
song cycle Die Schˆne M¸llerin (The Fair Maid of the Mill) with pianist
Andr·s Schiff. As a learning experience, students and admirers will grab
this example of the 66-year old artist compensating for diminished
resources. Many will also will want DG's two-CD Melodramen set of the 80
year-old master reciting melodrama by Strauss, Schumann, Ullman, and Liszt
over Burkhard Kehring's piano.
For the rest of us, a treasure: DG's two-CD plus bonus DVD Limited Edition
box set, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: An die Musik. The two CDs of lieder
interspersed with the occasional operatic excerpt mostly capture Fischer-Dieskau
in his prime. Most performances have been available previously on CD, albeit
in poorer transfers and/or only in complete sets complete with accompanied
the translations absent herein.
What stands out above all is the bonus disc, the first DVD release of the
baritone's 1978 TV recital of eight Schubert lied with the great Sviatoslav
Richter. Amazingly, even though Fischer-Dieskau was so ill with a cold that
he had to leave the room after each song to blow his nose, he sings
magnificently, far better than in the R¸ckert lieder from the same year.
Obviously he relished the opportunity to work with Richter. Even if you own
many of the other performances in the set, this DVD is not to be missed.
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OSVALDO GOLIJOV: AYRE - DG
B0004782-02
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Osvaldo Golijov is that rare composer who can create gorgeous alchemical
syntheses from multi-cultural texts, ancient musical forms, and contemporary
concerns. His compellingly modern sound and marvelous sense of color and
texture undoubtedly drew the Kronos Quartet to him, producing numerous
original collaborations and arrangements that exhibit an uncanny ability to
seduce us with their magic.
Now Golijov turns to the great soprano Dawn Upshaw, for whom he has written
a number of works, to create the right voice(s) for Ayre, his riveting new
cycle of 11 songs just released on DG. Conceived as a companion work for the
other work on the disc, Luciano Berio's pioneering Folk Songs (1964) – 11
settings of folks songs from seven different regions of the world written
for chamber ensemble and the estimable talents of Berio's wife and muse,
mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian – Ayre literally stuns the senses as it
combines acoustic instruments and electronic sound design with the wonders
of Upshaw's artistry.
Golijov, 45, was born into an Eastern European Jewish family and raised in
Argentina. Having spent years studying in Jerusalem, Siena, and the United
States, he has internalized the sounds, feelings, and paradoxes of opposing
cultures that continue to deny their commonalities. European chamber music,
traditional Jewish chants, klezmer melodies, Piazzolla's new tango, and
studies with modernists George Crumb and Oliver Knussen have together served
to hone skills that can transform everything from gypsy music and Mexican
rock into electro-acoustic soundscapes that resonate with timeless truth and
beauty.
No amount of previous experience with Dawn Upshaw's ability to sing baroque
laments, classic folk song, radiant Mozart, Broadway hits (including
Bernstein's hilarious "Glitter and Be Gay"), Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen,
and Kaija Saariaho's mesmerizing modern music could prepare me for what she
does with her voice on Ayre. Upshaw comes off as a vocal chameleon of sorts,
producing a wide range of voices, affect, and nuance than I could have
possibly imagined.
Even though I know that the only voice heard is Upshaw's, I find it hard to
believe that the strange, ranting voice heard through quasi-Sardinian
hip-hop electronica is hers. Her versatility is dumbfounding.
It is hard to resist the whirling the dance of "Wa Habibi," during which
Upshaw's artistry becomes increasingly animated; the low, pained and
impassioned voice on "Aiini taqtiru," where weeping transcends verbiage; and
the sensuous wailing of "Ariadne in her labyrinth," distinguished by the
Upshaw's masterful alteration of straight tone, vibrato, and color. Also
remarkable is the way Golijov interweaves Upshaw's English reading of a
long, contemporary poem from a Palestinian in exile with a 12th century
Sephardic call to prayer that features electronic reverb on voice.
Ayre speaks to the heart of the cultural clashes that threaten to destroy
us. Ending with a traditional Sephardic romance that bespeaks the pain of
separation, personal, political, and spiritual entwine as the music's
soul-touching beauty reminds us that the joys and passion of embodiment
transcend the illusion of difference. As Golijov has stated, "The matters
that are most important in life re love and the possibility of the existence
of God. For me, the leitmotiv underlying everything I write is that life is
more sacred than ideas."
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LOTTE LEHMANN: FRAUENLIEBE UND LEBEN
- HƒNSSLER CLASSIC CD 94.508
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LOTTE LEHMANN: MASTER CLASSES VOL. 1
LIEDER - VAI DVD 4326
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LOTTE LEHMANN: MASTER CLASSES VOL. 2
OPERA - VAI DVD 4327
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Adored by Toscanini, favored by Bruno Walter, chosen by Richard Strauss
to create several of his roles, dramatic soprano Lotte Lehmann (1988-1976)
possessed a voice like no other. Her sound was immediately distinctive, with
its thrilling top and palpable vibrancy. Despite a shortness of breath,
which she hid by using catch breaths to inject extra passion into her
interpretations; a rather shallow low range; and a fear of notes above a
high B, Lehmann was revered for the incomparable intensity and depth of her
interpretations.
Guided by a profound emotional intelligence, Lotte Lehmann was able to
project an enormous range of emotions and colors, playing her voice like a
violin. Rapture, grief, child-like wonder, nostalgia, pain, iron-fisted
determination, excitement, wide-eyed fear and hysteria, bitterness, despair,
irony, wit, deep faith and more were expressed with unmistakable clarity.
Strong feelings were never merely hinted at or intellectualized; they were
first felt deep within her being, then externalized with heart-touching
sincerity. That Lehmann could communicate extraordinary depth of feeling
while maintaining flawless enunciation and pitch was a marvel.
Although Lehmann sounds like Lehmann even on her earliest acoustic
recordings from 1916, far more of her voice and nuance can be heard on the
electrical recordings she made starting in 1927. She was already 39 years
old, and reached her vocal peak just three years later. While her
interpretations continued to deepen until her retirement in 1951, the
heavier and lower voice of later years was not always able to express all
she wished to share. For the soaring, ringing voice and near-breathless
enthusiasm of Lehmann at her best, we must turn to the prized early
electricals recorded between 1927 and 1932.
For Lehmann lovers, H‰nssler Classics' decision to release a number of her
earliest electrical lieder (song) recordings by Schumann, Schubert and
Brahms is cause for celebration. Despite conforming to the convention of the
time and performing to unidiomatic orchestral accompaniment, Lehmann manages
to sound entirely free, spontaneous, and convincing.
Of special interest in Lehmann's first version of Schumann's Frauenliebe und
leben (A woman's love and life), recorded in 1928 with an instrumental trio
conducted by Frieder Weismann. Nowhere in my almost 40 years of collecting
Lehmann recordings have I previously encountered this great performance.
Like most admirers of Lehmann and Schumann's cycle, I have instead made do
with her 1941 remake, sung in far too mature voice to imperfect support from
Bruno Walter's piano. The results, albeit arresting, never fully captured
the rapture of the young bride whom Schumann's music brings to life.
The 40-year old Lehmann's Frauenliebe und Leben is something else. From her
opening phrase, "Since I saw him, I believe I am blind," we feel the passion
of a woman in the first throws of love. The rapture builds as the cycle of
eight songs unfolds. As old fashioned as Chamiso's poetic sentiments may be,
Lehmann sings with such conviction that we can actually imagine a young
bride pressing her little golden wedding ring to her lips. The contrast
between Lehmann's soaring romantic abandon and the hollow tone she uses to
evoke the woman's lost love is shattering.
Further rewards come with four familiar songs by Schubert and four others by
Brahms. All recorded in 1927, when Lehmann could comfortably sing softly in
her upper range, these renditions enable us to hear nuances incompletely
voiced in later years when Lehmann's instrument lost some of its ease and
her range lowered.
Schubert's famed hymn to music, "An die Musik," was Lehmann's final encore
at her 1951 Town Hall Farewell Recital. She never finished the performance,
sweeping from the stage in the middle of the final verse as the voice
cracked and tears broke through. We encounter her in far happier times in
1927, the voice free and easy on high, her faith expressed in soft,
caressing (albeit never virginal) tones. This is a spirit as yet unburdened
by the scourge of Nazism that drove her and many of her colleagues from
Germany.
It is hard not to love Lehmann's Brahms, especially the magical lullaby "Sandm‰nnchen"
lullaby from 1932 and the gripping loneliness of "Die Mainacht" from 1931.
The disc ends with six somewhat ponderous religious hymns recorded in 1929
to organ accompaniment. Had we only been given more great lieder instead.
Here's hoping that H‰nssler graces us with Volume II.
When she was 73, KQED San Francisco journeyed to Santa Barbara to film two
of Lehmann's master classes at the Music Academy of the West. Although her
most famous pupils, Marilyn Horne and Grace Bumbry, were not in attendance,
a bunch of less gifted singers are shown profiting greatly from Lehmann's
guidance.
As a teacher, Lehmann is extraordinary. Singing, speaking, and croaking
words and phrases, she acts out arias and songs. Totally involved in her
interpretations, interrupting singers as necessary, she gives us a genuine
sense of the total conviction she brought to her interpretations.
Lehmann's enactment of the Marschallin's Monologue from Der Rosenkavalier is
essential viewing. Several decades before Schwarzkopf came on the scene,
Lehmann was the Marschallin that Strauss preferred. Whether singing in her
prime with two other of Strauss' favorite singers, Richard Mayr and
Elisabeth Schumann, or speaking the Marschallin's words 16 years after
relinquishing the role, Lehmann fully captured the Marschallin's nostalgic
longing for her lost youth.
The lieder class is no less gripping. Compare Lehmann's reenactment of songs
from Schubert's Die Winterreise and Die schˆne M¸llerin with recordings made
20 years earlier. Then check out the performance of the final song from
Frauenliebe und leben, which Lehmann recorded 33 years earlier. These DVDs
bring our understanding of this great artist full circle.
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MY LADY RICH: HER TEARES AND JOY -
EMILY VAN EVERA & CHRISTOPHER MORRONGIELLO - AVIE 0045
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Although the UK's Avie label has not released an SACD since Lorraine Hunt
Lieberson's magnificent Handel recital issued over a year ago, their
commitment to producing audiophile quality recordings of fine artists remains
paramount. A case in point is this wonderful recording of Elizabethan music
dedicated to Lady Penelope Rich (1563-1607).
The beauty, intellect, passion, and fine musicianship of Lady Penelope Rich
made her one of the most alluring and renowned women of the Elizabethan age.
Both famed courtier-poet Sir Philip Sidney and gentleman soldier Charles
Blount (the future Lord Mountjoy, Earl of Devonshire) were respectively wooed
off their feet by her many charms.
Sidney memorialized Lady Penelope Rich through private verse, namely his
famous Astrophil and Stella sequence of love poetry in which Astrophil (star
lover) was based on Sidney himself, and Stella (star) was based on Penelope.
This poetry proved so influential that it spawned the Elizabethan vogue for
love sonnets.
Thanks to poetry, music, and assorted documents from the period, Lady Penelope
Rich's relationship with her next lover, Lord Mountjoy, has become the stuff
of legend. The couple's mutual devotion and ultimate tragic end is recalled in
any number of musical works dedicated to or directly linked to her. These
compositions, combined with contemporaneous music that reflects the Elizabeth
milieu in general and Penelope's surroundings in particular, have been woven
together to form a rich musical portrait of her life.
Emily Van Evera, an early music specialist who was born in Minnesota and later
moved to Oxfordshire, sings with great warmth and knowing. The beauty of her
voice, which has graced any number of award-winning recordings, is enough to
make one hit "repeat" on the CD player. Bonuses come in the form of her twelve
exhaustive pages of liner notes, lyrics for all the songs, and the lute
mastery of Christopher Morrongiello, who frequently collaborates with Van
Evera in concert performances. Other stellar musicians heard on the disc have
performed with the Dufay Collective, Fretwork, The Palladian Ensemble,
Charivari, the Tallis Scholars, The Taverner Consort, the Hilliard Ensemble,
Red Byrd, Florilegium, Concordia, and Phantasm. For those drawn to the music
of this period, the quality of the musicianship makes this recording a must.
- Jason Victor Serinus
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