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Franz
SCHUBERT (1797–1828) Die schöne Müllerin, D 795 (Op. 25) (1823)
Christoph Prégardien
(tenor)
Michael Gees (piano)
rec. Galaxy Studios, Mol, Belgium, 6-8 October 2007
Sung texts and English and French translations enclosed CHALLENGE CLASSICS
CC72292 [61:39]
Hard
on the heels on Andreas Post and Tatjana Dravenau (see review)
comes another tenor version of Schubert’s indestructible Die
schöne
Müllerin with Christoph Prégardien and Michael Gees.
While Post is quite early in his career, Prégardien has been
active for some two decades as a recording artist and his
discography is extensive, to say the least. He recorded Die
schöne Müllerin in 1991 with Andreas Steier (fortepiano),
a reading that was awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis
in 1993 and when he now returns to this work he has radically
changed his approach.
I
have sampled a few songs from the earlier issue and what
we hear there is a youthful, fluent lyric tenor, quite straight-forward
and the accompaniments are accordingly. The mature Prégardien – he
turned 50 in 2006 – has mellowed a little and there are some
signs of strain in the upper region of the voice but by and
large he has preserved all the best qualities of twenty years
ago while, as far as could judge from the snippets I heard,
he has deepened his insight.
Tempos
are generally moderate, giving him ample opportunities to
mould the phrases expressively and his readings are considered
and emanating from intimate knowledge of the text. There
is nothing sensational or showy about his readings, they
just seem natural, unaffected but committed. The ebb and
flow of the music is well catered for and the dynamic range
is – well, natural and unaffected.
What
makes this reading stand out and – to some listeners at least – may
be controversial is the question of embellishment. It is
well documented that singers also in Schubert’s time tended
to decorate the music with grace-notes and even modification
of notes. Sometimes, at least in the case of Johann Michael
Vogl, maybe the most important champion of Schubert’s songs,
this was due to the ageing singer’s fallible ability but
performance practice was that there was a certain amount
of freedom for the singer - to improvise, not actually rewrite
what was written. Prégardien decorates the song-line mostly
discriminatingly and primarily in strophic songs where he
avoids monotony by varying the line slightly from stanza
to stanza. It is tastefully done and for listeners who know
the songs more or less by heart it gives added pleasure to
wait for the next deviation from the ’original’. It is mainly
a question of inserted grace-notes and discreet decorations
of phrases but sometimes he also changes the melody considerably
and even opts for final notes of a phrase an octave lower
than written. Jan Kobow, whose recording has been my favourite
version since I reviewed it a couple of years ago, also decorates,
but much less than Prégardien, who moreover makes quite heavy
ritardandi, mostly at the end of songs and rarely overindulgent
but I can imagine listeners being irritated. Michael Gees,
who throughout the cycle is a wonderfully responsive accompanist,
also inserts some extra notes once in a while and sometimes
plays a phrase out of his own invention. It is all tastefully
done and I ended up with a sense of having heard the cycle
with new ears. All the songs were there and they sounded
as I was used to but just as with a newly-restored old painting
where the removal of centuries of discoloured varnish makes
the picture that much more vivid, so Prégardien’s and Gees’s
restoration work reveals hitherto unseen tinges.
My
admiration for Jan Kobow’s recording is undiminished but
Christoph Prégardien now enters my shortlist of really important
versions of Die schöne Müllerin. The SACD recording
is first class and allows the listener to appreciate every
nuance of the reading. Walther Dürr’s liner notes are excellent.
A
deeply satisfying reading of Die schöne Müllerin,
made special by the quite extensive decorations of the song-line.
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