ÜBERWÄLTIGEND!

 Ammiel Bushakevitz and Konstantin Krimmel

(Photo by Joseph Sinnott)

We have just spent a week with two extraordinary artists, leaving us almost lost in a world of German Romanticism,--not everyone's cup of tea but very much the beverage of choice of the lieder lovers who packed Butenweiser Hall at The 92nd Street Y. Mastering the three song cycles of Franz Schubert (and yes, they were mastered) and performing them all in one week must have made enormous demands on the artists; giving undivided attention makes a demand on the usually restless New York audience as well. One only heard the quiet rustling of the pages of the translation booklet.

For our part, we neither followed along the translation nor did we take notes. This exception to our usual concert reviewing led to our complete immersion in the experience, as contrasted with the very first time we heard these Schubert song cycles in the same venue sung by a very famous baritone. At that time we were new to lieder and had to read the translation. It was a fine starter for us,  and can be considered responsible for initiating a lifetime of interest in art song and a wish to learn German. We have come a long way!

Although primarily focused on the subtleties of interpretation, the refinements of technique in both baritone Konstantin Krimmel and collaborative pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz were not lost on us. Herr Krimmel can tell a story with such variety of vocal coloration, subtlety of phrasing, and depth of feeling that one can focus on the storytelling with the means of achievement only affecting us on a subtle level. With even a minimal knowledge of German one knew exactly the nature of the story he was telling. Bushakevitz evinced such total command of his instrument  that the accompaniment revealed the setting as well as the unconscious feelings of the poet narrator.

Our favorite of the three evenings was the darkest-- Winterreise. We call this "50 Shades of Black". It is the chronicle of a man's descent into madness after a romantic rejection. Perhaps the poet Wilhelm Müller meant the work to be taken a bit ironically but Schubert put his pen to paper with emotional intensity and psychological validity. In perfect Schubertian partnership, piano and vocal line augment each other. In the same fashion, Krimmel and Bushakevitz complemented each other in limning both the natural elements of a countryside winter and the mental decompensation of the hero.

So, we view the cycle as a matchless work of art involving poet, composer, singer and pianist. We members of the audience can in no way feel detached but we take this journey together. If we do not feel shaken to the core as "Die Leiermann" fades to a close, then the artists have not succeeded. This perfect partnership had the hero depersonalizing and derealizing in succession, hallucinating the two suns, shivering in the cold, fantasizing that crows and signposts were to be taken personally. There are only a few bars of momentary and false hopes, one when the piano gives us the hoofbeats of the horse drawing the postal coach which just might contain a letter from the lost beloved--but doesn't. And once again when the hero awakens from a sweet dream; but depression rapidly overtakes him as Schubert switches readily from major to minor, as he so often does. One cannot believe how artistry can create so many versions of despair. Fifty shades of black indeed!!

Our second favorite was Die schöne Müllerin which tells a somewhat different story but one no less tragic. The arc of the story follows our young hero who sets out to make his place in the world, finds a job with a miller, falls in love with the miller's daughter, mistakes her interest, despairs over her fickleness, and intends to drown himself in the same brook that powers the millwheel. The story offers the singer a wider latitude of emotional expression from gaiety to misery and offers the pianist an opportunity to limn rushing water and turning mill wheels. Schubert was a master at creating imagery by means of melody and rhythm and our pair of artists picked up on every subtlety with consummate technique and intense emotionality.

The final evening was Schwanengesang which was not published until after Schubert's tragic early death. This work is filled with variety but doesn't tell a story. Several songs stood out, probably because we have heard them so often in concert. Ludwig Rellstab's "Liebesbotschaft" and "Abschied" begin the collection on a rather cheerful note and his famous "Ständchen" touches our heart with its tender importuning.. After some rather sad songs, Johann Gabriel Seidl's "Die Taubenpost" lifts our spirits with its cheerful message and lilting rhythm. Heinrich Heine contributed two seaside texts of contrasting mood, the cheerful "Das Fischermädchen" and the painful "Am Meer". The final two songs are also settings of Heine and they are songs of torment with "Der Doppelgänger" expressing the torment of lost love and "Der Atlas" expressing the torment of the futility of existence.

Rather than letting the audience leave in a state of depression, our generous artists offered the soothing balm of a Ralph Vaughn Williams song that was lovely but seemed trivial after the depths attained in the cycle. We cannot leave you Dear Reader without reiterating our deeply held belief that one of the major failures of  contemporary art song is the use of boring contemporary text that neither rhymes nor scans. Hearing three evenings of crispy enunciated German that does rhyme and scan left us feeling fulfilled. We would prefer to feel sadly fulfilled by music that still haunts us days later than to hear something contemporary that we will forget within an hour. Schubert's melodies are repeating over and over in our mind's ear and we are even cherishing the sorrow we felt for the unhappy protagonists. We live in the Age of Cool and how refreshing and meaningful it is to recognize that sorrow is part of a deeply felt life.

We will not close without mentioning something that puzzled us in  Die Schöne Müllerin, mainly because we had never before heard embellishments of the vocal line, and we have heard this cycle more times than we can count, sung by both famous artists and by students. We were obliged to consult with a couple pianist friends of ours who informed us that it is not incorrect. We don't care whether it is "correct". It was just something unexpected that we will have to hear again before we decide whether we like it or not.

In any case, we feel so grateful to have spent a week with two artists engaged in legitimate artistic exploration without grandstanding. This is a week we will not soon forget!

© meche kroop

HE MADE US CRY

Daniel Fung and Matthew Swensen

If we don't get weepy when hearing Franz Schubert's masterpiece Die Schöne Müllerin, we generally feel there is something wrong with the singer. There was nothing wrong with the performance given by tenor Matthew Swensen at Juilliard yesterday.  And there was everything right about it.

We live in an epoch of "whatever"; not even a teenage "emo" boy would kill himself over a romantic disappointment.  But Wilhelm Müller's German Romantic poetry has genuine pathos; it is not manipulative like so much that we hear today that is over-sentimentalized

Müller's poetry rhymes and scans; it inspired some of Schubert's most cherished melodies. When we hear contemporary composers utilizing contemporary texts, we cannot exult.

From the very first poem we can identify with a young man filled with enthusiasm over the possibilities he will encounter on his wanderjahre. We can feel excited when he finds work and when he falls in love. We can share his exultation over winning his love object. We hurt when he is tossed aside for a more promising love object.  We feel compassion when he seeks comfort in nature, even as he plans to end his life.  We feel all this because of Schubert's prodigious gifts. But we feel it only when the singer immerses himself in the text and the music.

This was accomplished by Mr. Swenson. No emotion was left unexplored.  It was not just that each song has a different emotional tone; there are shifts within each song and changes from major to minor as the moodily sensitive narrator has new thoughts about his situation, each producing a new feeling.

We couldn't help recalling what we learned from Ms. DiDonato's master class yesterday--the part about feeling the harmonies under the vocal line and coloring it appropriately. We particularly admired, in "Am Feierabend",  the way he colored the words of the Miller and the words of the Miller's daughter.

With a performance this intense, one tends to forget all about technique; the artistry trumps everything. Still, we noticed that Mr. Swensen has an unusual instrument.  It is not that sweet tenor we hear in so many young voices--the Nemorino, the Fenton, the Tamino.  No, this is a more substantial voice with a lot of texture and overtones. Perhaps we have a Duke here, a Rodolfo, an Alfredo.

Shall we indulge in a bit of nit-picking? To take this performance from a 4 star to a 5 star, we would want Mr. Swensen to stop holding onto the piano.  In all fairness, he did not do it all that much; but it made a big difference every time he released his hold and stepped forward to the audience. And just one more thing.  On occasion, he tended to drop the final consonant.  Otherwise, his German was excellent and the vowels were accurate.  But we like the final crisp endings to a word and a sentence. We speculate that he was so involved emotionally that he forgot.

As far as Daniel Fung's collaborative piano, he played it as well as one would hope. Although they performed very well as a team, we missed the sense that the two of them were breathing together. It is a small point but we are looking for that fifth star!

(c) meche kroop

SCHUBERT RENEWED

David Leisner and Michael Kelly

Although we have heard some atrocities passed off as transcriptions, this was definitely not the case last night when baritone (we'd call him a barihunk but the overworked appellation has lost its meaning) Michael Kelly joined forces with guitarist extraordinaire David Leisner for a riveting performance of our favorite song cycle, Franz Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin.  Mr. Leisner, a performing and recording artist of great renown, transcribed it himself and it owes no apologies to the piano from which it was borrowed. Had Schubert himself been in the room we think he would have been mighty pleased.

Wilhelm Müller composed the poetry in 1820 and Schubert set it over the next couple years, premiering it in 1823. Typical of German Romanticism, it concerns a youth wandering the countryside, presumably to find his pathway in life. A brook, which becomes a main character in the poetry, leads him to a mill where he finds work as an apprentice, falls in love with the boss' daughter, loses her to a hunter, and drowns himself in the brook.

This tale involves myriad emotions and Mr. Kelly's involvement was so deep and so intense that we felt every single one of them along with him--the carefree opening gives way to a sense of purpose, the joy of working, feelings of inadequacy, romantic longing, hopefulness, elation, anxiety, jealousy, anger, and ultimately despair. 

Mr. Kelly has a beautiful baritone but what distinguished his performance was the manner in which he employed it. The phrasing was faultless, the German diction crisp and clear in spite of a nearly Italianate legato, and the word coloring went beyond any we have heard before. It seemed as if he were painting with his voice.

This is truly a young man's cycle and we do not agree with those who believe that a man needs decades of experience to sing it well.  In our opinion, a young man is closer to the intense feelings of infatuation, of wanting to impress the idealized love object, of the despair of crushed aspirations. How vivid Mr. Kelly made it all seem! It was so real we wanted to shout out "Don't do it!  Don't throw yourself in the brook! Other lovers will come along." It was similar to the feeling we have when Siegfried refuses to give the ring back to the Rhinemaidens and we want to shout "Give it back, Siegfried, give it back!"  That kind of involvement is rare!!!

We are sure that the preparation involved in presenting this cycle was extensive.  So how did Mr.Kelly make it seem so spontaneous? This we cannot answer; such is the mystery of art.  But in our post-ironic age where disappointed lovers shrug and say "next" or "whatever" this sort of emotionality seems rapturous.

And what of the guitar arrangement? It was accomplished by Mr. Leisner himself and struck us as a masterpiece in its own right. Just as the piano originally assumed the role of emphasizing the emotional content, so did the guitar; we loved the softness of its voice and heard new things in the music.  We were held rapt for over an hour and wanted the performance never to stop. That's ART!

The recital was presented by SongFusion and lieder lovers are welcome to support their fine work on Fractured Atlas.org. You do want to hear more of this quality of work, don't you?  You do!

(c) meche kroop

A FINE PAIR AND A FULL HOUSE

Matthias Goerne (photo by Marco Borggreve)

With a large dark baritone sound reminiscent of a glass of stout, Matthias Goerne held the Carnegie Hall audience spellbound for over an hour as he performed Schubert's deeply moving song-cycle Die Schöne Müllerin.  The most impressive aspect of the recital was how incredibly in tune with each other were Mr. Goerne and his collaborative pianist Christoph Eschenbach.  It would be fair to say that no subtlety in Wilhelm Müller's text went unrevealed, nor was any phrase not mined and explored.

We have heard this meisterwerk time and time again and have always heard something new in it as each interpreter finds something within to add to the words and notes on the printed page.  The tale is a simple one and typical of 19th c. German Romanticism; a young lad sets out on what may have been his wanderjahre guided by a brook in which he confides his thoughts and feelings; he gets himself a job as an apprentice to a miller, falls in love with the miller's daughter, loses her to a robust hunter and drowns himself in the brook.

What makes the work interesting is the wide range of emotions the lad experiences, all of which are reflected in music of astounding variety and lyricism.  We hear optimism and despair, pride and shame, curiosity and energy, confusion and anger, sometimes even within the same song.  The other major feature is the way the piano writing paints an aural picture for the listener; we hear the babbling of the brook, the roaring of the mill wheel and the warbling of the lark.

Mr. Goerne took on the role of the lad with complete abandon, investing every song with high drama. We were particularly moved by the softer gentler songs.   If we should utter a sole complaint, it would be that his body movement was a bit excessive and distracting.  We are sure his dramatic instincts will serve him well at The Metropolitan Opera as he takes over for an ailing Thomas Hampson in Wozzeck!

© meche kroop

A WINTER'S JOURNEY

Wilhelm Muller

Franz Schubert

In a near-magical synchronicity, our non-wintry winter here in New York became wintry just in time for Schubert&Co's presentation of Schubert's heart-breaking 1828 song cycle Winterreise.  The full moon last night was icing on the cake.  Walking along Central Park South by moonlight on the way to Central Presbyterian Church did much to establish the mood for the completely satisfying recital to follow.

We do not know whether the poet Wilhelm Müller experienced such terrible romantic disappointment in his life but he died young, a year before Schubert set his poetry to music.   Neither do we know whether Schubert experienced such grief.  We wonder whether it is the artists' imagination that allows them to plumb the very depths of the human soul.  We certainly hope that baritone Michael Kelly and collaborative pianist Jonathan Ware have never descended to such emotional depths and that they never will!

A better partnership could not be imagined.  Mr. Kelly's satin instrument and fine technique were utilized and augmented by astonishing interpretive skills in a way that made them all subservient to the intense inner journey that he seemed to undergo--a tragic descent from romantic disappointment into psychotic depression, complete with hallucinations.  There was no doubt in our minds that the crows were heard, the many suns seen.  Perfect German diction allowed any listener with even a meager knowledge of German to understand what was transpiring.

This is an interesting contrast with Müller's other collection of poetry set by Schubert and entitled Die Schöne Müllerin.  In that cycle, the hero describes an elaborate story of leaving home, finding work as an apprentice miller, falling in love with the miller's daughter, being supplanted in her affection by a hunter, and seeking death in the waters of his beloved brook.  In the case of Winterreise, the poet begins his journey following the romantic rejection; the outer journey through an icy landscape is symbolic of the inner journey he makes through his frozen internal landscape.

Schubert shows us a baker's dozen varieties of despair in this cycle and each one is different in tone.  Often there are changes of mood within the same song, achieved with changes of key, mode and rhythm.  The intensity of Mr. Kelly's performance was equaled by the intensity and subtlety of Mr. Ware's pianism.  The two artists seemed to breathe together.

This inspired teamwork never called attention to itself but existed solely to serve the music.  It was an astonishing evening and merited the prolonged standing ovation at the conclusion.  Our tears dried and the lump in our throat vanished but the catharsis lasted all night.  Bravissimi!

(c) meche kroop

A JOURNEY TO REMEMBER

Wilhelm Müller

Wilhelm Müller was but a quarter-century in age when he wrote the impassioned poetry of Die Schöne Müllerin; Schubert set the twenty poems within a couple years.  Neither would live to a ripe old age and neither does the hapless hero in this tale.  The eponymous mill-maid is not the major player here but she leads to the downfall of the tragic young man who seeks his fortune in the early 19th c.  He leaves home and wanders the countryside, guided by a rushing brook.  He winds up finding work at a mill and falls for the miller's daughter who, at first, seems to encourage him and later switches her affections to a hunter.  Perhaps she was won over by a brace of pheasants; our poet doesn't tell us.  Within the cycle of songs our poor hero goes through some very intense feelings--reveling in the joys of la belle nature, enthusiasm for his new job, wanting to please the miller, trying to impress the daughter, the excitement of being in love, the anxiety of not knowing whether his love will be returned, the exaltation of believing it is, the rage at being replaced in her affection, the despair of loss, and finally the peacefulness as he settles on the embrace of the brook and an early death.

Gifted American tenor William Ferguson took us on this journey last night and didn't miss a single emotion.  We belong to the subgroup of lieder fans who want all the drama.  We further belong to the subgroup that believes this cycle about youth should be sung by a young man.  This past year we have heard it magnificently sung by tenor Paul Appleby and baritone Jesse Blumberg.  Mr. Ferguson's magnificence was no less.  We felt ourselves sharing his joy, his exaltation, his rage and his pain.  Fortunately we did not wish to commit suicide at the end so we mopped the tears from our eyes and congratulated him on a very fine performance.  Mr. Ferguson informed us that he learned the cycle ten years ago and hasn't sung it since.  We hope he will sing it again soon.  We felt sad for the hero but happy for Mr. Ferguson's success in tackling this intensely dramatic work and doing it justice.

The lack of translation may have hampered those without a knowledge of German but we understood every word due to his fine diction.  Although not a native German speaker, we did notice that, like most American singers, there is a bit of confusion regarding the pronunciation of the final "g" and "ch"; but we can't say it hampered our enjoyment.

The reknowned Brian Zeger was, as one would expect, a major contributor as piano partner.  Schubert was perhaps the first composer to put the piano in such an important position.  One could hear the brook rushing along just as one could hear the mill wheels turning.  Could there be any finer piano writing or playing?  We think not!

(c) meche kroop