SCHUBERT'S SCHWANENGESANG

Lachlan Glen and Edward Parks

The poet paints a picture for the listener, poetry being conceived as a spoken art form; the composer of a lied adds another layer; the singer adds yet another.  Last night, for Schubert&Co.'s final recital, the master's Schwanengesang was chosen--his last published cycle.  It is a lovely and familiar group of songs but not an actual cycle as in Die Winterreise or Die Schöne Müllerin.  In this opus, Schubert has set texts by only three poets, seven by Rellstab, six by Heine and the closing lied by Seidl.

Who better to perform this than baritone Edward Parks and collaborative pianist Lachlan Glen!  Together they brightened the colors of the paintings and elucidated the outlines.  We heard these familiar songs as if for the first time with all the thrill of fresh discoveries.  Here, a brook murmuring in "Liebesbotschaft"; there, a strange and eerie arpeggio of a diminished A chord in "Die Stadt".  Voice and piano swelled together on the phrase "wasser schwoll" in "Am Meer".

Mr. Parks is a consummate artist and sings as if he were composing the words at that very moment, such is his involvement with the text.  His voice is naturally warm but comes across as powerful when that is called for.  The sweetness of "Liebesbotschaft"  gave way to the terror of death in "Kriegers Ahnung" and the restlessness of "Frühlingssehnsucht".  The tender and passionate "Ständchen" (our personal favorite) was followed by the tormented and tumultuous "Aufenthalt", the sorrowful "In die Ferne" and the cheerful "Abschied".  The romantic "Das Fischermädchen" led to the eerie "Die Stadt", the despairing "Der Doppelgänger", the tearful "Ihr Bild", the weighty "Der Atlas" and finally to the joyful "Die Taubenpost".

Mr. Parks is riveting as an artist.  He is unfussy in his movement and does his acting with vocal coloring, phrasing of exemplary musicality, finely tuned dynamic variety and accurate German diction.  One could not imagine Schubert better served.

Do not being surprised if there will be another post-series recital this month to make up for some of the songs that got left out due to singer indisposition.  We couldn't be happier about this piece of news.  We can never get enough Schubert!

DRAWING TO A CLOSE

Lachlan Glen, Kyle Bielfield, Andy McCullough, Kristin Gornstein

As the New York opera season draws to a close, so does Schubert&Co.'s perusal of Franz Schubert's output of over 600 songs.  What an opportunity we have had all year, hearing rising stars of the opera world up close and personal in the rather intimate venue of Central Presbyterian Church.  If you have attended regularly, as we have, you know whereof I speak.  If you have not, you have only a few more opportunities to appreciate this remarkable endeavor of collaborative pianists and Co-Artistic Directors Lachlan Glen and Jonathan Ware.  Today there is a 3PM recital that sounds enticing but the 8PM recital is an absolute necessity for lieder lovers when the incomparable baritone Ed Parks will sing Schwanengesang.

Last night's recital offered mezzo-soprano Kristin Gornstein and two very different but equally impressive tenors, both known from former years when getting their Master's Degree from Juilliard.  The texts were by Mayrhofer whom, as Mr. Lachlan suggested in his introductory remarks, was likely a devoted partner to Schubert since they slept in the same bed for years.  Furthermore, poor Mr. Mayrhofer defenestrated himself shortly after poor Schubert met an untimely end.  Would that they both had lived longer and created more songs!

Andy McCullough has a powerful tenor and shone especially in "Schlaflied" and "Rückweg" in which he demonstrated low notes a baritone would envy.  Perfectly partnered by Mr. Glen, the pair demonstrated perfect control of dynamics.  We were rather taken by the poignant melody of "Rückweg".

Kyle Bielfield is a tenor of a different sort--gentle, sweet and endearing.  The two songs he performed with intense involvement were said to be representative of Schubert and Mayrhofer's awareness of their "outsider" status and perhaps a reflection of their putative secret relationship.  The loneliness of being different is expressed in "Abendstern, D.806" while "Nachtviolen, D.752" references a sacred union.  Mr. Bielfield lovingly caressed each vowel in a moving display of erotic love.

To Kristin Gornstein was given a quartet of songs, the most delightful of which was the drinking song "Zum Punsche".  How we love a good drinking song!  She has a true mezzo quality in her voice and Mr. Glen's piano brought out the thunder referenced in "Abendlied der Furstin" and some very gentle harp-like sounds in "Liedesend".  And just listen to the postlude of "Atys"!  Absolutely transporting!

We urge you to attend this weekend; you will not be disappointed.  Au contraire, you will be thrilled.

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KEN NODA FILLS OUR EASTER BASKET

Ken Noda

The collaborative piano work at Schubert&Co. has left nothing to be desired; Artistic Directors Jonathan Ware and Lachlan Glen are equally superb.  Still, to have the illustrious Ken Noda to come and play with tenor Alexander Lewis is another feather in the Schubert&Co. cap.  Mr. Lewis hails from Down Under but his singing is strictly Tip Top; his musical theater background served him well in the set of songs in which a very young Schubert availed himself of the poetry of Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty.

Mr. Lewis interpreted the songs with as much nuance as Mr. Noda did at the piano, emphasizing every subtlety.  We enjoyed the seasonal contrast between "Winterlied" and "Frühlingslied" but we especially loved "Die Mainacht" and would love to hear Schubert's setting on the same program as Brahms'.  In "Die frühe Liebe" the humor was conveyed with Mr. Lewis' entire body.  Fortuately, the songs had been committed to memory and there was no music stand interposed between his intense performance and the appreciation of the audience.

The remainder of the program was superb in different ways.  Mezzo Jazimina Macneil's warm and richly round voice plus astute word coloring  were well used in the opening set, settings of poetry by Aloys Wilhelm Schreiber, Josef Ludwig Stoll and Johann Ladislaus Pyrker.  Mr. Ware's soft touch in the piano gave way to some powerful playing that emphasized the mystery and awe of Pyrker's "Die Allmacht".  That was some fine teamwork!

Soprano Simone Easthope has a brilliant sound that resonates to the farthest reaches of Central Presbyterian Church, where most of these Schubert@Co. recitals are held.  Mr. Glen's piano and her voice melded to perfection in two of our favorite Rückert lieder "Du bist die Ruh" and "Sei mir gegrüsst".  Familiarity tends to please the ear and we were contemplating how much more we would appreciate a second and third hearing of some of the less well known lieder we have been hearing all year at these thrilling recitals.

And finally let us commend the outstanding baritone Michael Kelly who was also accompanied by Mr. Ware.  Two lovely Schreiber songs, the romantic "Der Blumenbrief" and "Das Marienbild" were followed by the familiar "Lachen und Weinen" with its poignant major-minor shifts and the unbearably mournful "Das ich hier gewesen" with its descending scale motif.  One could write an entire paragraph on what Mr. Kelly did with the word "verlangen" in Rückert's "Greisengesang".

Once again Schubert&Co has provided us lieder lovers with a cause to rejoice.  Our Easter basket has been filled to overflowing.

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BACK TO THE 19th CENTURY

What a splendid evening we enjoyed pretending we were in a long dress at a musicale chez Herr Franz Schubert, listening to friends singing the songs he dashed off that day with the maestro himself at the piano!  But no, it is 2013 and we were visiting the spacious digs of one of the co-Artistic Directors of Schubert@Co. listening to three lovely ladies with gorgeous voices and two talented pianists.

The lovely lady #1, soprano Devon Guthrie, showed off some new darker colors, most appropriate to the sad songs she performed--Schiller's poetry for "Des Mädchen's Klage" and Kenner's "Grablied".  Lovely lady #2, Australian soprano Elena Perroni sang threee lieder which were settings of poetry by von Leitner--songs related to finding comfort in nature, in tears and in nostalgia for childhood.  In the strophic "Die Sterne", we enjoyed the repetitive rising pattern brought out by Bretton Brown's fine pianism.  Ms. Perroni continued with two settings of Metastasio poetry, showing off her fine Italian.  We could easily believe that Rossini was sitting next to Schubert when he wrote these bel canto inflected lieder.

Lovely lady #3, mezzo Samantha Malk, accompanied by the wonderful  Dimitri Dover, sang the one familiar lied on the program, Craigher de Jachelutta's "Die junge Nonne"; Mr. Dover perfectly reflected the change of mood from tormented to peaceful.  This was quite a change from the humorous "Das Echo", setting of poetry by Castelli; Ms. Malk is quite the story-teller and we loved the tale of the young woman who blames the echo for her falling into a romance with her suitor.  Translations were totally unnecessary, given Ms. Malk's fine diction and dramatic skills.

It was a memorable recital and the evening finished off with some more informal singing, much as we imagined Schubert would have had at his musicales so long long ago.  We felt connected to a lovely unbroken tradition.  May it continue!

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SCHUBERT'S UNPUBLISHED SONG CYCLE

Leave it to Schubert&Co. to discover an unrecognized cycle of songs--settings of poetry by Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel.  As Co-Artistic Director Lachlan Glen explained, there is every evidence that Schubert intended these settings, composed around the same time as Die Schöne Müllerin, to be a cycle but they remained unpublished and not organized in an appropriate order at the time of Schubert's untimely death.  (One of the problems presented by this collection is the wide range of voicing; Mr. Glen solved this problem by dividing the songs amongst three singers with different ranges.) But we got to hear (and heart) them all last night at Central Presbyterian Church and so did you, if you took our advice.

Soprano Catherine Hancock has a winning bright sound and was pleasantly playful in the opening song "Der Schmetterling"; it is always delightful to see an artist enjoying herself to such an extent. Mezzo Kristin Gornstein has a brilliant upper register that would be the envy of any soprano, but has that chocolatey mezzo richness at the bottom.  We particularly enjoyed the wistful "Das Mädchen".  We would urge singers to pay more attention to the final "ch" and "ig" in their German.  Many American singers shy away from enunciating them and we wonder if it is fear of mispronouncing.  In any event, it is an easy flaw to correct.

Baritone Benjamin Bloomfield has no such problem.  He demonstrated different colors last night than he did the prior night.  We especially enjoyed the interesting mood changes in "Der Schiffer" and the peaceful feeling of "Der Wanderer".

Last night's guest pianist was Michael Brofman of the Brooklyn Art Song Society who distinguished himself by bringing out the Baroque leanings of "Vom Mitleiden Maria" and the references to nature in "Die Gebüsche" and "Im Walde".

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SCHUBERTIADE

If you have been attending Schubert&Co.'s lieder recitals then you already know what a gift is being given to New York City's lieder lovers by Artistic Directors Lachlan Glen and Jonathan Ware, plus all the gifted singers who are presenting over 600 Schubert songs over a one year period.

If for some reason you have not yet attended the recitals at  Central Presbyterian Church, it is not too late to start.  There are plenty of recitals to come including one tonight at 8PM and Sunday at 6PM (at a different venue).  If you heard baritone Benjamin Bloomfield last night, you will surely want to hear him again tonight, as we did and will.  Amongst his four selections, we particularly enjoyed a most sensitive rendering of "Im Abendrot", a setting of an exquisite poem by Karl Gottlieb Lappe.  Gone was the gloomy poetry of Goethe; Lappe is nothing if not sunny.

One of our favorite sopranos, Devon Guthrie lent her superlative artistry to a group of songs which were settings of poetry by A.W. Schlegel.  The lengthy strophic setting of "Abendlied für die Entfernte" with its several changes from major to minor gave Ms. Guthrie ample time to show off her warm personality and delicious resonance.

Mezzo Kristin Gornstein was charming in a Claudius poem entitled "Zufriedenheit".  Soprano Charlotte Dobbs has a clear attractive soprano, bringing to life another Claudius poem entitled "Phidile".  Tenor James Baumgardner also sang a Claudius lied entitled "Täglich zu singen".  Herr Claudius may become our new favorite poet. 

Collaborative pianist Lachlan Glen, newly returned from Germany and Switzerland, provided sensitive accompaniment to the singers.  We were so delighted by the informal style of this Schubertiade that two more recitals this weekend do not feel like too many.

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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!

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SCHUBERT UND DIE NATUR

Franz Schubert in Youth

Born 3 years before the advent of the 19th c. the young Schubert, here depicted, wrote 140 songs in 1815 alone!  It seems the music just poured out of him; in similar fashion the music seemed to pour out of the young artists onstage last night as Schubert&Co. continued their year-long exploration of his entire vocal oeuvre.  The series is not only entertaining but also educational as Lachlan Glen, one of the series' two Artistic Directors, generously shared his love and appreciation for the music.  Focusing on settings of poetry by Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten, Friedrich Leopold, Alexander Pope, Colley Cibber and Abraham Cowley, the final three having been translated into German, many of the lieder are on the theme of nature.  Although Schubert had requested the German translations to follow the syllabification of the original English, it is clear, as Mr. Glen pointed out, that the accents fall in different places.  We were happy to hear them sung in German which suits the music better.

The program began and ended with the lovely Australian soprano Simone Easthope who delighted us with her shimmery voice that created a perfect picture in the mind's eye.  We especially enjoyed "Daphne am Bach, D.411" which had a familiar sound, reminding us of "Die Forelle" and "Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D.774" a strophic lied with many shifts between major and minor, and the only song of the evening that we had previously heard.

Being introduced to tenor Nils Neubert was an unexpected treat.  Mr. Neubert has an incredibly sweet voice and the choice of songs with sweet melodies was a wise one.  We particularly enjoyed "Alles um Liebe, D.241" and observed that he had no trouble with the low notes at the ends of some of the other songs.  We also enjoyed the optimism of "Der Blinde Knabe, D.833" and enjoyed his appealing vibrato.

Bass-baaritone Andrew Bogard has a sturdy voice and we loved the way he evinced some unexpected tenderness without sacrificing the tone, especially in the joyful song of love fulfilled "Das Finden D.219"; we also noted his way with humor in "Der Weiberfreund, D.271".

Soprano Julia Bullock sounded best in the relatively more cheerful songs "Morgenlied, D.266" and "Abendlied, D.276".

Mr. Glen was the piano partner for all four singers, playing with his customary sensitivity and terrific technique.  His playing was most powerful in "Verklärung D.59" and most notable in the final piece "Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D.774" in which one could hear the waves and almost feel the water.

This was the only performance of the series to take place in the new Opera Center on Seventh Avenue.  The room was perfectly intimate with superlative acoustics and a fine piano.  We noticed several studios and performance spaces and would like to learn more about the space.  Next Sunday's 6PM recital will return to  Central Presbyterian Church at 64th and Park Avenue.  Another winner, for sure!

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