(This is the serious bit!)
**********
19th. June 2006
Theatre du Chatelet, Paris
Schumann Recital by Thomas Hampson and Wolfram Rieger
The first half of the recital consisted of twelve Lieder to poems by
Justinius Kerner,which are not among Schumann's better-known works.
According to the excellent (and free!) programme,Schumann himself called
this series "Liederreihe" rather than "Liederkreis", to emphasise that
this is not a song-cycle with a unfolding narrative, but rather a series
of songs linked more musically than verbally. For me the most striking
song in the series was "Stirb, Lieb' und Freud'", in which the narrator
watches the girl he loves dedicated herself to life as a nun - and in
which Hampson produced the most incredible falsetto for the girl's voice!
A very strange and haunting song.
Hampson gave a very passionate and intelligent interpretation of all the
songs, and, as usual in Schumann, the piano is an equal partner with the
voice, not "the accompaniment", and Rieger does full justice to Schumann's
conception of this partnership, especially in the piano postludes which
characterise so many of his songs.
The last three songs, "Stille Traenen", "Wer machte dich so krank?", "Alte
Laute" are linked musically in this way - with no discernible break
between the postlude of one song and the beginning of the next. Hampson's
performance is very sensitive and conveys all the delicate nuances of the
text. In fact, he had been ill and had had to cancel a recital the
previous week - this was barely discernible in the voice or the
presentation, but at one point he did stop to mop his brow while he leant
on the piano, so he was evidently physically exhausted, but he didn't let
this affect his actual performance.
The second half of the recital was - what we usually call DICHTERLIEBE,
but, as a result of Hampson's own musicological researches into Schumann's
lieder, which can be read on his website at
http://www.hampsong.com/blog/schumannheine.php
four songs which were not in the original printed edition have been added
to the cycle, which was entitled "20 Lieder und Gesaenge aus dem LYRISCHEN
INTERMEZZO im BUCH DER LIEDER".
What impresses me over and over again in Hampson's Lieder interpretations
is his concentration on the meaning of the texts. I was especially struck
by the way he conveyed the bitter irony of "Ich grolle nicht" - the poet
claims that he's "not complaining", but of course the whole song is one of
complaint! Hampson captures Heine's irony in a way I've never quite
experienced before. And in "Im leuchtenden Sommermorgen" he conveyed the
idea that - perhaps the flower imagery isn't such a positive imagery after
all. The flowers say "Sei uns'rer Schwester nicht boese, Du trauriger,
blasser Mann" - as if they meant, don't be angry with our sister, she's
only a flower, she blooms, fades and dies, you can't expect constancy from
such an ephermeral creature.
I've singled these two out for special mention because Hampson seems to
have brought new insight into the interpretation, but he performed the
whole cycle with beautiful, sensitive phrasing and smoothness of tone and
intonation, equally partnered, as before, by Rieger.
For encores, he sang first "Du bist wie eine Blume", and then Meyerbeer's
setting of "Du schoenes Fischermaedchen", which most of us only know in
Schubert's setting. It's impossible to say which is "better", but the
Meyerbeer is a delightful version, which deserves to be better known.
During the applause, Hampson insisted that Rieger take a solo bow, as he
deserved. A great partnership of gifted artists.
(Then I had to hurry back to London on Eurostar to see TOSCA, which I will
try to write about later today, or tomorrow!)
Dr.Jane Susanna ENNIS
http://members.fortunecity.co.uk/leonora/opera.html
