Dame
Janet Baker celebrated her 75
th birthday on
21 August 2008. I regret that it wasn’t possible to finish
my review in time and have it published on that specific
date. Instead it becomes a somewhat belated but no less
deeply felt tribute to the art of one of the greatest of
singers during the latter half of the 20
th century.
A considerable number of the recordings in this box have
been in my collection for thirty to forty years. I have
others as well that I also would have liked to find. Let’s
hope that this volume sells so well that EMI Classics goes
back to the archives and issues a second volume.
Quite
a lot of the music here was issued not long ago in a similar
EMI box as a tribute to Christa Ludwig on her 80
th birthday.
Janet Baker and Christa Ludwig were probably the two greatest
mezzo-sopranos of their generation and even though they
are rather different in voice timbre and in approach to
the music, close comparisons do not automatically lead
to a clear preference for the work of the one over that
of the other. Excellence in music can be spelled in more
than one way. For me Janet Baker has the more personal
and characteristic voice and many times I find her readings
more ethereal. Her ability to invest that thin, spider-web
pianissimo tone with emotion strikes a special string in
my heart found by few other singers.
In
Brahms’s
Alto Rhapsody we are reminded that Dame
Janet in the beginning was classified as a contralto. She
was also, as John Steane points out in his highly personal
appreciation in the accompanying booklet, regarded as the
natural successor to Kathleen Ferrier. She gradually moved
up to a higher tessitura, lightened the tone but still
retained the contralto depth, as we can hear on fairly
late recordings as well. She developed a dramatic intensity
and impressive volume that can be heard here, not least
in the
Wesendonck-Lieder, where her singing is truly
heroic. The four Strauss songs are also superb. In all
of these recordings Sir Adrian Boult has a firm grip on
the proceedings and the LPO strings glow. Elgar’s
Sea
Pictures became something of a Dame Janet signature
work in the concert halls and it was this recording that
brought the cycle back to the repertoire. I wrote enthusiastically
about it a couple of years ago when it was reissued in
the GROC series, coupled as originally with Jacqueline
du Pré’s reading of the Cello concerto
(review)
and I need not expend more space on it here. It is one
of the really great recordings. The rapport between Janet
Baker and Sir John Barbirolli is legendary and in this
box we can marvel anew at their collaboration, which began
with the recording of
The Dream of Gerontius in
1964, from which
Softly and gently is included here.
This is marvellous singing – and playing.
On
CD 2 we meet them in French repertoire. The Berlioz and
Ravel cycles haven’t been surpassed in the recording studio.
Only Régine Crespin’s Decca recording, also from the 1960s
with Ernest Ansermet conducting, is on a par with Baker-Barbirolli.
From a decade later comes Chausson’s
Poème de l’amour
et de la mer - here André Previn is in his element,
drawing lustrous playing from the LSO.
Janet
Baker had a special affinity for Mahler and CD 3 is devoted
entirely to his music. Ever since I heard Brigitte Fassbaender
perform
Kindertotenlieder live I have been completely
hooked by her total identification. I rushed to get her
Decca recording as soon as it came out. It is impossible
to imagine a more involved, more nakedly personal reading,
and this may also be its sole drawback: one tends to come
so close to her, that she literally creeps under one’s
skin. I tend to be quite exhausted having listened to her.
Janet Baker is just as involved but she keeps the distance
and thus becomes ‘safer’.
The
Five
Rückert Songs have long been
Desert Island Music for
me and for my wife. When we sat down in the evenings
after the turmoil of the working day some of them were
invariably on the turntable - more often than not it
was
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, which
here is placed last instead of third. Janet Baker’s readings
are for us the ultimate: concentrated, inward and with
such power of expression. Baker and Barbirolli are markedly
slower in
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen than
most other versions I have but there is no sense of dragging.
The cycle is intended for a baritone and an old favourite
of mine is Heinrich Schlusnus’s recording from the early
1950s when he was well over 60. However several of the
most successful versions are by women: Baker, Fassbaender
and the Swedish mezzo-soprano Annika Skoglund in a live
recording not generally available internationally.
The
second
Ich bin der Welt … was
recorded two years before the complete set as a filler
for the other two cycles, and it is just as ethereal. The
horn playing from the Hallé principal is possibly even
more lyrical and the English horn is superb but here comparison
are at the most exalted level. It is fascinating to play
Urlicht from
the Second Symphony immediately after
Ich bin der Welt.
Who could believe that the two recordings are separated
by almost twenty years? That is a long time-span in any
singer’s career and if there is any deterioration at all
in the voice it is so minimal that it is of no importance.
This is as good a testimony as any to sound technique and
intelligent choice of repertoire.
CD
4 takes us back to the baroque era, a field where Janet
Baker reaped many laurels. This is not least through a
number of superb recordings of Bach cantatas - and we get
some tasty samplers of her greatness. In
He was despised from
Messiah we
can admire her warm contralto tone and the nobility of
her phrasing, while in the middle section of the aria there
is true drama as well. Two excerpts from Italian cantatas
by Handel display different sides of her art: the first
a virtuoso display piece with sure-fire technique, lightness
and agility; the second sad and plaintive. Some of the
most delightful singing comes in the Elizabethan songs,
sung with more face and more ‘alive’ tone than most of
the counter-tenors we normally hear in this repertoire.
Purcell’s
Lord, what is man? is intense and as touching
as her rendition of Dido’s lament, which was recorded for
another company. The songs by Boyce, Monro and Arne are
little gems.
Finally
we meet her as the Lieder recitalist, accompanied by Gerald
Moore and Geoffrey Parsons in a number of Schubert’s best
known songs. In each case it is practically impossible
to have any objections: an intense
Gretchen am Spinnrade,
Ave
Maria the most inward and beautiful I can remember,
a simple
Heidenröslein¸ a vivid
Die Forelle,
a surprisingly fast
Auf dem Wasser zu singen – otherwise
she is often on the slow side. Possibly the most marvellous
reading of all is
Du bist die Ruh, sung pianissimo
on a super-thin thread of tone.
In
Frauenliebe
und -Leben she has to stand comparison with Christa
Ludwig and Brigitte Fassbaender. It is the latter she
comes closest to. Like Fassbaender she sometimes sacrifices
beauty of tone for expressive purposes. A curiosity is
that the songs in this cycle were recorded seven years
apart but the notes omit to tell us which songs were
recorded when; it is impossible to find out through listening.
Daniel Barenboim is a responsive accompanist. Finally
she sings some lovely Mendelssohn, especially
Nachtlied,
and two of Franz Liszt’s best songs. Every time I hear
them I think it’s a pity that they are so neglected.
Lorelei is
certainly a remarkable song, spanning so many emotions.
Her favourite accompanist, Geoffrey Parsons, is on splendid
form here.
This
birthday present to Dame Janet Baker is brimful (more than
six hours) of marvellous music in marvellous readings.
The box sells at super budget price and not buying it is
little short of criminal.
Göran
Forsling
Track listing
CD 1
Johannes BRAHMS (1833 – 1897)
1. Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 [11:44]
Richard WAGNER (1813 – 1883)
Wesendonck-Lieder (Orch. Mottl)
2.
Der Engel [3:35]
3.
Stehe still! [4:41]
4.
Im Treibhaus [6:10]
5.
Schmerzen [2:49]
6.
Träume [5:44]
Richard STRAUSS (1864 – 1949)
7.
Liebeshymnus, Op. 32 No. 3 [1:59]
8.
Das Rosenband, Op. 36 No. 1 [3:26]
9.
Ruhe, meine Seele, Op. 27 No. 1 [4:26]
10.
Muttertändelein, Op. 43 No. 2 [2:11]
Edward ELGAR (1857 – 1934)
Sea Pictures, Op. 37
11. Sea Slumber-Song [5:04]
12. In Haven (Capri) [2:06]
13. Sabbath Morning at Sea [6:20]
14. Where Corals Lie [4:10]
15. The Swimmer [6:06]
The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38
16. Softly and gently [6:55]
CD 2
Hector BERLIOZ (1803 – 1869)
Les Nuits d’été, Op. 7
1. Villanelle [2:23]
2. Le Spectre de la rose [7:53]
3.
Sur les lagunes [5:38]
4.
Absence [5:28]
5.
Au cimetière [6:09]
6.
L’Île inconnue [3:56]
Maurice RAVEL (1875 – 1937)
Shéhérazade
7.
Asie [9:54]
8.
La Flûte enchantée [3:00]
9.
L’Indifférent [3:43]
Ernest CHAUSSON (1855 – 1899)
Poème de l’amour et de la mer
10.
La Fleur des eaux [11:28]
11. Interlude [2:41]
12. La Mort de l’amour [13:05]
CD 3
Gustav MAHLER (1860 – 1911)
Kindertotenlieder
1.
Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgehn [6:00]
2.
Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen [5:12]
3.
Wenn dein Mütterlein tritt zur Tür herein [5:20]
4.
Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen [3:10]
5.
In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus [7:35]
Fünf Rückert-Lieder
6.
Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder! [1:37]
7.
Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft! [2:42]
8.
Um Mitternacht [5:55]
9.
Liebst du um Schönheit [2:27]
10.
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen [6:46]
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
11.
Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht [4:20]
12.
Ging heut’ Morgen übers Feld [4:43]
13.
Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer [3:34]
14.
Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz [5:02]
Fünf Rückert-Lieder
15.
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen [6:52]
Symphony No. 2 ‚Resurrection’
16. IV.
Urlicht. Sehr feierlich, aber schlicht [5:07]
CD 4
George Frideric
HANDEL (1685 – 1759)
Messiah, HWV56
1. He was despised [12:32]
Ah! crudel nel pianto mio, HWV78
2. Per trofel di mia costanza [7:41]
Armida abbandonata, HWV105
3.
Ah! Crudel, e pur ten vai [6:55]
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685 – 1750)
Ich habe genug, BWV82
4.
Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen [9:47]
Christmas Oratorio, BWV248
5.
Bereite dich, Zion [5:04]
St John Passion, BWV245
6.
Es ist vollbracht [5:33]
STÖLZEL/BACH
7.
Bist du bei mir [2:53]
John DOWLAND (1563 – 1626)
8. Come again! sweet love [2:24]
Thomas CAMPION (1567 – 1620)
9. Never love unless you can [1:08]
10. Oft have I sighed [2:37]
11. If thou longst so much to learn [1:50]
12. Fain would I wed [1:14]
Henry PURCELL (1659 – 1695)
13. Sleep, Adam, sleep Z195 [1:55]
14. Lord, what is man? Z192 [5:38]
William BOYCE (1711 – 1779)
15. Tell me, lovely shepherd [2:07]
George MONRO (1680 – 1731)
16. My lovely Celia [2:20]
Thomas ARNE (1710 – 1778)
17. Where the bee sucks [1:49]
CD 5
Franz SCHUBERT (1797 – 1828)
1.
Gretchen am Spinnrade D118 [3:43]
2.
Ellens Gesang III (Ave Maria) D839 [6:44]
3.
Heidenröslein D257 [1:51]
4.
An die Musik D547 [2:47]
5.
Die Forelle D550 [2:03]
6.
Auf dem Wasser zu singen D774 [3:18]
7.
Du bist die Ruh D776 [4:28]
8.
Nacht und Träume D827 [4:34]
9.
An Sylvia D891 [2:56]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810 – 1856)
Frauenliebe und –leben Op. 42
10.
Seit ich ihn gesehen [2:31]
11.
Er, der Herrlichste von allen [3:12]
12.
Ich kann’s nicht fassen, nicht glauben [1:52]
13.
Du Ring an meinem Finger [2:51]
14.
Helft mir, ihr Schwestern [2:02]
15.
Süßer Freund, du blickest [5:09]
16.
An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust [1:24]
17.
Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan [4:07]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809 – 1847)
18.
Neue Liebe, Op. 19a No. 4 [2:18]
19.
Auf Flügeln des Gesanges, Op. 34 No. 2 [3:17]
20.
Nachtlied, Op. 71 No. 6 [4:10]
Franz LISZT (1811 – 1886)
21.
Lorelei [7:30]
22.
Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh [3:14]