MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS MDT

Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D.118 [3:39]
Heidenröslein, D.257 [1:47]
Rastlose Liebe, D.222 [1:17]
Ganymed, D. 544 [3:52]
Geheimnis, D. 719 [1:37]
Auf dem See, D. 543 [3:23]
Der Musensohn, D. 764 [2:01]
Suleika I, D. 720 [5:10]
Suleika II, D. 717 [4:19]
Dass sie hier gewesen, D. 775 [2:52]
Sei mir gegrüßt, D. 741 [5:20]
Du bist die Ruh’, D. 776 [4:01]
Lachen und Weinen, D. 777 [1:42]
Seligkeit, D. 443 [1:56]
An die Nachtigall, D. 497 [1:19]
Wiegenlied, D. 498 [2:25]
An Grabe Anselmos, D. 504 [3:10]
An die Musik, D. 547 [2:43]
Die Forelle, D. 550 [2:11]
Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D. 774 [3:10]
Die junge Nonne, D. 828 [3:52]
An Sylvia, D. 891 [2:50]
Ständchen, D. 889 [1:51]
Arleen Auger (soprano); Lambert Orkis (fortepiano)
rec. No details supplied
VIRGIN CLASSICS VIRGO 628598 2 [67:56]

Experience Classicsonline

The American soprano Arleen Auger was not quite fifty-four when she died of a brain tumour in 1993. By a sad coincidence, Lucia Popp died of a similar disease later in the same year, and at almost the same age. Both were singers I admired enormously.

No recording details are given for this reissued Virgin collection of Schubert Lieder, but the sessions seem to have taken place shortly after she recorded her disc in the Hyperion series in October 1989. That recital, “Schubert and the Theatre”, featured several songs encountered relatively rarely, whereas the present collection is stuffed full of old favourites, with only very few titles likely to make their first appearance on the shelves of seasoned Schubert collectors.

The combination of programme, singer and giveaway price makes this disc an excellent place for a Schubert debutant to set out on what is surely one of the most wonderful voyages in all music. But beware: the outstanding accompanist, Lambert Orkis, plays not on a modern piano, but on a period instrument. The word “fortepiano” in tiny print is the only indication of this, a disservice to potential purchasers, as not everyone is committed to the period practice cause, and the sound of the fortepiano will surprise those unprepared for it.

The performances are lovely, though the recital does not have the most promising start, with Auger a little matronly as Gretchen. She varies the three verses of Heidenröslein with delightful subtlety, however, and sounds breathlessly in love for Rastlose Liebe, so things do improve thereafter.

I have a vivid memory from my student days of agreeing to accompany a young soprano’s singing lesson. Sadly, our musical liaison did not get very far, as the score she placed in front of me was Der Musensohn! Lambert Orkis is brilliant in this fiendish piece, and the fortepiano helps keep the music tripping along too, the instrument better suited, I think, than a modern grand, however marvellously played. The fortepiano also helps make something altogether more intimate and inward of Ganymed than is often the case, and Auger sings this song with a fine blend of expressiveness and near-classical restraint. Pianist and instrument also collaborate wonderfully well to evoke the rocking of the waves and twinkling of the stars in Auf dem See.

The right-hand chords in An Sylvia, on the other hand, plod a little here, and I feel sure that a modern piano would have helped differentiate between the two elements which make up the accompaniment of this very familiar song. Only at a very few points in the recital, however – when one notices the lack of sustaining power in the upper register, for example – does the fortepiano remind me of the instrument that used to sit in grandma’s best room. If this comparison seems flippant, please believe that it is seriously meant.

The programme has been carefully compiled. In general, poets are kept together, with seven Goethe settings to open the recital, for example. And it all flows well, as when a poised Du bist di Ruh’ is followed by a deliciously light-hearted Lachen und Weinen.

Already mentioned is Auger’s skill in varying the different verses of strophic songs. In Wiegenlied, a subtly veiled tone and reducing the already restrained dynamic level still further in the third verse is enough to create a personal reading without overwhelming what is musically a very simple song. These small details serve to freshen up some very familiar repertoire: careful control of dynamics allows The Trout to remain a cheerful experience without diminishing the impact of the little drama at the heart of the story.

This is fine singing, and Lambert Orkis is fully at one with his singer. If the overall effect is a little bland – and it is – I think this is because the recital seems resolutely small-scale. Then there many old favourites here, and we are bound to have performances of them that we cherish. I usually want to go back to Janet Baker in Die junge Nonne, for example. She penetrates to the heart of the words and music more profoundly than Auger does here, beautifully though she sings. An die Musik is given a lovely performance, but I think I will never hear one of this miraculous piece to match that of Thomas Quasthoff, recorded at the Wigmore Hall in January 1997, and released on a BBC Music Magazine disc. There are other examples, but listeners without such baggage will not have this problem, and in any event the recital is very pleasing on its own terms. All the same, I think I’m likely to come back to those songs with which I was least familiar. The gentle melancholy of An Grabe Anselmos, for example, is a particular pleasure, especially in a performance as beautifully poised and expressive as this.

I subjected only one song to comparative listening, the sublime Rückert setting Dass sie hier gewesen. It was an instructive exercise, showing how different three artists can be in the same song whilst remaining true to it. Philip Langridge (Hyperion) seems very slow, the regret and sadness at love unsatisfied heartbreakingly expressed. Lucia Popp’s even slower, live performance (BBC Legends), brings an almost operatic intensity. Arleen Auger is more straightforward, with greater variety of tempo within the song, the sadness more restrained. She more than holds her own in this group of three, all now gone, all so sadly missed.

William Hedley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.