Thomas Hampson – Schubert Master Class in Heidelberg

Schubert master class in Heidelberg. Much good advice for singers. And Mr. Hampson also provides great guidance for the accompanist. I always find a few tidbits I can apply to my own music-making and/or life as well. Highly recommended! And there will be another one tomorrow morning. 

Check here for more information, too. 

Gratuitous Friday – Luca Pisaroni Sings Schwanengesang Excerpts

It is a blessing to Liederlieber everywhere that Luca Pisaroni is one of our great opera singers who continues to perform in recital. Bringing some stage presence to the concert stage is never a bad thing. 

Here are the six Heine settings from Schubert's Schwanengesang, performed in Chicago this past September, while LP (and his entourage--apparently Tristan appeared again in his acclaimed portrayal of "the Count's Dog") were there for the Lyric Opera's production of Le Nozze di Figaro. 

I love the viewer comment on YT that LP is "clearly...a bit stressed..." D'ya think that's not stress, but maybe—oh I don't know—acting? I mean, these Heine poems are not exactly happy-go-lucky little ditties! (Are any Heine poems happy-go-lucky?)

Here's a bit of info from Wikipedia on the six Heine poems in Die Schwanengesang:

By Heinrich Heine:

·        Der Atlas ("Atlas": the singer, having wished to experience either eternal happiness or eternal wretchedness, has the latter, and blames himself for the weight of sorrow, as heavy as the world, that he now bears)

·        Ihr Bild ("Her image": the singer tells his beloved of how he dreamed (daydreamed?) that a portrait of her favoured him with a smile and a tear; but alas, he has lost her)

·        Das Fischermädchen ("The fisher-maiden": the singer tries to sweet-talk a fishing girl into a romantic encounter, drawing parallels between his heart and the sea)

·        Die Stadt ("The city": the singer is in a boat rowing towards the city where he lost the one he loved; it comes foggily into view)

·        Am Meer ("By the sea": the singer tells of how he and his beloved met in silence beside the sea, and she wept; since then he has been consumed with longing — she has poisoned him with her tears)

·        Der Doppelgänger ("The double": the singer looks at the house where his beloved once lived, and is horrified to see someone standing outside it in torment — it is, or appears to be, none other than himself, aping his misery of long ago)

A (Literally) Cool Concept – Winterreise Winterized

I just saw this written up over at the Barihunks^® blog. Baritone Christopher Herbert has come up with an interactive, wintry way to present Schubert’s mammoth song cycle. You can read more about Chris' project at Barihunks^®. 

Except for the part about standing about in the cold, I'd love to attend one of these performances. 

Benjamin Appl: Life as a Singer (BBC Interview)

German baritone Benjamin Appl didn't just suddenly appear on the music scene (Barihunks® has been following him for a bit), but he's new on my horizon. I am borderline obsessed with his recent Schwarzenberg Schubert recital (still available from Ö1 Radio for a few more days). 

Although still young, Benjamin has been busy, studying and performing in Europe, the UK, and the United States.  He is a BBC New Generation Artist; and during the 2015/16 season he also will be an ECHO Rising Stars artist, appearing in recital at the major venues throughout Europe. A few of his recital performances can be found on YT (stay tuned); and I am on the lookout for a recording of his recent Wigmore performance (broadcast on BBC Radio 3 a few months ago), and any others that may be out there. 

Here is Herr Appl's recent interview with the BBC:

Meanwhile, Streaming on Concert.Arte.TV

Natalie Dessay sings Michel Legrand; quite nicely, if you like this sort of thing (I do.)



Matthias Goerne's Winterreise rides again (till the end of February).



And, of course, there's Tito, Sesto, Vitellia, and the whole crazy gang.

Die Winterreise im Sommer – Daniel Behle and the Oliver Schnyder Trio

In honor of this Daniel Behle Winterreise post hitting the top 10 this month (even though it was originally posted nearly a year ago), here is the video of the live performance associated with that rehearsal clip.

I noted last September that it must have been strange singing this chilly cycle in the heat of an Austrian summer. We notice that Herr Behle takes off his jacket early in the program. Will he take anything else off? (He doesn't, but it did make you stop and wonder for a second, didn't it?)

Staged Performance of Die Winterreise with Matthias Goerne

I just took a 90-minute break from my total-Orfeo-immersion week to watch Schubert's Die Winterreise live from the Aix-en-Provence Festival on medici.tv. The cycle is performed by Matthias Goerne and Markus Hinterhäuser, and directed for stage by William Kentridge. Herr Goerne is always worth hearing (and watching). He proves once again that he is a consummate vocal artist; and with the addition of the video animation backdrop and moody lighting, his performance is particularly moving. Some of the images struck me as a little naive, but overall I thought the production was quite effective.

As I type this, Medici is regrouping for the on-demand replays, which you can probably access in the next few hours. It’ll only be available in the U.S. until July 23; they say it’ll be back November 11, but I am guessing that it’ll be for pay-for-play at that point. If you’re in Europe, I think you can continue to watch it throughout the summer. Wherever you are, do take the time to give this performance a watch/listen. 

From Kasarova to Lehtipuu via Other People's Blogs

Today, for some reason (probably because I saw the CD on the shelf), I decided to listen to Vesselina Kasarova's Lieder recital from 1999. Then I decided to see if I had ever gotten around to ripping it to iTunes. 

Aha! There it is in iTunes, but there's no cover photo (iTunes is not great at tracking down classical album covers.) So, of course, I Google images for "Kasarova Lieder."

The first image was the CD cover (now duly saved and linked to the files in iTunes). The fourth image linked me to a blog post by Smorgy called Why I Love Vesselina Kasarova. That Smorgy loves Kasarova is not news, but why Smorgy loves Kasarova was a new story for me. And it's a wonderful story. Her post also touches on indiscriminate "music criticism" that has little to do music or with actual criticism.

Fierrabras Complete – You Know You're Curious, Go On, Check it Out

Yes this opera has its flaws—most of them dramatic. On the other hand, it has some really nice tunes, and this cast does a great job. While you're at it, you can try to suss out the reasoning behind the giant grand piano. Leave it to Claus Guth to give us something to chew while we listen to the pretty music.

You might be interested in reading my other posts about this production.

Lieder in a Foreign Land – Two Recitals on Radio 4 Concerthuis

For about 20 more days you can listen to Austrian Florian Boesch singing in England and Michael Schade (oft described as German/ Canadian) singing in Switzerland.

Here is Herr Boesch's recent Wigmore Hall recital of Schubert and Wolf, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau.

And here is Herr Schade's Freiberg program of mostly Schubert and Beethoven, accompanied by Justus Zeyen and recorded in June 2013.

Happy Listening!

Kaufmann – Winterreise: The Recording & Werther: The Lost Audio

Those who were able to see the Live in HD broadcast of Massenet's Werther on Saturday witnessed the technical difficulty the Met experienced and missed the audio for a chunk of the finale. (Those of us listening to the radio broadcast at home heard the whole opera, but of course didn't get to see any of it.)

By way of apology, the Met posted the final scene from Saturday's broadcast. Thanks to Intermezzo for sharing this link. (This is why I keep up with other people's blogs.)

The BBC Radio 3 will be airing Saturday's radio broadcast on Monday afternoon (March 17) at 2 PM London time (6 PM U.S. Eastern time). 

Jonas Kaufmann was interviewed on the radio last week about his Met Werther, his brand new Winterreise recording, and live opera on video. (Sorry for the email chime in the middle of the Schubert song.)

Winterreise Preview – New Release from Jonas Kaufmann

I don't normally condone pirating music that one can actually purchase commercially, but in this case, it's not yet available in the U.S. So... here are some clips from JK's new recording of Die Winterreise. 

Save up your Deutschmarks, Francs, Pounds, or bucks, because the official U.S. release date is April 1!

Gratuitous Friday – Matthias Goerne Smiles!

German baritone Matthias Goerne smiles...but apparently not often.

On the February 2014 issue of Opera Now

His angst is confirmed in this quote from his Opera Now interview:

 Even if I'm happy, things in the world around seem almost unbearable. 

But he's still my favorite* Baripsycho, 

and boy, is he magical in this exquisite Schubert Lied: 

Matthias Goerne & Helmut Deutsch

*For this week, anyway. I waver between Herr Goerne and Christian Gerhaher.

Winter Release of Jonas Kaufmann's Winterreise

From the Blurb @ JK's official website:

After over 20 years of working together and countless performances of Winterreise, Jonas Kaufmann and his piano-partner Helmut Deutsch finally commit the Olympus of the Lied repertoire to disc. 

Jonas Kaufmann says about the work: “Against the background of all the horror stories that bombard us today, we are undoubtedly rather more hardened than Schubert’s contemporaries and yet even today’s listeners can still find this cycle affecting. Even as interpreters we always find ourselves sucked into the emotional undertow of these songs, although we know perfectly well what to expect. I think that Winterreise has the same sort of cathartic effect as a Greek drama: the emotional experience purges the soul. The work has an almost meditative effect on me, because Schubert expressed these emotional depths with a clarity and a simplicity that I ultimately find consoling and that allows me to regain my own inner balance.”

Die Winterreise will be released (in the US) on February 25 April 1, 2014.

Meanwhile, I also learned—courtesy of a lovely blog called Salazar's Opera Family Circle—about several upcoming DVD releases featuring JK (hooray!):

• Ariadne auf Naxos from the Wiener Staatsoper
• Don Carlo, also from the Wiener Staatsoper
• Parsifal aus Der Met 

There goes my February and March lunch money!

Sunday Brunch - Mattias Goerne Talks About (and Sings) Schubert

From Spanish television: Some clips of Herr Goerne (my baritone-crush of the month) rehearsing/recording An Sylvia and speaking (in English, Gott sei dank) about his series of Schubert Lieder recordings. 

And here is the full song:

Popular Demand? Wagner and Schubert from Ö1

Two of my more obscurer posts seem to have attracted a lot of attention, most likely due to some spamming a few weeks ago. But attention breeds attention, so these two posts have jumped to the top of my "most viewed" list. See over there to your right?

Well, those Ö1 posts are pretty time-sensitive. They're only held in archive for a week. But sometimes, some enterprising music fan captures these broadcasts. Just sayin'...

So...here, in order of popularity, are those two broadcasts:

Three Hours of the 2013 Bayreuth Ring on Ö1 Radio

Die Schöne Mullerin Sing-off – Nine Tenors in 90 Minutes

Happy Listening!

Speaking of Werner Güra and Laurence Equilbey...

I guess we weren't, but while I was browsing the Toob, looking for performances by LE, I came across these three orchestrated versions of Schubert songs. I personally am not that convinced by these (and other orchestrations) in spite of hearing Anne Sofie von Otter sing a handful of them live. They somehow don't allow the flexibility I listen for in a voice and piano setting. 

LE is quite an interpreter (I've decided after watching the concert I posted yesterday, that I want to sing under her. She gets a bit overwrought perhaps, but she is so expressive, and she communicates effectively with her musicians) and Werner Güra is no slouch in the Lieder department. Somewhere out there lurks a complete concert with some more Schubert, and who knows what else!

Another Vest-Pocket Concert – Kaufmann's Spring Winterreise

Jonas Kaufmann performed Schubert's Die Winterreise last spring in Vienna (Audio Only—in amazing audience surround sound—koff koff). But, we get to hear it, and that's what counts! Thank you, intrepid vest-pocket bootlegger vocal music fan!

Sunday Brunch – Daniel Behle and the Oliver Schnyder Trio

Here are two songs from Schubert's Die Winterreise, concluding the recording sessions by Daniel Behle (recently seen as Don Ottavio in that Paris Don Giovanni) and the Oliver Schnyder Trio on June 17, 2013: "Erstarrung" and "Rückblick" in Daniel Behle's own transcription for tenor and piano trio. They performed this live over the summer, and the recording is due out in November.

Miah Persson Evokes Tears...well, Mistiness

This is cheating a bit, since it's merely a slightly expanded version of a comment I posted over at The Earworm the other day, entitled Tears and Sarcasm:

I just finished listening to Du bist die ruh’ again; I’m not literally crying, but I am feeling Very Misty. Miah Persson has a way of stretching a phrase till it almost pulls apart, then hugging it back into shape with a warm sigh. (And Roger Vignoles is no slouch, either!) I think I’d better listen again. Twice!