This
evening’s programme may not have been quite
what some members of the Wigmore audience
have come to expect from Matthias Goerne,
since it was made up of well known Lieder
by the favourite poets of the composers, but
as always with this singer, the structure
and content of the recital afforded us new
insights into the works and their associations.
Goerne is moving into uncharted waters with
his interpretations of Schubert and Schumann
– especially the latter – and he now presents
this music with a kind of confidence which
is often quite startling to behold – I’ve
said before that an evening with him can be
a white-knuckle ride at times, and this one
was no exception.
The
selection from Goethe provided an object lesson
in how to subtly reveal links between songs
as well as displaying the singer’s technique
and temperament to the full: daringly beginning
with ‘Wandrers Nachtlied II’ the recital immediately
established its mood – we were in the presence
of a singer and a pianist so intimate with
this music and poetry that no other interpretation
seemed possible during those long-breathed
lines, delivered with such a sense of powerful
ease. Both ‘Ganymed’ and ‘Nähe des Geliebten’
revealed Schneider’s prodigious skill, nowhere
more so than in the Nachspiel of the latter
song, and both also gave full rein to Goerne’s
unrivalled ability to make words come alive
without over-stressing them, and the astonishing
control which allows him to take a long phrase
in a single breath, so that when he arrives
at closing lines such as ‘Der Wandrer bebt’
he still has enough in reserve to be able
to shape the final consonants with tenderness.
The
centre-piece of the first half was, rightly,
a magisterially authoritative performance
of the ‘Gesänge des Harfners’ which gave
full rein to every mood of the tormented speaker
but was at its finest in those moments touched
with rage, such as ‘Ja! lasst mich meiner
Qual!’ and those where a Winterreise-like
numbness and stoicism become evident through
the spare, dignified singing of phrases such
as ‘Und ich werde weitergehn.’
The
word ‘bittersweet’ might have been invented
for the combination of Heine’s poetry and
Schumann’s music, and the ‘Liederkreis’ Opus
24 presents us with songs which burn with
jealousy as well as tremble with yearning:
Goerne and Schneider perform them as if possessed,
bringing out all Heine’s ambivalence and Schumann’s
rapture. The finest moments in the cycle came
in ‘Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen’ where
Schneider seemed to be able to suspend time
with a daringly lingering tempo for the solemn
4/4 melody, and Goerne’s phrasing and caressing
of the words in ‘Da kam das alte Träumen’
and ‘Das hübsche, goldene Wort’ was perfection.
‘Mit Myrten und Rosen’ is easily dismissed
as a lollipop, but it is really the fulfilment
of Schumann’s eager desire to celebrate his
love for Clara: since the work as a whole
is only a unified cycle insofar as all the
poems are by Heine, it is fitting that we
should be left with this passionate declaration
of romantic love, and Goerne sang it as one
so rarely hears it, with full-blown romantic
ardour yet without any overdone recitalese.
Lines such as ‘Und rings viel blitzende Funken
verspruht!’ revealed the exceptional finesse
of his articulation, he caressed ‘Du süsses
Lieb’ in fernen Land’ with silken beauty of
tone, and ‘Und flüstern mit Wehmut und
Liebeshauch’ was sung with unobtrusive skill,
just enough stress being placed on ‘Wehmut’
to engage the emotions without overdoing it:
as for the final diminuendo, it was simply
astonishing – I have never before heard that
‘Liebeshauch’ breathed with such tenderness.
The
audience response was rightly ecstatic, and
three superb encores were given, the most
striking being a performance of ‘Der Musensohn’
which was remarkable for its vividness of
characterization and its sheer joyful exuberance
in both piano and voice.
Melanie Eskenazi
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