“I am most grateful for all [Schubert’s] female wanderings and
confessions. He entrusted much of his own internal complaints and despair to
female protagonists in his songs during his creative life.” So writes Nienke
Oostenrijk in the liner notes to this disc. It was an inspired idea to
devote this release to songs where women express their feelings. It is true
that all the poems, bar three, were written by men but they may still reveal
insights into the female world of thinking. The three exceptions are
Suleika I and
II and
Der Vollmond strahlt. The
first two were published under Goethe’s name, but they were actually written
by Marianne von Willemer (1884 – 1860), a woman with whom Goethe had a brief
relationship in 1815.
Der Vollmond strahlt is not strictly a Lied,
it is a romanze from Schubert’s incidental music to
Rosamunde, a
play by Wilhelmine von Chézy (1783 – 1856). The play was a flop and has been
lost but Schubert’s music was preserved and the romanze is one of his finest
creations.
The songs are presented in chronological order, beginning with the Goethe
setting
Gretchen am Spinnrade, which Nienke Oostenrijk calls his
first great song and even “the first modern German song”. Composed in
October 1814 by the 17-year-old Schubert it is a fascinating start of an
almost 11-year-long journey through his female songs and we can follow his
development, though admittedly we start at a very high level. On the way we
encounter some old friends like those already mentioned,
Ave Maria
and
Die junge Nonne, but the majority of the songs are relative
rarities. Some songs have divided connoisseurs’ opinions, for instance the
long (19 verses)
Viola. Graham Johnson has described the
through-composed song in lyrical terms while Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
dismisses it as “a comical biology-lesson and an over-ambitious musical
gewgaw”. Nienke Oostenrijk is firmly on Johnson’s side in her exhaustive
analysis. Her detailed commentaries to each song are in fact exemplary and I
am full of admiration. There are many hours of hard work and reflection
behind this.
Unfortunately I can’t be so enthusiastic about her singing. Her voice has
a timbre reminiscent of a boy soprano, rather pale and thin and there is
little variation in vocal colour. Occasionally there is a sense of insecure
intonation and at
forte an unbeautiful vibrato sometimes creeps in.
There is no doubt about her deep insight into the songs and her phrasing is
impeccable, but she doesn’t communicate; I feel some kind of wall between
us. Marianne Boer accompanies well and her excellent pianism can be admired
not least in the dramatic
Die junge Nonne. The recording favours
the piano a little too much.
The concept is excellent, the booklet commentaries are worth a big bouquet
of roses but the singing is unfortunately not up to the mark.
Göran Forsling
Track Listing1.
Gretchen am Spinnrade
D126 [3:51]
2.
Gretchens Bitte D564 [3:37]
3.
Arietta di Claudine: Liebe schwärmt auf allen Wegen D239
[1:13]
4.
Kolmas Klage D217 [5:52]
5.
Iphigenia D573 [3:08]
6.
Suleikas erster Gesang D720 [5:29]
7.
Suleikas zweiter Gesang D717 [4:10]
8.
Viola D786 [13:35]
9.
Romanze der Axa: Der Vollmond strahlt D797 [3:34]
10.
Ellens erster Gesang D837 [7:32]
11.
Ellens zweiter Gesang D838 [3:23]
12.
Ellens dritter Gesang: Ave Maria D839 [6:21]
13.
Die junge Nonne D828 [4:21]
14.
Lied der Anne Lyle D830 [3:35]
15.
Delphine D857 [4:46]
