Anton URSPRUCH (1850-1907)
Die heilige Cäcilia (op posth) Gegrüßet,
Heldenpaar (4. Act) (c. 1906) [3:57]
Nehmt Leib und Leben mir! (5. Act) [8:37]
Four Songs from the poems of Mirza-Schaffy Op.4
Nr. 1: Ich fühle deinen Odem [1:32]
Nr. 2: Seh' ich deine zarten kleinen Füßchen [2:44]
Nr. 3: Gott hieß die Sonne scheinen [1:56]
Nr. 4: Neig', schöne Knospe, dich zu mir [1:37]
Six Songs Op.3
Nr. 1: Das Meer hat seine Perlen [1:48]
Nr. 2: Deine weißen Lilienfinger [1:35]
Nr. 3: Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne [0:59]
Nr. 4: Im tiefsten Innern [1:32]
Nr. 5: Es streckt der Wald die Zweige [1:44]
Nr. 6: Weil' auf mir, du dunkles Auge [1:36]
12. Wenn ich in deine Auge seh' op. 6 Nr. 2 [1:36]
13. Hör' ich das Liedchen klingen op. 6 Nr. 3 [1:55]
14. Ja, du bist elend op. 6 Nr. 3 [2:52]
Ludwig THUILLE (1861-1907)
Three Songs Op.12 (1892)
Nr. 1: Waldeinsamkeit [5:48]
Nr. 2: Die Nacht [3:19]
Nr. 3: Die stille Stadt [3:23]
19. Devotionale op. 27 Nr. 1 (1901) [3:06]
Erich J.WOLFF (1874-1913)
Erhebung op. 8 Nr. 2 [2:01]
Bienenlied op. 12: Nr. 6 [2:32]
Mignon op. 15 Nr. 1 [3:59]
Tag meines Lebens op. 13 Nr. 2 [3:07]
Andacht op. 11 Nr. 1 [3:29]
Mandolinen op. 22 Nr. 5 [1:42]
Gebet op. 14 Nr. 1 [2:26]
Die Horen op. 12 Nr. 2 [1:22]
Gottes Segen op. 14 Nr. 4 [1:56]
Rebecca Broberg (soprano)
Ulrich Urban (piano)
rec. June and September 2010, Schüttbau, Rügheim
Texts in German but no translations
THOROFON CTH2585 [74:25]
Three Austro-German contemporaries share disc space in a recital
subtitled by Thorofon, ‘Magic Dark and Bright Azure’. This
resplendent poetic and painterly phrase summons up fin de siècle
succulence that is not wholly met by the music, which it is best to set in
its own contexts.
Anton Unsprach was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1850, and is the
most senior of the three composers. He studied successively under Lachner,
Raff and Liszt, of whom he was a favourite student. Unsprach considered
himself to be a ‘progressive modernist’ and something of a
Wagnerian. Certainly the evidence of a certain thrall is evident in the two
examples, in voice and piano reduction, taken from his incomplete
operaDie heilige Cäcilia. This was his third opera and an opus
posthumous, sadly, given his early death. The examples are from the fourth
and fifth acts and test Rebecca Broberg’s soprano punishingly. She has
to attack from beneath the note and squalls to produce the exultant effect
demanded of her. This is a difficult sing, and needs a much more powerful
voice than hers fully to do it justice. She is much more at home in the rest
of the programme, where the lines fit her voice much more reasonably. The
Op.4 settings are quite simple, with the voice sitting on top of a very
closely shadowing piano line. Unsprach seems reluctant to let pass any
opportunity for the piano to echo the vocal line, a limiting lack of
independence and imagination. The Op.3 set is better. There’s a rare
geniality in Die Rose, though Broberg falters technically here, and
Weil' auf mir, du dunkles Auge has a most pleasing melody line. The
idiom here is less progressive than conservative, but it would be important
to know when the songs were written to gauge just how conservative, should
conservatism be a concern.
Ludwig Thuille was born in Bozen in 1861 and was a childhood friend
of Richard Strauss. His 1892 Three Songs Op.12 demonstrate far
greater independence than those of Urspruch. The first is a relatively long,
and convincing nature setting, limpid in places, but all three are extremely
well characterised and there are some well judged repeated stabbing notes in
Die stille Stadt that fully convey the necessary atmosphere. The
oppressive atmosphere attests to Thuille’s fine responses to texts.
The last composer is Erich J. Wolff, born in 1874 in Vienna. A
well-known accompanist, he died on tour in America after an operation went
wrong. He was there to accompany Elena Gerhardt. Enough evidence exists here
to show he was a far more engaging composer than the more touted Urspruch.
He’s wittier, sharper and less mired in Wagneriana for three things.
His piano writing is droll and uplifting and his vocal lines attractive
melodically. There’s a witty mandolin setting, delightful bee trills
and romantic expression in Gottes Segen. One feels pianist Ulrich
Urban really enjoying himself in these settings.
All three composers’ lives were sadly short ones. None made it
to sixty. We need more from Urspruch to see how competent he really was. I
know Thuille best for his chamber music but he wrote a substantial amount
for the stage and voice and what relatively little we have in this recital
is good. But it’s Wolff who most intrigues me. He wrote a Violin
Concerto for the terrific Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow. Is it still
around? Has it been edited? If so, let’s hear it!
Jonathan Woolf
Three Austro-German contemporaries share a recital.