SCHUBERT: Schwanegesang, D. 957; Piano Sonata in B-flat, D. 960 – Matthias Goerne, bar./ Christoph Eschenbach, p. – Harmonia mundi (2 CDs)

by | Sep 5, 2012 | Classical CD Reviews

SCHUBERT: Schwanegesang, D. 957; Piano Sonata in B-flat, D. 960 – Matthias Goerne, baritone/ Christoph Eschenbach, p. – Harmonia mundi HMC 902139.40 (2 CDs), 1:50:40 ****:
This is a two-CD set though the second disc is advertised as a “bonus”; I suppose there is no need to waste much time on the sonata here. Actually, Eschenbach’s reading is quite mundane, neither rising to great emotional heights nor probing any of the depths associated with this work. It is by any account a very uninteresting reading, wallowing in self-indulgence and unable to make a cogent argument for itself, very emotionally neutral. This is quite a surprise coming from this pianist.
The main attraction, Schubert’s contrived-after-death song cycle Schwanegesang, consisting of selected songs that use three different poets as their basis, is, despite the willy-nilly collection and lack of any unified thematic construct, a mainstay of the repertory and a brilliant cycle of independent songs. It’s most often taken on by baritones though many tenors engage it also. Harmonia mundi now adds a baritone version to a previously-issued fine account by Werner Gura. Matthias Goerne finds himself in the middle of a Schubert series of his own devising, of which this is the sixth volume, and it has been very well received in these pages.
This volume is a little more opaque in nature, the sound coming across as cluttered in a few of the songs, with Goerne crooning in a low range that makes a clear enunciation of the syllables impossible to discern. He almost whispers in a few of these pieces and the microphones fail to capture him clearly. Eschenbach is not exactly a sharp-edged pianist—he never has been—and his own tonal qualities play into this problem. Taken alone, neither of these characteristics would be an issue, and even here it is only noticeable in a few places. Otherwise, Eschenbach is a masterly accompanist who understands the music of Schubert to a fault and is able to convey this through his very supple and sensitive partnering with Goerne.
The baritone cannot really compete with Fischer-Dieskau in this music; that recording remains a very definitive and top-of-the-pack event. But Goerne has his own ideas about the music and puts them forth with confidence and persuasion. That, in the end, is what sells this recording. By the way, the two performers decided to add yet another Ludwig Rellstab setting: “Herbst” as the sixth song in this presentation, which melancholy does fit in with the rest of the cycle, though some will balk at this violation of the “purity” of Schwanegesang—contrived though it actually is. A fine disc.
—Steven Ritter

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