DVORAK: Zigeunerlieder = Gypsy Melodies, Op. 55; Moravian Duets, Op. 32; Biblical Songs, Op. 99 – Genia Kühmeier, sop./ Bernarda Fink, mezzo-soprano/ Christoph Berner, p. – Harmonia mundi HMC 902081, 65:46 ****:
I don’t know who was luckier in the Bernarda Fink/ Harmonia mundi hookup, the artist or the record company. Whichever it is, the listener seems to benefit the most as Fink’s artistry has been the impetus behind some truly outstanding releases. Here is no different; the seasoned mezzo takes a crack a Dvorak’s most intelligent and creative cycle, the Biblical Songs, using the newly-devised translation that he encountered while teaching at the New York National Conservatory of Music in 1894. Dvorak’s career actually caught fire while because of his lieder composition, a fact that seems strange to us today, used as we are to the Cello Concerto and New World Symphonies, among a ton of other masterpieces. But these sacred texts were to inspire his most noted songs, completely independent in vocal line and accompaniment, and a testament to his innate ability in the genre. Fink sings with passion and understanding, while Christoph Berner understands the sometimes difficult to pull off piano role to a tee.
Paired up with up-and-coming soprano Genia Kühmeier was a fine idea at HM corporate headquarters, and she and Fink have different timbres that complement and support one another in the Moravian Duets which goes far beyond mere parallel thirds in the melodic line. Dvorak’s experimentation to this point led him to an early mastery that also enabled the creation of genuine folk-like music without being tied down to any particularly original melody, and the variance of both lines prove him much more than a slave to current trends, or as one going after the easy buck. Indeed, thanks to future friend and mentor Brahms, these duets became a mainstay publishing effort that opened the door to many endeavors across genres.
The Gypsy Songs are another example of sympathetic fraudulency in that the composer is able to evoke the tone and temperament of this ethnic group without necessarily presenting us native melodies in a literal manner. The rapidly different textual settings evoke the most sympathetic and touching tone from the composer who evidently understood them better than even Brahms, who some years later would create his own set of gypsy songs. Genia Kühmeier is not as forceful or even as hearty in her tone in these works, and I did detect a slight lessening of the vocal quality in the mid-upper range where most of these works settle in; nonetheless hers is a voice of immediacy and refinement, and she definitely knows how to present these colorful and moving vignettes. Altogether a terrific album by three excellent performers!
—Steven Ritter
William Steinberg conducts Mahler Symphony No. 1 – Boston Symphony Orchestra – Forgotten Records
Excellent mid-century live performance of Mahler’s First
