Franz Schubert - Lieder arranged for Baritone and Orchestra (Matthias Goerne)

Information

Composer: Franz Schubert

1. Arranger: Alexander Schmalcz
2. An Sylvia, D. 891
3. Schäfers Klagelied, D. 121
4. Ganymed, D. 544
5. Fahrt zum Hades, D. 526
6. Schatzgräbers Begehr, D. 761
7. Der Tod und das Mädchen, D. 531
8. Erlkönig, D. 328
9. Wandrers Nachtlied, D. 224
10. Grenzen der Menschheit, D. 716
11. 3 Gesänge des Harfners, D. 478: No. 1, Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt
12. 3 Gesänge des Harfners, D. 478: No. 2, Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß
13. 3 Gesänge des Harfners, D. 478: No. 3, An die Türen will ich schleichen
14. Das Heimweh, D. 851
15. Pilgerweise, D. 789
16. Abendstern, D. 806
17. Alinde, D. 904
18. Stimme der Liebe, D. 412
19. Des Fischers Liebesglück, D. 933
20. An die Entfernte, D. 765

Matthias Goerne, baritone

Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

Florian Donderer, conductor

Date: 2023

Label: Deutsche Grammophon

https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/schubert-revisited-goerne-12859

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

As Schubert’s posthumous fame grew, his most popular songs – which usually meant those published in his lifetime – received wider exposure in orchestral arrangements by Berlioz (a demonically glittering ‘Erlkönig’), Liszt, Brahms et al. In a later age Max Reger and the young Anton Webern catered to the growing fashion for orchestral songs, while nearer our own time that ardent Schubertian Benjamin Britten made a witty version of ‘Die Forelle’. Now Matthias Goerne’s longtime pianist partner Alexander Schmalcz has taken up the tradition in arrangements of 19 Schubert songs that range from favourites such as ‘An Silvia’ and ‘Erlkönig’ to rarities such as the picturesque ‘Das Heimweh’ – a compressed vocal symphony – and the ecstatic ‘Stimme der Liebe’.

It’s easy to object that no orchestral realisations can match the suggestive power of Schubert’s piano-writing, so often evocative of other sound worlds. But from the opening ‘An Silvia’, with its soft trumpet and delicate woodwind echoes, Schmalcz finely balances discretion and colouristic imagination. Apart from wisps of cajoling countermelody for the Erlking’s blandishments, he leaves Schubert’s actual notes unmolested. But time and again he captivates the ear with his apt choice of sonority: deep trombone colour to enhance the antique solemnity of Death’s utterances in ‘Der Tod und das Mädchen’; muffled, faintly eerie tones, including cor anglais, natural horn and double bass harmonics, in the Harper’s songs; a muted viola to paint the ‘pale night mists’ in the mysterious barcarolle ‘Des Fischers Liebesglück’, and so on.

Given Goerne’s vocal timbre, it’s no surprise that slow, sombre songs, usually in the minor key, predominate. But his trademark concentration of feeling, allied to Schmalcz’s subtly changing colourings, ensures that the attention is held throughout. Unscathed by his Wagnerian forays, Goerne’s voice remains mellow and rounded, his sense of style impeccable. Instrumentalists could – and for all I know do – learn from his perfectly bound legato and natural feeling for the shape of a Schubertian phrase. Nothing is harsh or forced, even when he taps new reserves of power in the climaxes of ‘Grenzen der Menschheit’ – a performance of this mighty song that mingles compassion and majestic authority. Schmalcz complements the philosophical gravitas of Goethe’s poem with louring low brass, including a tuba. Yet here and elsewhere he is careful to keep the instrumental textures lucid, abetted by the lean, rhythmically precise playing of the superb (and conductorless) Bremen orchestra.

Needless to say, Goerne is in his element in the aching tenderness, flaring to bitter accusation, of the three Harper’s songs. In the final ‘An die Türen will ich schleichen’, scored with muted strings, the old man has become almost childlike in his acceptance and dependency. Goerne sings it, aptly, as if in a trance, with barely a nuance in the vocal line.

Some of Goerne’s tempo choices are unusual. The Goethe prayer for inner peace ‘Wandrers Nachtlied’ is by some way the fastest performance I’ve heard, yet unfolds, mesmerically, in a single concentrated span. ‘Pilgerweise’, where Schubert triumphs over his friend Schober’s sentimental verses, is less a dirge than a gently plaintive valse triste, coloured by pizzicato strings and characteristic flecks of woodwind. And more than on his previous Schubert albums, Goerne can lighten up when the spirit demands: say, in a relaxed, intimate ‘An Silvia’ (the arching final phrase perfectly ‘bowed’) or a gracefully caressed ‘Des Fischers Liebesglück’, altogether more varied and inviting than his sombre performance with Elisabeth Leonskaja (Harmonia Mundi, 5/08). Another rarity, the yearning Goethe setting ‘An die Entfernte’ (where would the German song edifice be without distant love?), sets the seal on a flawlessly executed programme that by turns intrigues, moves and delights.

-- Richard Wigmore, Gramophone

More reviews:

https://musicwebinternational.com/2023/02/schubert-revisited-dg/

https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/choral-song/schubert-revisited-matthias-goerne

https://theclassicreview.com/album-reviews/review-schubert-revisited-matthias-goerne-baritone/

https://www.allmusic.com/album/schubert-revisited-lieder-arranged-for-baritone-and-orchestra-mw0003865744

https://www.thewholenote.com/index.php/booksrecords2/vocalchoralreviews/32825-schubert-revisited-lieder-arranged-for-baritone-and-orchestra-matthias-goerne-deutsche-kammerphilharmonie-bremen

https://limelight-arts.com.au/reviews/schubert-revisited-matthias-goerne-deutsche-kammerphilharmonie-bremen/

-----------------------------------------------------------

Franz Schubert (31 January 1797 – 19 November 1828) was an Austrian composer who was extremely prolific during his short lifetime. His output consists of over six hundred secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music and a large body of chamber and piano music. Today, Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers of the late Classical era and early Romantic era and is one of the most frequently performed composers of the early nineteenth century. His music is characterized by pleasing tunes while still has "a great wealth of technical finesse".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Schubert

***

Matthias Goerne (born March 31, 1967 in Weimar) is a German baritone. He studied with Hans-Joachim Beyer in Leipzig, and with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Since his opera début at the Salzburg Festival in 1997, Matthias Goerne has appeared on opera stages worldwide with carefully chosen roles. He has recently completed the recording of a series of selected Schubert songs on 12 CDs for harmonia mundi (The Goerne/Schubert Edition) with eminent pianists. His latest recordings of Brahms songs with Christoph Eschenbach and of Mahler songs with the BBC Symphony have received rave reviews.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Goerne

http://www.matthiasgoerne.com/

-----------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!