This DVD is a potent remainder of two things. First and foremost
it’s an important souvenir of the unique artistry, and partnership,
of Britten and Pears. Secondly, however, it takes us back to a
time – a bygone age, it seems - when the BBC used to take music
seriously and make high quality television programmes of and about
music and without any of the vapid chatter about which Patrick
Waller is the latest to complain.
The main offering
is a performance, shot in good quality colour, of Schubert’s
great masterpiece, Winterreise. The project was masterminded
by John Culshaw and the presentation is a little unusual but
highly effective. Pears is shown singing each song against a
series of dimly lit abstract backgrounds. He’s dressed in a
full-length brown worsted caped coat, looking every bit the
nineteenth-century traveller. There’s nothing gimmicky about
this. The background scenery is unobtrusive and quite subtly
lit and Pears doesn’t act in any way. He stands still, as if
giving a recital – indeed, he’s more physically animated in
the informal concert that we view later on the disc. The one
exception is ‘Mut!’ towards the end of the cycle, when he’s
seen in profile at the very start, turns abruptly through ninety
degrees to face the camera when he begins to sing and then turns
back as soon as he’s finished. I found this whole presentation
of te cycle very effective. I’m a little less sure about the
short synopses in English, which are spoken by Pears before
each song. The problem here is Pears’s delivery, which sounds
a bit arch to me but this is by no means an impediment to enjoyment.
Interestingly, Britten
is never seen throughout the performance. This seems to have
been Culshaw’s idea However, in his very interesting notes Philip
Reed mentions the suggestion by Christopher Headington, Pears’s
biographer, that Britten had reservations about the concept
and only took part on condition he was out of camera shot. As
Reed says, it’s hard to see how he could have been incorporated
into the visual concept but his playing is a very present factor
at all times. One practical point that occurred to me later
was to wonder how they’d co-ordinated the whole thing. Pears
was filmed in a pretty dim light, which must have made it hard
for Britten to see the music. Moreover, in the folksong performances
that come later, I noticed how often Britten snatches a quick
glance at Pears to be sure of where exactly he is in the music.
I wonder how feasible that was during Winterreise?
The performance
itself is pretty marvellous. Of course, Pears, who was by then
a few months past his sixtieth birthday, can in no way suggest
a young man, either vocally or physically. In the discussion
that comes at the end of the DVD, he remarks that he didn’t
essay the work until he was nearly fifty. It’s “not a young
man’s music”, he says and he comments that the cycle contains
“the experience of a long lifetime.” He and Britten made a studio
recording of the work for Decca in October 1963 (see review).
I’ve long regarded that intensely personal interpretation very
highly, even if it wouldn’t necessarily be the first version
I’d reach for off the shelves. Philip Reed suggests that seven
years later Pears’s voice has darkened somewhat for this telecast
and I think I’d agree with that.
But if neither vocally
nor temperamentally does he appear as a lovelorn youth, he brings
countless insights and subtleties to his interpretation. I found
this to be a direct, riveting performance into which I was quickly
drawn. There are a few occasions when his technique seems a
touch fallible. One such occurs in the last line of ‘Der Lindenbaum’,
where the pitch bends on the word “fändest” under the emphasis
Pears applies. But any such defects are quibbles, frankly, when
set against the intensity of the performance and, indeed, if
that’s the price one pays for the singer’s involvement then
I’m happy to pay it.
‘Wasserflut’ is
intense, but in a properly controlled way and I love the gentle
lilt he brings to the first two stanzas of ‘Rückblick’ and to
the last one. Perhaps a touch more vocal lightness would have
been welcome in ‘Irrlicht’ but the lightness is definitely there,
as required, in most of ‘Frühlingstraum’.
As the cycle progresses,
the tension builds incrementally. Pears brings suspense, allied
to fine control, to ‘Im Dorfe’. This is a dark, tense song and
Pears distils a palpable atmosphere yet at no time does he overdo
things. The last four songs are magnificent In ‘Das Wirtshaus’
Pears sings with resignation. The very restraint he shows is
powerful in itself. In ‘Mut!’ he gathers his resources for one
last attempt at resolve. After this ’Die Nebensonnen’ is heart-rendingly
intense. Perhaps one has heard more withdrawn accounts of ‘Der
Leiermann’ but Pears is still highly convincing.
I’ve not so much
as mentioned the contribution of Benjamin Britten save to comment
that he’s never seen during this performance. But it’s most
definitely not a case of out of sight, out of mind. His piano
playing is as important to the unfolding drama as is the singing
of Pears. In the subsequent discussion with Pears he comments
how little there is on the printed page in Winterreise
and, as a result, how much is left to the performers. His pianism
is an example of art that conceals art. He never draws unnecessary
attention to the piano part but one instinctively feels that
everything is right.
Listen, for example, to the subtlety of his
playing in the final stanza of ‘Gute Nacht’, where Pears fines
down his voice from the more forthright style he’s adopted hitherto
in the song and Britten not only matches him in this but paves
the way in the manner in which he plays the brief, magical transition
to the verse. Time and again in this cycle Schubert provides
the briefest of introductions, placing a huge responsibility
on the pianist to set the mood. Britten unfailingly gets it
right. One example of this is the superbly weighted chords at
the start of ‘Das Wirtshaus’. Another, and very different, example
of his artistry is his dramatic contribution to ‘Rückblick’.
In short, throughout the cycle we have a masterly display by
a musician with a deep understanding both of Schubertian style
and of the art of the accompanist.
In addition to this
superb Schubert performance we see some archive film, in black
and white, of Pears and Britten giving a little informal recital
– they wear casual dress – for a small invited audience. Apart
from the one Purcell item their programme consists of a selection
of some of the best of Britten’s folksong arrangements. Sometimes
I feel that these Britten arrangements are just a bit too knowing
and sophisticated for the essentially simple songs. That’s possibly
true of The Ploughboy, which, in this arrangement, seems
to lose some of the biting satire of the original song. The
remainder, however, show Britten at his imaginative best. Pears
sings with character and fine expression and Britten accompanies
superbly. Out of the whole selection I’d single out particularly
Tom Bowling, of which Pears gives a heartfelt performance,
singing it as the noble elegy it is. I suspect that the original
broadcast was live because Oliver Cromwell is an obvious
encore, sung after the credits have rolled, and you can actually
hear Pears suggesting it to Britten and then see Britten searching
for the music. The whole recital is delightful and very spontaneous.
The discussion between
the two artists of three songs from Winterreise is a
real archive piece. The booklet tells us that this film is “Taken
directly from unrestored masters” and the film is certainly
somewhat grainy, though perfectly acceptable, as is the sound.
Strangely, the item about ‘Frühlingstraum’ is in rather rudimentary
colour while the remainder of the feature is in black and white.
Britten and Pears are shown seated at the piano, possibly in
their home at The Red House. They perform extracts from the
songs in question and use these as a frame for some general
comments about the cycle as a whole. It’s very interesting and
well worth having, especially as an appendage to the complete
performance.
This DVD is a priceless
document, showing two great creative artists interpreting one
of the supreme masterpieces of the lieder repertoire
and then, in more relaxed vein, in some of Britten’s own pieces.
Theirs was a remarkable musical partnership and here we have
an invaluable reminder of that partnership.
John Quinn
Peter Pears
(tenor)/Benjamin Britten (piano) 
[118:53]
