BaL 2.02.19 - Schubert: Schwanengesang D.957

[teamsaint]

Sorry to be replying to my own post, but may I seriously recommend lieder lovers to listen to the above link (Schreier and Schiff) recorded at a live recital. It is hard to imagine its being done with better characterisation and sheer artistry....anywhere by anyone. A personal view of course.

Good to hear the songs with some text:

https://www.classiccat.net/schubert_f/957.text.php

Ards, apologies if you already know about this, but Lieder.net is simply one of the best websites I have ever seen.

http://www.lieder.net

Truly amazing.

[ardcarp]

Thanks teams. I've tried to get onto this before, but such is my weak grasp of things cyber, I just go round in circles (clicking on Allow and Add). Maybe I'll enlist some help.....

[Nick Armstrong]

Good to have the young Bryn Terfel with Malcolm Martineau from 1991 (on the Sain label with Welsh bilingual sleevenotes). Much liked at the time by Lied guru, Alan Blyth, in Gramophone.

Tenor-wise, Schreier and Schiff are superb and potential winners.

These are the only two I possess. The Gura is tempting and I very much enjoyed Natasha Loges's exploration (even though there were some surprising omissions)

[teamsaint]

Thanks teams. I've tried to get onto this before, but such is my weak grasp of things cyber, I just go round in circles (clicking on Allow and Add). Maybe I'll enlist some help.....

It really is worth the effort. Not sure what it is you are having an issue with, but stick at it, you”ll thank yourself !

Anyway, back to the music, I enjoyed the unmentioned (?) Quasthoff. Anybody else heard it ? Thoughts ?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... the unmentioned (?) Quasthoff.

"Mentioned" in #25 (and in quotation of silly ass comment in #26).

[teamsaint]

Re # 26,some people just can’t take anything seriously.

Russian space missions are no joking matter.

I did mean “ unmentioned in the programme”....unless it was ?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Re # 26,some people just can’t take anything seriously.

Russian space missions are no joking matter.

I did mean “ unmentioned in the programme”....unless it was ?

- no, vinty's "Quasthod, too" was to continue the list, started a couple of Posts earlier, of singers so neglected in the survey.

[Nick Armstrong]

Listening again to this review (I think I nodded off during the earlier part last time .. wafted away on the lulling cushion of Ms Loges's impeccable pronunciation and delivery ), I was struck with a thought.

Singing Schubert in English translation (especially in the stage-honed bass of John Tomlinson) makes it sound like Gilbert & Sullivan...

Anyone else find that?

[Richard Tarleton]

Listening again to this review (I think I nodded off during the earlier part last time .. wafted away on the lulling cushion of Ms Loges's impeccable pronunciation and delivery ), I was struck with a thought.

Singing Schubert in English translation (especially in the stage-honed bass of John Tomlinson) makes it sound like Gilbert & Sullivan...

Anyone else find that?

I do - I think I commented when Roderick Williams's (impeccably sung and played, and doubtless skilfully translated) A Winter's Journey came out last year that the English translation sounded like doggerel, and asked if the German text sounded like that to German-speaking listeners.... I much prefer either just to listen or to follow the text in a translation that doesn't attempt to be singable (same with Wagner or Strauss). Sadly Mr Williams's version doesn't get many plays, though it has been useful in fixing the sense of each song in my mind to lessen the need for following the translation in future.

I have yet to hear the whole programme - just caught a bit in the car. I caught Matthias Goerne's impossibly slow rendition of Der Doppelganger with....whoever it was, I have his Wigmore Live with Brendel - did she mention that? - which is also so slow as to be devoid of tempo. I do also have DFD/Moore.....

[ardcarp]

Anyone else find that?

I think it's often been joked that lieder has more gravitas if you don't understand it.

"...and I was left lamenting my tiny troutlet's fate." Really?

[doversoul1]

Singing Schubert in English translation (especially in the stage-honed bass of John Tomlinson) makes it sound like Gilbert & Sullivan...

Anyone else find that?

I think the same can be often said about opera. I found Rodelinda singing ‘Oh my husband, oh my husband...’ most off putting. The Return of Ulysses broadcast on Radio 3 last year was (to me) almost unrecognisable.

[gurnemanz]

I caught Matthias Goerne's impossibly slow rendition of Der Doppelganger with....whoever it was.

I said somewhere above that the slow tempo of Doppelgänger probably excludes Goerne's marvellous rendition of the cycle (with Christoph Eschenbach on the piano) from being a library recommendation. I don't find the tempo "impossible" but a perfectly valid proposition by one of our best and most experienced and thoughtful Lied interpreters. Reactions obviously vary but I find it very moving.

[gurnemanz]

Great Post Gurney. I bet you were chuffed when you saw this listed for BaL.

I rather randomly listened to the Quasthoff yesterday, after having listened to the Bostridge /Pappano. Quastoff's native german is very evident in the comparison, even though I like Bostridge a lot.

It is a strange thing as a "cycle" it has to be said, particularly towards the end, but in any case I'm looking forward to this BaL.
Any thoughts on the Quasthoff recording ? I thought it was superbly and sensitively sung.

Thanks for nudge, saint. I have finally followed this up and downloaded Quasthoff (CD nla). I agree. It is excellent. Supremely confident but not overdone with a lovely tone and precise enunciation and wordpointing + fine piano accompaniment. I think it might have jumped to the top of my list.

PS We saw Quasthoff once (Barbican). So glad we did so not long before he retired. He came back at the end to do an encore. After doing the encore item he apologised saying that it hadn't been quite good enough -a result of the strain of having to walk on and off -and then repeated the encore to get it just right.

[vinteuil]

Thanks for nudge, saint. I have finally followed this up and downloaded Quasthoff (CD nla). I agree. It is excellent. Supremely confident but not overdone with a lovely tone and precise enunciation and wordpointing + fine piano accompaniment. I think it might have jumped to the top of my list...

... the CD is still available at reasonable prices secondhand :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00005AAFB/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

.

[Bryn]

Searching amazon.co.uk also brought up the Lieder with Orchestra double SACD album https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0002GCW...cdinfocom04-21 . Fortunately, both Quasthoff albums can be found, as downloads, on QOBUZ.

[Ah, I see the Lieder with Orchestra was also issued as a single CD, which is the far cheaper option.]