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Schumann, Wolf, Mahler, Brahms: Dorothea Röschmann (soprano), Graham Johnson (piano), Wigmore Hall, London 20.11.2008 (AO)


Graham Johnson is a “Living National Treasure”, as they say in Japan where those who contribute to the cultural riches of the country are given due respect.  Johnson’s worth the accolade as he’s contributed so much to Lieder, as distinct from other genres employing voice.  It is absolutely essential to understand Lieder’s unique values when evaluating performance.  These songs are so wonderful as music that even poor performances sound good.  But performances as good as this are lessons in what the genre really means.

The last thing you want in this intimate genre is a diva in the Grand Manner. Dorothea Röschmann is so familiar she hardly needs describing.  In opera, she sings roles that capitalize on her charm and warmth. Her voice is flexible and sensual, ideally suited to the Romanticism that is Lieder. No surprise then that this concert was being recorded, for it epitomizes what the Wigmore Hall stands for : the pursuit of excellence in the true art of Lieder.

Röschmann is well suited to Schumann – her recording for the Hyperion Schumann Edition (with Johnson) is particularly recommended. An evening of Schumann’s greatest songs with Röschmann and Johnson would be something to swoon for ! Instead, they settled for the less well known Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart, the poems of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.  These reflect the 19^th century fascination for historical/literary epic, so have a solemn dignity. Yet they are essentially products of a German Romantic sensibility : Von Vincke and Schumann focus on the human side of the drama.  When Röschmann sings Nach der Gebürt ihres Sohnes, her tenderness belies the fact that the baby is probably the future King James VI/I, whom we know, as did the erudite poet and composer, did not return his mother’s love.

Hugo Wolf’s Mörike poems are for many the highest points in the whole Lieder repertoire.  Again, though Röschmann and Johnson included perennials, they added a few whose full beauty isn’t often captured. This performance of An eines Äolsharfe was wonderful.  The harp is a contraption that makes sound when wind blows on it, music played by invisible spirits. The wilder the wind blows, the lovelier the sounds. Yet the breeze shatters the rose, beauty synonymous with death. Thus the delicate understatement of Johnson’s phrasing, einer luftgebornen Muse to perfection. How well he evoked the gently changing tempi which shape the song so subtly. Röschmann’s fluid delivery matches Johnson’s diaphanous playing, so at the end, when she can give full vent to the sensuous undertones, the words die volle Rose seems to tremble.  You can almost smell the heavy perfume !

Mörike’s poems, and Wolf’s settings, are so intense they are like distilled operas in miniature. But they are essentially dramas of the soul, their true meaning hidden in allusion. It’s almost impossible to hear Denk’ es, O Seele, without remembering the chilling frisson Elisabeth Schwarzkopf brings to the sinister sibilants in the poem, but more humorous songs like Nimmersatte Liebe give Röschmann a chance to express her own vivacious personality.  It’s surprisingly risqué, even kinky, but Mörike was anything but a conventional, sober village prelate. At the end, Röschmann adjusted the bodice of her dress. This was almost probably coincidental, but was so appropriate to the mood of the song that the audience thought it was part of the action.

The earthier Wolf songs were a good entrée into the world of Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn. These songs are natural to Röschmann’s style, for they bring out her flair for wit.  In Verlorne’ Müh’, two country bumpkins scrap in thick dialect.  Röschmann has to sing both man and woman expressively without overloading the wry humour.  The Mädchen and her Büble take themselves very seriously, even though Mahler is well aware they exist in the world of South German folk culture. Johnson catches the slightly antiquated tone in the piano part.  If the undercurrents of a song like Lob des hohen Verstands wasn’t as well defined in this performance as it could be, the bucolic whimsy came through well.  Röschmann sings the cuckoo part with charm, if the donkey wasn’t pungent enough.  The altogether more sophisticated Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen was steadily judged but without the chilling horror this song can sometimes awake. As the song progresses, it becomes clear that the young soldier is dead. Ich zieh in Kreig auf grüner Heid, sings Röschmann, infused the repeat on grüne Heid with sudden, passionate intensity : the ghost remembers life.

This concert was part of a long Wigmore Hall series commemorating Johannes Brahms and his contemporaries, so the folksy mood returned with Brahms’s Zigeunerlieder. These are of course an Austrian’s (or German’s) take on gypsy song, so Röschmann and Johnson’s soft focus wasn’t misplaced. Echt gypsy song wasn’t meant for the salon !  It was good that Röschmann and Johnson returned to raucous good humour for their encores, which included Mahler’s Selbstgefühl, one of his early Humoreskes, also from the Wunderhorn poems, but published as part of the earlier collection, Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit.  Even if she doesn’t get the savage satire as brutally as can sometimes be done (usually by male voice), the jollity suits her.  A few years ago, Röschmann sang Das Himmlisches Leben, the final movement of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, with great character and perception, vividly creating the young child’s vision of heaven.  This is her true musical territory. Many artists can sing impressive blockbuster moments, but few can express purity with such convincing dignity and sincerity.This concert is being broadcast on 25^th November 2008 on BBC Radio 3

Anne Ozorio


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