2023 Approaching 60,000 reviews and more.. and still writing ...	Search MusicWeb Here

Searching Musicweb Monthly index Recordings of the Year Label index Masterwork index Series index Search engines Review Archive Classical Downloads Jazz Concerts Nostalgia Books Film music Resources Composer pages Tony Duggan's Mahler National Discographies Mark Morris's Guide to C20th Composers Ralph Moore's Surveys Online books Piano Trio Survey Cello Concerto Project Pot Pourri - Early MusicWeb Gerard Hoffnung Arthur Butterworth's columns Philip Scowcroft's British light music Interviews Programme notes MusicWeb Listening Studio Talking about Books Other material Articles Seen & Heard Message Board About Musicweb About Musicweb Contact Musicweb Contributors What they say about us Visitor stats Site Map

Founder: Len Mullenger (1942-2025)                          Editor in Chief:John Quinn

BUY NOW  Crotchet   AmazonUK   AmazonUS

Carl LOEWE (1796-1869) Balladen: Nächtliche Heerschau, op. 23 Der Räuber, op. 34 No. 2 Süßes Begräbnis, op. 62 No. 5 Hinkende Jamben, op. 62 No. 5 Kleiner Haushalt, op. 71 Heinrich der Vogler, op. 56 No. 1 Die verfallene Mühle, op. 109 Trommelständchen, op. 132 No. 2 Die Uhr, op. 123 No. 3 Der Nöck, op. 129 No. 2 Spirito Santo, op. 143 Der Feind (Der Marsch), op. 145 No. 2 Hermann Prey (baritone) Karl Engel (piano) Recorded Rittersaal, Schloss Hohenems, May 1976 ARTS 43021-2 [49.24]

Prey has just the right voice for Loewe’s strophic ballads. A warm, flexible and adeptly lyric baritone, it’s one capable of irresistible mezza voce and considerable colour. It also has great authority and a certain grand seigneurial status. And yet, again, there is a benign authority and a sense of grave narration that compels not only attention but provokes thought. Loewe’s ballads, after his initial successes, were, after all, routinely denigrated by comparison with Schubert’s songs. Prey and Engel, a long-standing partner, prove masterly guides to these twelve songs in a studio recording made back in 1976. They catch the distinctly Schubertian military march feel of Nächtliche Heerschau with Prey proving, by turns, bluff and withdrawn, employing his half voice here with authority and imagination. Much of the same shading and lightening of the voice can be heard illuminating Süßes Begräbnis, a setting of Rückert that shows that Prey’s voice, though powerful, can be adeptly scaled down. And then there’s Prey’s fusion of manly swagger and conversational ease in Heinrich der Vogler – it comes with ease of vocal production, the animating feature. In the longer ballads the duo manage to corral the rhetoric with crisp rhythm and telling gesture. In a simpler setting, calling for more focused intensity, they have lyric generosity in abundance – try Die Uhr which is beautifully done. In Der Nöck, an eight minute setting, we find them embracing ebullience as much as discursive simplicity, with Engel proving eloquent indeed; how well did Loewe know Chopin’s Preludes one wonders after listening to some of the piano writing? We end, appositely, with the controlled dread and anticipation of Der Feind – where the nervous tension is as telling as an M.R. James short story. The notes are bold in their summation of Loewe’s battles and the performances are, as I have indicated, just as notable and consuming. Jonathan Woolf   Advertising on Musicweb Donate and keep us afloat   New Releases All Naxos reviews All Hyperion reviews All Foghorn reviews All Convivium reviews All Acis Reviews   All Divine Art reviews   All Lyrita Reviews   Obtain 10% discount

Return to Index

Error processing SSI file