Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)

Four Husarenlieder, Op.117 Romances and Ballades iv, Op.64: no.3, Tragödie Romances and Ballades i, Op. 45: no.1, Der Schatzgräber Romances and Ballades ii, Op.49: no.2, Die feindlichen Brüde Liederkreis, Op. 24 Spanisches Liederspiel, Op.74: nos.6,7 & 10 Myrthen, Opus 25: nos.1, 3 8 15 17 18 24 Lieder und Gesänge, Op.127: no.2, Dein Angesicht Four Gesänge, Op.142: no.4, Mein Wagen rollet langsam

BRYN TERFEL baritone
Malcolm Martineau piano

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 447 042-2
[77:44] full-price

by Justin Alford

This review may be prejudiced towards the mighty voice of Bryn Terfel, but with good reason. I first met Bryn after a flight from Munich to Vienna in the spring of 1999. I was waiting for my luggage at the baggage claim, but was more interested in a tall, husky person who was sitting one row forward on my flight. I spotted him across the carousel and inched my way over. Inching up to this Welsh giant of the new opera scene I felt more like I was riding the carousel riding a horse, waving a cowboy hat, crying, "Whoa Nellie...I know you." In spite of my stunned, star-gazing stupor, I managed to compose myself enough to tell this burly beast that he looked like Bryn Terfel. His unencumbered, Teflon coated vocal chords bellowed, "A lot of people tell me that."

"Oh, well. I am sorry. I just thought you might be the bass/baritone who is singing Leparello in Mozart's Don Giovanni tonight at the Staats Oper."

He gave me a heavy pat, more like a thud on his back and laughed. This caught me by surprise. "Actually I am Bryn Terfel," he managed to get out between chuckling.

I went to see him that spring in Don Giovanni and Salome and was admitted back stage for a chat before the latter performance. After Salome, Bryn took a group of friends and I to an Italian restaurant around the corner from the Opera house. My roommate asked Bryn what he sang in the shower. Bryn said that he prefers to sing AC/DC, but sometimes sings Led Zeppelin. Terfel is a jovial, good-natured and carefree person. He is also highly disciplined. His personality is mirrored by his voice or vice versa.

Terfel (left. Photo: Suzie Maeder/DGG) has recorded a number of full-length operas of his standard roles. Most notable as Don Giovanni, John the Baptist, but he also has a growing catalog of recitals, including arias and show tunes and Baroque songs. The aegis of these selections of songs is that it clearly shows the depth of maturity in Terfel's voice and interpretive skills. The genesis of the Liederkreis Op. 39 came at the end of a harrowing time for Schumann.

Schumann's love for Clara Wieck is one of the more famous stories in recent music history. There is no doubt that Clara was Schumann's most important inspiration and that her father's belligerence was his greatest adversity. Their relationship, made tortuous by Wieck's malevolence, was trying yet endearing. Wieck tried desperately to separate Clara and Schumann.

There are two ways to come together with a lover. The first is death, as seen in Shakespeare's drama and German Romantic poetry, and the second is sexual. The Liederkreis is a reflection of both.

Schumann had pledged his love to her many years before he received her formal pledge on September 13, 1938. The time in between these pledges and even after, as Wieck took Clara on a seven-month tour, filled Schumann's diary with thoughts of suicide. One month after Clara reciprocated his love he wrote that he was thinking of suicide. For the next three years Schumann would suffer the death of a brother, and the trial and appeal against his union with Clara brought on by Wieck.

With great benediction Wieck declared that he would consent to the union if Clara would sacrifice her earnings of the past seven years and if the Schumann's after marriage would turn over two-thirds of their total assets. The rejected to barter for their marriage and were summoned to court. The court dropped all charges except that of drunkenness and Wieck was forced to appeal.

On December 18, 1839 the case was brought before the appeals court and the objections were again dropped. Wieck was charged with gathering evidence to support the objections on grounds of Schumann's dipsomania, but failed to come up with any evidence by the deadline of July 7, 1840. His failure lead to Schumann's marriage to Clara in September 1840. Five months after the appeals court decision Schumann composed the Liederkreis Op. 39, also known as the Eichendorff Liederkreis.

The significance of the termination of the charges against the marriage (March 28, 1840) is that Schumann's muse was returned. The dust bowl of creativity was now almost fully irrigated, and as Schumann was able to spend more time with Clara and less on Wieck's incessant attacks, as he did from April 17-30 in Berlin, he made a vigorous return to composition.

Amidst the flood of work that poured forth were two notables, the Dichterliebe Op. 49 and the Liederkreis Op. 39. These thoughtful songs were not only meant to pay homage to his love, but also to announce that he had triumphed. "Sie ist deine, sie ist deine!" the birds announce in Frülingsnacht, the final song of the Liederkreis Op.39.

The love expressed in these songs is expressed with the virility of a man freed from oppressive bondage and reveals not only heart-felt love but also the sacrifice that makes love possible. These Romantic songs clearly express the longing for love and urgency characteristic of Romanticism.

It is these expressions that Terfel illuminates, through clear diction (his pronunciation and inflection is near perfect), and his rounded and resonant tone. His voice is free of free of strain, enabling him to master dynamics.

"Aber Vater und Mutter sind lange tot, und kennt mich mehr hier..." The poet Eichendorff wrote in two famous lines from In der Fremde. Terfel's performance, capturing the essence of the poetry marrying it with the music of Schumann, is convincing and moving. Later in Mondnacht the erotic personification of the moon and the earth is expressed, "Es war, als hött' der Himmel die Erde still geküßt, daß sie im Blütenschimmer von ihm nun träumen müsst'."

The ambiguity of loss and erotic union expresses the confusion and clarity in Schumann's heart. There are two ways to come together with a lover. The first is death, as seen in Shakespeare's drama and German Romantic poetry, and the second is sexual. The Liederkreis Op. is a reflection of both.

OTHER RECORDINGS
It is unfortunate that I could not locate a copy of Braun and Kubalek's 1991 recording for Dorian of Liederkreis Op. 39. The March/April 1991 issue of Fanfare contains a review by Ralph V. Lucano. Lucano says that Braun "turns out to be a straightforward interpreter...Braun may not rise to the level of Hotter and Fischer-Dieskau, but his directness suits the texts and so does his apparently stalwart conviction."

Lucano in the May/June 1991 Fanfare reviews tenor Hans-Peter Blochwitz's recording for EMI circa 1991. Lucano says that Blochwitz's voice is, "weak on both ends of the range, and the tenor occasionally (but still too often) falls into a kind of achromatic wailing."

This is Justin Alford's first article for the Inkpot.

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