Robert Schumann - Dichterliebe & other Heine Settings (Gerald Finley; Julius Drake)

Information

Composer: Robert Schumann

• Tragödie, Op. 64 No. 3
• Die beiden Grenadiere, Op. 49 No. 1
• Abends am Strand, Op. 45 No. 3
• Die feindlichen Brüder, Op. 49 No. 2
• Der arme Peter, Op. 53 No. 3
• Belsatzar, Op. 57
• Die Lotosblume, Op. 25 No. 7
• Was will die einsame Träne?, Op. 25 No. 21
• Du bist wie eine Blume, Op. 25 No. 24
• Lehn’ deine Wang’ an meine Wang’, Op. 142 No. 2
• Es leuchtet meine Liebe, Op. 127 No. 3
• Dein Angesicht so lieb und schön, Op. 127 No. 2
• Mein Wagen rollet langsam, Op. 142 No. 4
• Dichterliebe, Op. 48

Gerald Finley, baritone

Julius Drake, piano

Date: 2008

Label: Hyperion

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Review

In close collusion with the ever-sentient Julius Drake, Gerald Finley gives one of the most beautifully sung and intensely experienced performances on disc of Schumann’s cycle of rapture, disillusion and tender regret. This is a Dichterliebe firmly in the past tense, the poet-lover achingly resigned from the outset. Finley sings the second song, “Aus meinen Tränen”, as if in a trance, and lingers luxuriantly, even masochistically, over the remembered “Ich liebe dich” in “Wenn ich’ in deine Augen seh’”. Yet here and elsewhere some dangerously slow tempi are vindicated by the acuity of his verbal and musical responses. Where most singers, including Christopher Maltman in his fine performance with Graham Johnson (Hyperion, 5/01), end “Im Rhein” in wistful tenderness, Finley infuses his final words with a wry bitterness. The disenchantment of “Ich grolle nicht” (where Drake evokes Cologne Cathedral with a hieratic depth of sonority) is already glimpsed. In the cycle’s latter stages Finley veers between numb reverie and acerbic – and authentically Heine-esque – self-dramatisation. The birds’ assuaging response in “Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen” is magical, barely breathed, the mounting trauma of the funereal dream-song “Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet” chillingly conveyed, the dissolving vision of the penultimate “Aus alten Märchen” relived with ineffable sadness. Adding a cutting edge to his warm, mahogany baritone, Finley imbues the final song with savage irony, before the rueful, healing close. Throughout, Drake’s playing is a model of clarity and acutely observed detail (he is more attentive than most to bass-lines), epitomised in his fluid, exquisitely voiced epilogue.

Singer and pianist are just as compelling in the other Heine settings here. Finley is eerily insinuating in “Mein Wagen rollet langsam” – one of four Dichterliebe discards – where Schumann’s music is in danger of sounding too ingenuous for Heine’s sinister verses; and he and Drake throw themselves into “Lehn’ deine Wang’” with an impulsive ardour I’ve never heard equalled. Finley times and colours the biblical ballad “Belsatzar” with the art of a master dramatist, gives an uncommonly – and effectively – introspective reading of “Die beiden Grenadiere” (even the opening is hushed and anxious), and spins a rapt, dulcet line in the two “flower songs”, “Die Lotosblume” and “Du bist wie eine Blume”. The church acoustic is more resonant than I find ideal for Lieder, though that hardly detracts from a glorious Schumann recital.

— Richard Wigmore

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Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, and left an array of acclaimed music in virtually all the forms then known. Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many Lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. Schumann suffered from a lifelong mental disorder, and died in 1856 without having recovered from his illness.

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Gerald Finley (born 30 January 1960) is a Canadian bass-baritone. Educated at the University of Ottawa, King's College Cambridge and the Royal College of Music in London, he initially specialized in Mozart roles such as Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro. His repertoire expanded to include major roles in Wagner, Verdi and contemporary opera, notably in John Adam's Doctor Atomic. Finley has performed with leading orchestras worldwide and earned numerous awards, including a Grammy and Juno Awards. He frequently collaborates with pianist Julius Drake and gives masterclasses throughout the world.

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Julius Drake (born 5 April 1959) is an English pianist who works as a song recital accompanist and chamber musician. He was educated at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music, and now is Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and visiting professor at the Royal Northern College of Music. Drake's many recordings include a widely acclaimed series with Gerald Finley for Hyperion Records, with Ian Bostridge and Alice Coote for EMI, with Joyce DiDonato, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Matthew Polenzani for Wigmore Live, and with Anna Prohaska for Alpha.

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