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Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 1-3
Martha Argerich, piano
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Samuel Barber
Orchestral Works and Concertos
Leonard Slatkin, Charles Munch
Rimsky-Korsakov
Evgeny Svetlanov
Beethoven
Symphony No.9
Piano Transcription by Franz Liszt
Konstantin Scherbakov, Piano
Kronos Caravan
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At the end of Schubert’s Winterreise, the wanderer-protagonist
encounters an old organ-grinder tottering barefoot on a sheet of
ice. Ignored by everyone except dogs who growl at him, the musician
keeps playing, an outsider grimly carrying on in a bleak, uncaring
world. The wanderer feels inexplicably drawn to him and asks if the
man will accompany his songs.
The song, “Der Leiermann,” is a poignant coda to Schubert’s haunting
song cycle and encapsulates many of its interpretive challenges.
Throughout the 24 songs, the narrator must contrast world-weariness
and resignation with angry flashes of defiance, as if he is battling
fate. It is an assignment handled somewhat differently by Hermann
Prey and Andreas Schmidt in these estimable recordings.
Prey, one of the great lied artists of the past 50 years, is heard
in a live 1978 performance that captures his lyric baritone near the
height of his powers. His slow, almost hesitant singing in “Der
Leirmann” conveys an air of uncertainty about the hurdy-gurdy man
and the musician’s strange pull on the narrator. Schmidt is more
dispassionate in his delivery, as if he was almost preordained to
follow.
In “Fruhlingstraum,” Prey rhapsodizes sweetly about blooming
flowers, meadows and bird calls, his lilting phrases implying a
certain confusion about what he is to make of this sensory feast.
Schmidt is lyrical and sensitive taking in the scene, but strikes
out in more dramatic, lashing lines when he is shaken out of his
reverie. The approach works fine, yet is not particularly
memorable.
Pianist and singer must work as one in this song cycle, and Prey is
helped immensely by the excellent accompanist Irwin Gage. The two
conjure a melancholy picture of the narrator’s favorite linden tree
in “Der Lindenbaum,” its rustling branches urging the wanderer to
come and find peace. Schmidt’s collaborator, Rudolf Jansen, is also
sensitive to the songs’ musical architecture, though at times seems
a bit eager to heighten dynamic contrasts and milk pauses to great
effect.
If there is one complaint, it is that both singers are so at home in
this idiom that their warm, rich baritones sometimes make one forget
the inner anguish the narrator must be feeling. Some might also
find Prey’s voice a tad monochromatic. Schubert wrote this cycle
with a tenor in mind, and a recent release by Ian Bostridge
demonstated how a plaintive, higher-pitched voice can be used to
great effect in this material. Still, it’s hard to quibble with
self-assured interpretations such as these that offer earnest and
mature takes on life’s journey.
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