Schubert Lieder Der Wanderer
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SCHUBERT LIEDER DER WANDERER RODERICK WILLIAMS IAIN BURNSIDE DER WANDERER FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828) 1 Willkommen und Abschied D767 [3:43] LIEDER 2 Der Wanderer D489 [4:55] 3 Rastlose Liebe D138 [1:24] RODERICK WILLIAMS BARITONE IAIN BURNSIDE PIANO 4 Der Wanderer an den Mond D870 [2:17] 5 Wandrers Nachtlied D768 [2:08] 6 Aus Heliopolis II D754 [2:18] Seven Rellstab-Lieder from Schwanengesang D957 7 Liebesbotschaft [3:00] 8 Kriegers Ahnung [4:56] 9 Frühlingssehnsucht [3:49] 10 Ständchen [3:47] 11 Aufenthalt [2:50] 12 In der Ferne [6:11] 13 Abschied [4:36] 14 Der Schiffer D536 [2:00] 15 Der Schiffer D694 [3:36] sponsored by 16 An eine Quelle D530 [2:01] 17 Am Strome D539 [2:38] 18 Auf der Donau D553 [3:01] 19 Auf dem Wasser zu singen D774 [3:40] Recorded on 21-24 October 2015 Piano: Steinway, model D, Join the Delphian mailing list: 20 Der Pilgrim D794 [4:29] in St Mary’s Parish Church, Haddington, serial number 589064 www.delphianrecords.co.uk/join East Lothian Piano technician: Norman W. Motion 21 Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren D360 [3:02] Like us on Facebook: Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter Design: John Christ & Drew Padrutt www.facebook.com/delphianrecords 22 Der Musensohn D764 [2:09] 24-bit digital editing: Adam Binks Booklet editor: Henry Howard 24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK Follow us on Twitter: Session photography © Delphian Records www.delphianrecords.co.uk @delphianrecords Total playing time [72:41] Notes on the music Good night, good night! Parting is such Die schöne Müllerin. And yet there is a as it describes the land left behind, this energy painting Wanderer above the Sea Fog sweet sorrow, noticeable revelling in that alienation, a evaporates as the opening pessimism returns. floats irresistibly to mind, particularly when That I shall say good night till it be morrow. glorious self-indulgence experienced even In a typically Schubertian masterstroke, the Schubert paints the swirling mists in doubled in the depths of loneliness. As Robert Louis pay-off line, whispered on the wind, that piano octaves, briefly reminiscent of Brahms’ One of Shakespeare’s most famous Stevenson’s anti-hero puts it; happiness can only be found elsewhere and second piano Rhapsody, before hurling us oxymorons sets the tone for this recital of never here, is set in the major key. It is a into the final verse. Franz Schubert songs of journeying and Wealth I seek not, hope, nor love, punchline to which we will return later. farewell. For much as lieder audiences always Nor a friend to know me; A few months after Schubert’s death in enjoy the occasional comic song or upbeat All I seek, the heaven above, Goethe’s Rastlose Liebe and Wandrers November 1828, the publisher Tobias number, the real crux of the affair comes in And the road below me. Nachtlied are polar opposites, the former a Haslinger decided to make the best use the heartache, the heartbreak and the fall of headlong rush into the arms of love, ignoring he could of some leftover, unpublished tears. Even in the midst of the most joyous Willkommen und Abschied begins the all obstacles and defiant of the consequences Schubert songs, grouping them together moments, we crave a reminder that tragedy is recital in brisk mood and at full gallop. (again, a theme to which we shall return) as the composer’s final, posthumous just around the corner and in that juxtaposition Goethe’s poem describes an impetuous, while the latter is a glorious contemplation collection, calling them Schwanengesang lies the intensity, the poignancy of which night-time horse ride during his days as a of eventual, well-earned and final repose. In (‘Swansong’) and publishing them with an Schubert is the undisputed master. student in Strasbourg, to court a young girl between is another archetypal song of the attractive, commemorative title plate. The in a village twenty miles away. The song is Wanderer, Der Wanderer an den Mond, to first seven songs of this collection set poems As for the journeyman himself, the Wanderer breathless and relentless in its energy and a poem by Johann Seidl. This begins with by Ludwig Rellstab, a Berlin-based poet and or noble Vagabond, this could hardly be even though Goethe bids a bitter-sweet a trudging piano introduction that calls to music critic who had sent some of his work said to describe Schubert from his personal farewell come morning, one is still left with the mind Ralph Vaughan Williams’ setting of to Beethoven in the hope that the ageing experience, centred as he was within Vienna impression that he has been riding all night. Stevenson’s The Vagabond. But here Schubert master composer might do him the ultimate and the immediate countryside around. Yet The Wanderer of Georg Schmidt’s poem is effects a magical transformation as the poet’s honour of immortalising them in song. In the his imagination would roam free to a truly altogether a darker, lost soul and all at once the gaze rises to regard his companion in the night end, probably owing to ill health, Beethoven extraordinary degree, so that he could, epitome of the Romantic, Byronic hero. Few sky. The music switches to the major and the was unable to comply and the poems found through song, describe majestic mountain songs can match such portentous brooding trudge melts into liquid semiquavers. This their way to Schubert. Though they have no ranges, tempestuous seas and alien foreign in the piano introduction, an impulse that the Wanderer finishes with a spring in his step narrative thread in the way that Schubert’s lands with vivid clarity, as this programme vocal line interrupts with listless complaint. All and, for now, warmth in his heart. two previous cycles had done, they do share of songs demonstrates. It was somewhat those feelings of loneliness in exile eventually a common theme, one encapsulated by easier for him to identify with the idea of the come to a head in that word again: ‘Ich bin ein We must brace ourselves for Johann coincidence in the title of the single, ground- Wanderer as outsider, loner, exile, or as it is Fremdling überall’ (‘I am a stranger, the whole Mayrhofer’s Aus Heliopolis II, an invocation breaking song cycle that Beethoven did write, in German, ‘Fremdling’. This was, after all, the world round’). Many a touring musician, away of ancient mythology to urge the artist An die ferne Geliebte: ‘To the Beloved Afar spur for Schubert’s most revered song cycle, from home too long, can identify with this towards profound creations. Here the Off’. Separation and departure are our theme Winterreise, as well as a driving element in verse. Even though the song finds new vigour image of Caspar Friedrich David’s famous once again. Notes on the music Liebesbotschaft asks the babbling brook, the final return to the major on ‘nur du, nur du’ Whatever reserves of positivity one possesses If Schubert ever took to a boat on the lakes so completely familiar to Schubert from sounding desperate and hollow. are extinguished by the three gestures in the or rivers around Vienna, he certainly never his Die schöne Müllerin settings, to carry piano that preface each verse. The vocal line ventured too far along the Danube or embarked off a message of love. If you didn’t know By beginning the Italianate serenade that edges agonisingly, trying vainly to escape a on a sea voyage. And yet for the Danube was that this song was written in the last is Ständchen with four bars of the most monotone, halting frequently as though lacking busy with boatmen making long-distance trips months of Schubert’s life, as his symptoms ominous quasi-mandolin playing in dark, the will to continue, then sliding down to the from faraway countries, their presence one became intolerable and unmistakable, minor harmonies with the bass line sinking depths at the end of the verses, having lost of the most obvious points of contact for a you could be forgiven for hearing a touch woefully below, Schubert effortlessly turns the battle. The change in the third verse, once Viennese native with international travel. The of hope within this beautiful melody and a swaggering lothario into a forlorn, empty again from minor to major, is inexpressibly heroes from this sequence of songs about the in the fluttering, youthful heart murmurs figure. Cole Porter observed ‘how strange the poignant, the gently rumbling piano figuration Sea Voyager come in all different types. There of the accompaniment. Any such hope is change from major to minor’; on the contrary as inviting as the Miller’s brook at the close of is the rugged, fearless sailor of Mayrhofer’s extinguished as the scene jump-cuts to a – rarely has the change from minor to major Müllerin. The final challenge between major Der Schiffer, railing against the elements as military encampment in Kriegers Ahnung, been so painfully, devastatingly bitter-sweet. and minor brings the song to a searing close; in Rastlose Liebe, relishing the battle against picturing soldiers at rest, exhausted, As the piano postlude comes to an end, I which is followed by a song so superficially the foaming waves, like Peter Grimes howling between battles. Thoughts of the beloved, imagine our serenader in ruins. chirpy at its opening as to be shocking. Once in the eye of the storm. Then there is his afar off, transport us to the warmth of her again we are on horseback but this is a very opposite, the indolent boatman of Schlegel’s embrace but present discomforts disturb The next song, Aufenthalt, brings us back different journey, a very different horse even, Der Schiffer, who is at times too lazy even such fancies.