Robert Schumann - Liederkreis Opp. 24 & 39 (Gerald Finley; Julius Drake)

Information

Composer: Robert Schumann

• Liederkreis, Op. 39
• Sechs Gedichte aus dem Liederbuch eines Malers, Op. 36
• Liederkreis, Op. 24

Gerald Finley, baritone

Julius Drake, piano

Date: 2012

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Now at the peak of his recording career, Gerald Finley is unsystematically jumping from Ives to Ravel to Schumann, no doubt because he can, though always at a high standard and answering only to his own vocal perimeters. This new recording shows a greater richness in Finley’s voice plus an evolving intimacy in his approach to recording Lieder, one that retreats from the word-by-word vocal painting of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

From the opening moments of the Op 39 Liederkreis, Finley establishes a general tone for any given phrase or stanza, relying on the power of the sung word to carry the details. When a song has a multiplicity of voices, Finley differentiates them with his tone, but not greatly, since his focus is poetic meaning rather than dramatic narrative. A few songs come out in a single emotional crescendo that knits together the verse’s sprawling imagery. As generalised as his approach might seem, it’s not. Each song’s overall conception – of which Julius Drake is a key part – reflects great thought as to its core emotion. Key consonants are more strongly articulated than others and vowels are elongated for expressive emphasis, but only here and there.

Though the Op 39 Liederkreis has no central protagonist like Frauenliebe und -Leben, Finley makes the cycle a journey into deception, his choice of vocal colour tapping into the manifestations of evil that lie beneath attractive surfaces, most obviously with the enchantress Lorelei in ‘Waldesgespräch’, the danger behind the dusk in ‘Zwielicht’ and the terror behind public merriment in ‘Im Walde’. Of course, that concept is significantly interrupted by the ecstatic ‘Mondnacht’. Still, Finley’s approach overall is more deeply insinuating than many.

The rest of the disc is just as beautifully sung – but why record an incredibly minor work such as the Op 36 Reinick cycle? And though Finley’s Op 24 is as articulate and as well sung as any, his soft-grained approach offers no counterbalance to the composer’s subdued respect for the power of the poem. Might Finley be more systematic than he now seems – and is he planning to record Schumann comprehensively?

— David Patrick Stearns

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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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