This is a most interesting disc. It explores a genre that,
as the excellent accompanying booklet explains, evolved from
a dance-song, typically performed by street minstrels, coming
to mean “a strophic ... narrative song”. As befits the tradition,
the songs of which this release consists explore various aspects
of the off-beat, the fantastic and the supernatural. They range
from the satirical scorn of Goethe’s Faust, through the
surreal scenario captured in The Walking Bell,
to the nightmarish horror of Erlkönig and Die Löwenbraut.
Gentler sentiments are also represented, however. An example
is to be found in Sullivan’s The Lost Chord - a drawing-room
favourite that is here given an entirely new aspect by a sincere
and artistic performance. The following item, The Desert,
by the Plymouth-born Louis Emanuel, provides light relief.
The performances throughout from both artists are imaginative,
thoughtful, strikingly coloured and vividly projected. Any pair
of musicians performing Erlkönig must inevitably be measured
against the exceptional recording made by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
and Gerald Moore. This comes very close, with unerring clarity
in the reiterated triplets from Drake and well-delineated voicing
from Finley. It never strays into caricature. Imaginative voicing,
too, is a feature of Edward, a grim story of patricide
with a twist at its end – the repeated utterances of ‘Edward,
Edward’ and ‘Mother, mother’ are altered throughout, sometimes
subtly, sometimes dramatically; but always convincingly within
the dramatic context. Drake shines especially in Wolf’s Der
Feuerreiter, the piano part of which could easily disintegrate
into chaos, so dense and so complex is it. Its colours, registration
and detail are so expertly drawn out that it forms a perfect
counterpoint to the textual setting. The one small quibble is
Finley’s slightly less-than-convincing and inconsistently applied
Scottish accent in Lord Randall – the American accent
he employs for Cole Porter’s The Tale of the Oyster is
similarly unpredictable.
Overall, however, this is an extremely well-presented disc which
is a refreshing counterpoint to the lieder cycles and
chanson sets that adorn the catalogues. Well-known and
less familiar composers are united in the realisation of a genre
that is all too often overlooked and these works find firm advocates
in two fine and intellectually attuned artists.
Em Marshall-Luck
Track-listing
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Aus Goethes Faust Op 75 No 3 [2:16]
Carl LOEWE (1796-1869)
Edward Op 1 No 1 [6:38]
Die wandelnde Glocke Op 20 No 3 [2:02]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Erlkönig D328 [4:22]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Die Löwenbraut Op 31 No 1 [9:24]
Der Schatzgraber Op. 45 No. 1 [3:21]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Es war ein Markgraf überm Rhein Woo 33 No 29 [3:31]
Hugo WOLF (1860-1903)
Der feuerreiter No.44 of Gedichte von Eduard Mörike [5:44]
Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911)
Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen [7:44]
Charles Villiers STANFORD (1852-1924)
La belle dame sans merci [6:06]
Cyril SCOTT (1879-1970)
Lord Randall [5:23]
Arthur SULLIVAN (1842-1900)
The Lost Chord [4:17]
Louis EMANUEL (1819-c.1889)
The Desert [6:55]
Cole PORTER (1891-1964)
The Tale of the Oyster [3:43]
Gerald Finley (tenor) Julius Drake (piano) 
