The multi-talented
Ralph Kohn obtained his doctorate at
Manchester University, specialising
in pharmacology and pursued a career
in the pharmaceutical industry. In 1970
Dr Kohn founded the first medical services
company in the UK and 20 years later
became the first recipient of the prestigious
Queen's Award for Export Achievement.
Alongside this distinguished scientific
and business career, Ralph Kohn is a
renowned and popular baritone, with
numerous recitals and recordings to
his name. He became an Honorary Fellow
of the Royal Academy of Music for his
contribution to music. Studying in Rome
with Manlio Marcantoni and thereafter
worked with Charles Wadsworth in New
York, Kohn’s vocal training was continued
in London with Helen Isepp, Otakar Kraus
and Derek Hammond-Stroud.
The Schubert song cycle
Die Schöne Müllerin (The
Lovely Miller Maid) has remained
a perennial favourite in the Lieder
repertoire. The poems of Wilhelm Mueller
with their limpid verses and precise
and picturesque imagery inspired Schubert
to compose Romantic music of the country.
It was in 1823 when Schubert embarked
on his Die Schöne Müllerin
cycle of twenty songs. This was
more than a mere succession of songs
connected together by a unifying thread
but a miniature drama in which the effect
is cumulative.
Schubert composed the
cycle intended for the range
of the tenor voice although he did transpose
several of the songs for his friend
Karl von Schönstein who, like the
soloist on this release, was a baritone.
Many famous baritones have recorded
Die Schöne Müllerin at
least once namely: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau,
Wolfgang Holzmair, Gérard Souzay,
Olaf Bär et al.
Talented soloist Ralph
Kohn undoubtedly has the intelligence,
experience and poetic sensibility to
appreciate the individual qualities
of each song in the cycle. There is
an honest enthusiasm in the baritone’s
mature voice and his sense of drama
can be impressive. Schubert wrote this
music to represent a young miller’s
apprentice who falls in love with his
master’s daughter, which culminates
in the apprentice’s suicide. This is
music of a young man and Kohn, despite
his sterling efforts, doesn’t have the
necessary freshness and innocence in
his voice to convince or evoke the loves
and tribulations of the miller’s apprentice.
I enjoyed the recital although there
were one or two hairy moments; for example
in the penultimate song (track 19) where
Kohn seems to lose his security of control.
The ever-reliable pianist Graham Johnson
is very experienced in this repertoire
and plays with accomplishment.
There are many versions
of Die Schöne Müllerin
in the catalogues. My particular
favourite is the 1961 recording by world-famous
baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and
Gerald Moore on EMI Classics CDC 5 562440
2. I can also recommend the 1989 version
from tenor Peter Schreier and András
Schiff on Decca 430 414-2. Full texts
and an essay are provided and the Opera
Omnia sound engineers have done a fine
job.
An enjoyable recital
but the competition is so exceptionally
fierce in this song-cycle.
Michael Cookson
Ralph Kohn (baritone) 