Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Winterreise, D911
Christopher Maltman (baritone)/Graham Johnson (piano)
rec. live, 11 February 2010, Wigmore Hall, London. DDD
German Texts and English translations included
WIGMORE HALL LIVE WHLIVE0046 [77:31]
Following on from his live recording of Die schöne Müllerin,
which was released shortly before this present disc (see review),
Christopher Maltman appears in Schubert’s second great Wilhelm Müller
song cycle. I admired the performance of Die schöne Müllerin
very much and it’s good to be able to report that this Winterreise
is just as fine.
Christopher Maltman, aided once again by wonderfully intuitive and supportive
playing by Graham Johnson, delivers a searching and deeply satisfying account
of Schubert’s late masterpiece. There’s less of the vocal lightness
that I noted in Die schöne Müllerin but I think that’s
entirely appropriate for this darker cycle. However, Maltman’s artistry
is just as striking and his range of vocal colouring and dynamic shading is
once again extremely impressive. I found it particularly interesting to listen
one afternoon to both cycles together with only a fairly short gap between.
That may not be an experience to repeat very often - each of the cycles really
needs to stand alone, as it were. However, it was fascinating, as a one-off,
to hear these two artists in both cycles and to savour Schubert’s invention
- and theirs.
Winterreise is indeed a journey on all sorts of levels and by the time
you reach the end of this performance you really do feel you’ve accompanied
Christopher Maltman through several types of terrain - both musical and spiritual
and, through poetic imagery, the illusion of physical terrain. The beginning
of the journey is musically auspicious. The pace set by Johnson and Maltman
isn’t a trudge but neither is there any spring in the traveller’s
step: this is a forlorn, sad tread. Yet even here, though there may be little
to cheer the onlooker’s spirits, one can take pleasure in the musical
detail, not least in the expert touches of rubato in the fourth stanza.
And, time and again, these artists evidence splendid attention to detail,
though not in a way that distracts the listener from the bigger picture. ‘Der
Lindenbaum’, for instance, gets a finely detailed reading from both
performers while in the very next song, ‘Wasserflut’, Maltman
displays exemplary control at all dynamic levels. A little further on it’s
Johnson’s turn to catch the ear with a small but perceptive detail at
the start of ‘Die Post’. Notice how he varies the dynamic of the
post horn motif, brilliantly suggesting the horn call at a distance, echoing
round the countryside.
The artists bring out the forward-looking aspects of Schubert’s writing
at times. One example is ‘Irrlicht’ and, even more so, ‘Letzte
Hoffnung’ where the spare writing almost prefigures the Second Viennese
School.
Though the whole of Winterreise is magnificent, both musically and
dramatically, the final few songs are, for me, the interpretative touchstone
of a performance. This is definitely not a performance that disappoints in
any respect during these last few songs. ‘Die Wegweiser’ is desolate
and sparse. ‘Das Wirthaus’ is superb, not least for the way that
Graham Johnson delivers the piano introduction. Every chord is beautifully
weighted and invested with meaning, though there’s absolutely no sense
of over-interpretation. When the singer enters there’s a desolate, numb
tone in Christopher Maltman’s voice and he and Johnson sustain genuine
tension throughout the song . The last two lines are delivered with weary
defiance.
After a brief show of defiance in ‘Mut!’ the desolate, drained
mood returns in ‘Die Nebensonnen’ and will not be denied. Maltman
is resigned to his fate. Finally, he delivers ‘Der Leiermann’
with a voice that’s all but devoid of emotion; there’s nothing
left.
This is a memorable reading of Winterreise. Christopher Maltman’s
singing is technically superb and his interpretation is full of insight and
imagination. Yet again Graham Johnson proves to be the ideal partner in Schubert;
this is a joint triumph.
I see that a live recording of Schwanengesang is on the way from these
gifted artists. It can’t come too soon. If they’re on this sort
of form then that will be another unmissable release for all devotees of lieder.
John Quinn
A memorable reading of Winterreise: an interpretation full of insight
and imagination.