Roderick Williams Helmut Deutsch Schumann Kerner Lieder Op. 35 songs by Wolf, Korngold & Mahler Roderick Williams baritone Helmut Deutsch piano Recorded live at Wigmore Hall, London 25 February 2011 ‘Throughout the evening, a sense of intimacy was created between singer, pianist and the attentive audience, lending the Lieder an almost HUGO WOLF (1860–1903) ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856) conversational quality’ Six songs from the Italienisches Liederbuch Kerner Lieder Op. 35 (Opera Britannia) 01 Gesegnet sei, durch den die Welt entstund 01.22 15 Lust der Sturmnacht 01.28 02 Schon streckt’ ich aus im Bett 01.42 16 Stirb, Lieb’ und Freud’! 05.19 03 Geselle, wolln wir uns in Kutten hüllen 02.12 17 Wanderlied 02.43 DDD 04 Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen 02.03 18 Erstes Grün 01.59 WHLive0055 05 Sterb’ ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder 02.21 19 Sehnsucht nach der Waldgegend 02.11 C 2012 The Wigmore Hall Trust P 2012 The Wigmore Hall Trust 06 Ein Ständchen Euch zu bringen kam ich her 01.42 20 Auf das Trinkglas eines Made & Printed in England verstorbenen Freundes 03.52 All rights reserved. ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD (1897–1957) 21 Wanderung 01.15 Unauthorized copying, hiring, Vier Lieder des Abschieds Op. 14 22 Stille Liebe 02.54 lending, public performance and 07 Sterbelied 04.08 23 Frage 01.09 broadcasting prohibited. 08 Dies eine kann mein Sehnen nimmer fassen 02.41 24 Stille Tränen 03.23 09 Mond, so gehst du wieder auf 03.30 25 Wer machte dich so krank? 02.18 LC 14458 10 Gefaßter Abschied 04.33 26 Alte Laute 03.43 Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street GUSTAV MAHLER (1860–1911) London W1U 2BP 11 Um schlimme Kinder artig zu machen 01.56 www.wigmore-hall.org.uk 12 Erinnerung 02.24 Total time: 70.32 John Gilhooly Director The Wigmore Hall Trust 13 Ich ging mit Lust 04.19 Reg. Charity No. 1024838 14 Aus! Aus! 02.29 CD Booklet RPM.qxd 09-07-2012 11:56 Page 2 RODERICK WILLIAMS AND HELMUT DEUTSCH LIVE AT WIGMORE HALL An evening of songs – a Liederabend, as it is That sense of the ephemeral comes through in German – has a unique atmosphere. Stories in ‘Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen’. are communicated, history is shared and hidden Williams gently emphasises ‘Wie golden Fäden, emotions find expression through song. Within die der Wind bewegt’ (like golden threads blown the lilt of the music and the poetry, we find the by the wind) as the piano takes wing. And these fragments of larger narratives, weaved over the mirages have faded by the time that we arrive at course of various decades. These are the qualities ‘Sterb’ ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Gleider’, that spring from Roderick Williams as he shifts floating in mid air with a tolling bell buried in its between smiles and sadness on the platform. accompaniment. A more nimble motif unfolds in At his recital at Wigmore Hall in February 2011, the piano part of ‘Ein Ständchen Euch zu bringen Williams’ accompanist Helmut Deutsch main- kam ich her’, all the time brimming with sexual tained a more reserved presence, supporting energy. The whispered jollity of Williams’ voice the English baritone as he uncovered the nascent evokes an excited paramour. drama within these songs. Despite smiling stoi- Rather than vacillating between Wolf’s oppo- cism, nothing could prepare either the musicians sing moods, Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Vier Lieder or the audience for the tragic ending of des Abschieds (1920–21) are framed by a Schumann’s Kerner Lieder. bittersweet halo. Rocking between love song and That bleak endpoint was a long way off as they lullaby, ‘Sterbelied’ is a languid remembrance of launched into a selection of songs from Hugo things past. Deutsch prefaces its harmonic shifts Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch (published in two with gentle rubato, compounding our sense of volumes in 1892 and 1896). The dotted accompani- surprise. ‘Dies eine kann mein Sehnen nimmer ment of ‘Gesegnet sei, durch den die Welt fassen’ begins more petulantly, with a ray of sun- enstund’ introduces a confident narrator. Yet love light slowly evolving in the underscore. It is a false has the ability to undermine his self-assurance hope and the thick harmonies of the final verse and the introspection that ends the song blurs bring inevitable collapse. ‘Mond, so gehst du into ‘Schon streckt’ ich aus im Bett’. Immediately wieder auf’ materialises from the darkness, yet all- conjuring contrasting moods, Williams relishes too-ripe harmonies compound previous doubts. the theatrical element in Wolf’s songs. And as Williams strips colour from his voice, indicating a soon as he has painted convincing melancholy, futility in the narrator’s situation. Self-indulgence he moves on to the amusing nasal-voiced Monk turns to resignation in ‘Gefaßter Abschied’. A clari- in ‘Geselle, wolln wir uns in Kutten hüllen’. Wolf’s fied harmonic palate and placid melody (initially cast of characters disappears as quickly as it is reminiscent of Mahler’s yodeling ‘Das himmlische created, all delivered with a beneficent smile. Leben’) invoke the painless sentiment of Viennese 2 3 CD Booklet RPM.qxd 09-07-2012 11:56 Page 3 Lied. Williams soars effortlessly through ‘Bald ist Liebe dein Geleite!’ (love will soon escort you!), but the joy of this song is desperately short-lived. In contrast, we find Mahler (particularly adept at capturing fatalism) in a more vigorous mood. That dramatic tendency comes to the fore again in the ballad-like ‘Um schlimme Kinder artig zu machen’. Aping völkisch sentiment, Mahler encapsulates the music of another era. And his Orpheus-like backward glance provokes recollec- tions of Lieder’s eternal wanderer in ‘Ich ging mit Lust’ and ‘Aus! Aus!’. But the presence of Leander’s ‘Errinerung’ in the middle of this selec- tion sours an outward grin. Its mirrored logic – ‘Es weckt das Lied die Liebe, Die Liebe weckt die Lieder’ (Songs inspire love, love inspires songs) – may be true, but the question ‘Wo ist dein Herzliebster geblieben’ (Where is your sweetheart now?) at the end of ‘Ich ging mit Lust’ hovers unanswered. In many ways Wolf, Korngold and Mahler’s songs pine for simpler times, but endless questions and unresolved harmonies evoke the troubled landscape of that fin de siècle genera- tion. Post-Wagner, an innocent love ditty could ROBERT SCHUMANN IN 1839 be innocent no longer. And persistent repression of feeling, as they had learned from their and Schumann, are just as complex. Looking at contemporary Freud, caused more problems than Schumann’s output from the famous Liederjahr of it solved. Mahler sought to distance himself from 1840 shows his continually ambiguous response this socio-sexual melée by returning to the more to the problems of love and life. While the Op. 39 naïve verses of the beginning of the 19th century. Liederkreis turns pain into jubilation, the Kerner Yet he had misread their seeming simplicity. Lieder (Op. 35) follow a bleaker path. Over the Although harmonically less enmeshed, the songs course of the cycle, Roderick Williams’s jovial of that time, by predecessors such as Schubert presence grew increasingly sad. 3 4 CD Booklet RPM.qxd 09-07-2012 11:56 Page 4 Finally able to marry Clara Wieck, Schumann’s Having previously found solace in drink, the great profusion of songs reflects newfound narrator returns to his old friend (propped up by domestic happiness. And with Leipzig’s ever a unison accompaniment) in ‘Auf das Trinkglas more prominent publishing industry, Lieder also eines verstorbenen Freundes’. But previous provided a quick and sure income. If only life were assurances are now distorted by wine-addled that simple, however. For every joyful song within reflection. Unwilling to relent, in his recital Schumann’s output, there is a darker message, Williams launched immediately into ‘Wanderung’. as Schumann’s increasingly volatile mental con- But it is a last gasp and ‘Stille Liebe’ confirms dition took its toll. At first the Op. 35 Lieder, what we had already expected: the singer’s love written to poems by the contemporary writer is an illusion. Unable to capture affection in Justinus Kerner, maintain a happy dignity. The song, the descending bass line and throbbing imagery and sound world of ‘Lust der Sturmnacht’ accompaniment echo his sobs. He confesses that are familiar from Schubert’s song cycles. Unwilling none of his songs have done justice to his beloved to bend to nature, the wanderer feels protected by and the final four poems elicit music of incredible his love. But the hushed, slow prayer of ‘Stirb, pathos. Although the rising melody of ‘Frage’ Lieb’ und Freud’!’ indicates that such comfort is is pregnant with hope, Williams’ emphasis on fleeting at best. Deutsch’s unaffected accompani- ‘Schmerz’ (sorrow) in ‘Stille Tränen’ provides an ment undercuts Williams’s illusory appeals. all-too frank answer. Following that realisation, Snapping out of his reverie, ‘Wanderlied’ places ‘Wer machte dich so krank?’ is eerily simple, taking the singer firmly back on the road, though the a self-sacrificing tone. Those sounds become listener has begun to doubt the security of the even more hushed in the wan conclusion to ‘Alte final destination. How real can the fresh grass be Laute’. As if disappearing from the stage entirely, in ‘Erstes Grün’, when the singer is still pining for Williams and Deutsch capture life and love in its nature in ‘Sehnsucht nach der Waldgegend’? starkest moment. Notes by Gavin Plumley © 2012 Engineered by Steve Portnoi www.outhouseaudio.com Produced by Jeremy Hayes Recorded live at Wigmore Hall, London, on 25 February 2011 Director: John Gilhooly