Friday, November 26, 2010

RECORDING OF THE MONTH- November 2010: DICHTERLIEBE by SCHUMANN with Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber

I have, until now, focused entirely on operatic recordings on this blog. I will continue to focus primarily on full opera recordings. However, as Lieder holds a very special place in my heart, I think it is important to consider the diverse array of Lieder recordings as some of them (mainly the ones sung by "opera singers") can yield very little listening pleasure as they do not understand the genre that they are singing.

Lieder is not opera. If we try to sing it and/or interpret it like we do opera, it will always just be a little cheap imitation of opera. This is why we need to regard the art of song (German, French, British, American, Russian etc.) as a separate art form completely unrelated to that of opera.

An actor of the theatre would not dare to think that he can perform poetry reading in an acceptable way with no specific poetic training, because they recognize that it is not acting in the way that they perform in a play. Why do opera singers all think that they are naturally equipped to sing art song, just because they sing opera. We know that they are not because we see them perform and we cringe as they slaughter this delicate art form.

This recording is not one that makes anyone "cringe." If you want to know what Song is about... listen to this disc.



Schumann:
Dichterliebe
Der arme Peter - Die Löwenbraut - Belsazar
Lieder Op. 90

Christian Gerhaher, baritone
Gerold Huber, piano

RCA Red Seal


Christian Gerhaher was born in 1969 in the Lower Bavarian city of Straubing. He grew up playing the violin and after completing a diploma in medicine, he decided to become a singer and teamed up with the son of his childhood violin teacher, pianist Gerold Huber. Since their debut in 1998, they have worked together exclusively.

This recording of Heine & Schumann’s Dichterliebe (and other Schumann settings), was released in 2005. Alan Blyth of the Grammaphone, who passed away shortly thereafter, was perhaps one of the leading vocal authorities in Britain, so it was slightly alarming when he greeted the CD as the greatest Dichterliebe ever recorded by a baritone.

Gerhaher is often given credence as having participated in masterclasses with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Inge Borkh, but I find that to be relatively obsolete and irrelevant. His credence in Lieder lies not in his training or references, but in his rare (but essential) ability to individualize words.

In Heine’s Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen in Dichterliebe, the second stanza opens with “Es treibt mich ein dunkles Sehnen”. The word “dunkles” is entirely different than the opening phrase of Lenau’s Der schwere Abend of op. 90, “Die dunklen Wolken hingen”. Gerhaher is able to contextualize the poetry so well that it may as well be a different word. He finds the music that is built in the the sounds of the words. This is one of the many ways that the text of his pieces comes alive. It turns from a Lied on a page into a living breathing entity.

He interprets these texts with no gimmicks and with no generalizations. His voice is pure and emotive and he lets the text speak for itself, with the help of Schumann’s musical finesse. He understands the art of poetic text. “Singers often think of themselves as artists,” says Gerhaher, who believes many singers have a misconstrued view of their role as performers. “A singer is to a great degree a craftsman. The main artists are the composer and the poet,” remarks Gerhaher, who adds that honesty is what is most important for the singer. “You need to be honest with the work in order to succeed. Being honest means that you can’t totally understand what the works mean. You should nevertheless understand as much as you can. If you provide an overwhelming interpretation, you won’t convince the audience. The less you put of your personal life into the interpretation, the better the interpretation.”

This is seen nowhere better than the Dichterliebe. Heine’s bitterness and angst isn’t thrown in your face, but suggested through subtle tone colours and an overall emotional arc that mirrors the natural human condition. In Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen the voice lightens with a crystal clarity echoed from the piano that suggests the cycle’s first hints of forgiveness.

In Die Löwenbraut, he really displays the oddity of the song. He brings out an ecstasy in the middle section as the young girl reflects on the past almost taken out of time.

In Belsazar his voice shimmers from the basement to the attic. The arrogant King quickly becomes a haunted and almost repentant figure, and in Meine Rose, he glides through the beautiful melody that surpasses the status of duet between voice and piano, and merges into one delicate, sublime, interwoven musical Ausdruck.

No less to be acknowledged here is his partner in crime, Gerold Huber, his long term collaborator.

Huber’s musical touch is heard from the delicate and precise to the impassioned and aggressive. Skilled pianists aren’t hard to find, however, skilled collaborators are unfortunately a dying breed. If one still exists, Gerold Huber is it. He is fulfilling his role meticulously. One can hear in every strike of a key that he is not just playing Schumann, but he is interpreting a text as specifically as Gerhaher. In pieces like Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet, the gentle give and take is a dead giveaway into the working relationship between these two performers.

About his partner, Gerhaher says, “For us, working together is very, very easy. With new pieces, we can go immediately to the core.” Although he grants that working with other pianists might provide new sensations, Gerhaher would be unwilling to jeopardize the relationship. “Music works between us like a marriage. Just as I don’t betray my wife with other women, I don’t betray my pianist with other pianists.”
While this junge Bayer may over roll some of his Rs (amidst a few other minor departures from "Hochdeutsch"), his diction is impeccable. Not a sound nor a letter are ever missed.
While he is often compared to Fischer-Dieskau, and he considers it a great honor, he is no imitation, he is his own artist and approaches the text very differently from his legendary predecessor. If Gerhaher and Huber are a glimpse into the future of song... this art form has a bright and shining road ahead of it.
-Christopher Michael Kelley