The German soprano Christine Schäfer has been
around for about ten years, her teachers having included Auger, Fischer-Dieskau,
Jurinac and Reimann. She has sung a wealth of roles at a plethora of
opera houses and concert halls throughout the world, and looks to dominate
the scene at the highest level for many years to come. The voice is
bright and agile, full of character, lively as she greets God’s wonderful
work in the first of four extracts from Creation. Excellent diction
characterises the brief recitative accompanied by fortepiano. Rilling’s
accompaniment to ‘With verdure clad’ is authentically over-phrased perhaps
but neatly organised in the process and with some fine wind and horn
playing. Schäfer’s breath control and purity of tone impress in
this and the following more flamboyant and dramatic aria ‘On mighty
pens’, complete with its ornamentation (and fine flute playing).
These extracts from Haydn’s Creation and, to
end, ‘Hear ye, Israel’ from Mendelssohn’s Elijah, frame the bulk
of the disc, which is music by Bach, starting with music from his two
secular cantatas nicknamed ‘Coffee’ and ‘Peasant’. The
aria from the former, effectively a trio sonata for voice, flute and
continuo, is in praise of coffee and its taste (sweeter than a thousand
kisses so evidently before the advent of the instant variety), followed
by a couple of cheerful arias from the Peasant Cantata which
bring out their merry country-dance tunes as well as featuring another
appearance by that overworked flute player, who should have been credited
for his finely wrought labours. Schäfer is a fine Bach singer and
gives eloquent accounts of the ‘Qui tollis peccata mundi’ from his scarcely
performed short Mass in A major (our flute player has summoned reinforcements
by now in the shape of a colleague) and the ‘Quia respexit’ from the
Magnificat. To conclude there are a couple of extracts from the
St John Passion, the arias ‘Ich folge’ (with our fine flautist
once again) and ‘Zerfliesse, mein Herze’ (accompanied by an assortment
of wind players) before the disc ends with a ravishing performance of
‘Hear ye, Israel’ (in German) if followed by a somewhat perfunctory
and even jolly rendition of the chorus ‘Fürchte dich nicht’ (‘Be
not afraid’) to end.
Though extracts from works often make unsatisfying
listening, this one should make you want to get the complete versions
to enjoy Christine Schäfer’s magnificent voice.
Christopher Fifield
Gächinger Kantorei
Stuttgart