Schumann, Wolf

COMPOSERS: Schumann,Wolf
LABELS: Hanssler
ALBUM TITLE: Eichendorff-Leider
WORKS: Liederkreis, Op.39 (Schumann); Eichendorff-Lieder (Wolf)
PERFORMER: Christophe Prégardien (tenor), Michael Gees (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 98.235

Christoph Prégardien gives us



a welcome opportunity here to



compare the responses of Wolf



and of Schumann to the poetry of



Eichendorff. Prégadien’s highly



intelligent and conscientiously



perceptive study of the songs pays



dividends in beautifully enunciated



and articulated performances,



particularly in the miniaturism of 16



of Wolf ’s 20 settings.



For Schumann, Prégardien creates



a seamless legato that is as light as the



poetry’s description of the movement



of clouds or the stillness of a moonlit



night. Everywhere, tints and timbres



are exquisitely blended in the fingers



of Prégardien’s accompanist, Gees.



But sometimes Prégardien’s sober



approach misses the sharp end of



Schumann’s emotional life: the piano



has to nudge him into ecstasy at the



end of ‘Schöne Fremde’, and there’s



not quite enough of the shudder



factor in those dark woods of the



German Romantic imagination.



All vocal registers rejoice in the



Op. 39 Liederkreis, with outstanding



performances from Fischer-Dieskau and Eschenbach (DG), Holzmair



and Cooper (Philips) and, most



recently Isokoski and Viitasalo



(Finlandia). But, to close-focus on



tenor recordings, Werner Gura’s



(Harmonia Mundi) is both livelier



and a little more mannered than



Prégardien’s. And Peter Schreier’s



incomparable 1972 Dresden



recording (Berlin Classics reissue,



1994) is the head-and-shoulders



benchmark. With the voice in its



prime, Schreier knows just how to



move on and draw back, in order to



capture vividly the fleeting yet intense



mood changes of this most elusive yet



ever self-renewing cycle – a version



well worth seeking out. Hilary Finch