The songs on this first CD of the Naxos Schumann
Lieder Edition all come from that miraculous 'year of song',
1840, when the composer's long quest for the hand of Clara
Wieck was reaching a resolution. The bitter opposition of
her father finally weakened, and Robert and Clara were able
to plan their marriage. The unbearable prolonged strain followed
by blessed release proved the perfect spur to lyric composition,
and song after song simply poured from Schumann's pen. Up
until 1840, he had written no more than a dozen or so, but
over the next roughly twelve months, he produced more than
one hundred and fifty, sometimes in extended cycles, sometimes
in smaller groups, with many individual lieder too.
This disc contains his first cycle, the Liederkreis
op.24, settings of poems by Heine, as are all the songs on
this disc. Two individual songs follow, Der arme Peter ("Poor
Peter") and Balsazar and the programme is completed by
the best known of all Schumann's cycles, Dichterliebe ("A
Poet's Love"). It's an instructive compilation, because
you can see, or rather hear, Schumann's assurance and creativity
blossoming so clearly. The seeds of the poetic intensity of
Dichterliebe are there in op.24, but the composer has yet
to fully emerge from the shadow of his great predecessor,
Franz Schubert. By the time we reach op.48, , there is real
mastery in the ability to express tenderness, confusion, paranoia,
sexual hunger - the whole cocktail of powerful emotions that
make up what we describe as romantic love.
How do the young German baritone Thomas E. Bauer
and his partner Uta Hielscher measure up to the challenges
posed by this delicately poised music? Too 'classical' and
the cycle can seem precious, too 'romantic' and the whole
thing can spill over into tasteless hectoring and posturing.
Undoubtedly, these young artists tend strongly toward the
former approach.
Bauer has a light, flexible and rather beautiful
voice, high enough to deliver a thrilling top A in Ich grolle
nicht. It has little bass resonance lower down - it is still
a very young voice - though fortunately most of these songs
have quite a high tessitura so that range isn't too much of
an issue. However, Dichterliebe demands at least a hint of
darkness, of emotional depth and complexity, and of these
Bauer seems completely innocent. His singing is honest, straightforward,
but lacking in the essential passionate intensity.
This is not a problem in the earlier songs of op.24;
many of these have a blithe, folk-like quality that Bauer
can do justice to. But Dichterliebe does suffer, for despite
the vocal felicities, this is fairly pedestrian singing, with
little sense of the inwardness of the poetry.
Things are not helped by the accompanying of Uta
Hielscher. Dichterliebe calls for a musical personality at
the piano which is at least the equal of that of the singer.
But Hielscher's playing is quite bland, and remarkably unresponsive
to the poetry in her part. How anyone can play, for example,
the postlude to Wenn ich in deine Augen seh' ("When I
look into your eyes") in such a prosaic manner is beyond
me. The piano music that ends Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen
is later developed into an ineffable epilogue to the whole
cycle. But in Hielscher's hands, this music resolutely refuses
to take expressive flight. Equally, when there is a need for
real power and drive - as for example in the final number,
Die alten bösen Lieder ("The old angry songs") -
the piano accompaniment is woefully short of physical energy
and dynamism. Perhaps Hielscher is wary of overpowering her
singer - if so, she really needn't worry, for Bauer has plenty
of decibels, and in any case the engineers have the balance
well sorted. My recommendation would be that she read Gerald
Moore's The Unashamed Accompanist and return to the fray thus
fortified!
So, a worthy, rather than satisfying Schumann CD.
I don't know how many numbers this edition is going to run
to, but hopefully, as often happens, these two will get into
their stride and give us something more memorable. There is
an interesting and informative booklet note by Gerhard Dietel,
but no texts, though Naxos have provided these on their web-site.
Gwyn
Parry-Jones
