BaL 9.06.18 - Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30
Building a Library: Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, by Laura Tunbridge
Schubert's famous song cycle is based on poems by Wilhelm Müller. Along with his other great song cycle, Winterreise, it is one of the summits of the Lieder repertoire. The recordings are a roll-call of nearly all the great Lieder singers who have made recordings over the years.


Available versions:-

Francisco Araiza, Irwin Gage
Josef Baert, Roumania Stantcheva
Olaf Bär, Geoffrey Parsons *
Daniel Behle, Sveinung Bjelland
Erwin Belakowitsch, Stephan Delaney
B Berchtold, I Puryshinskaja
Florian Boesch, Malcolm Martineau
Ian Bostridge, Graham Johnson
Ian Bostridge, Mitsuko Uchida
Pavol Breslik, Amir Katz
Richard Crooks, Frank la Forge
Anton Dermota, Hilde Dermota
Brad Diamond, Dharshini Tambiah
Richard Edgar-Wilson, Joanna Leach
Max van Egmond, Penelope Crawford
Christian Elsner, Ulrich Eisenlohr
John Elwes, Kenneth Slowik
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jörg Demus
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore (Warner mono)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore (Warner stereo)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore (DG)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, András Schiff (DVD)
Nicolai Gedda, Jan Eyro
Shura Gehrman, Nina Walker
Christian Gerhaher, Gerold Huber
James Gilchrist, Anna Tilbrook
Matthias Goerne, Christoph Eschenbach
Matthias Goerne, Eric Schneider *
Werner Güra, Jan Schultsz
Ernst Haefliger, Jorg Ewald Dahler
Ernst Haefliger, Erik Werba *
Uwe Heilmann, James Levine *
Matthias Helm, Duo Hasard (2 guitars)
Dietrich Henschel, Fritz Schwinghammer *
Wolfgang Holzmair, Imogen Cooper *
Wolfgang Holzmair, Geoffrey Parsons
Gerhard Hüsch, Margareta Kilpinen
Jorma Hynninen, Ralf Gothoni
Konrad Jarnot, Alexander Schmalcz
Jonas Kaufmann, Helmut Deutsch
Jan Kobow, Kristian Bezuidenhout
Maarten Koningsberger, Esther Steenbergen & Olga Franssen (guitars)
Jochen Kowalski, Markus Hinterhauser
Karol Kozlowski, Jolanta Pawlik
Jochen Kupfer, Susanne Giesa
Lotte Lehmann, Paul Ulanowsky
Luben Lifschitz, Eric Tappy
Siegfried Lorenz, Norman Shetler *
Kevin McMillan, Warren Jones
Christopher Maltman, Graham Johnson
Hans Jörg Mammel, Arthur Schoonderwoerd
Lois Marshall, Greta Kraus *
Robert Murray, Andrew West
Franz Naval, August Pilz
Mark Padmore, Paul Lewis
Julius Patzak, Walter Klien
Peter Pears, Benjamin Britten
Olle Persson, Mats Bergstrom (guitar) *
Mauro Peter, Helmut Deutsch
Georg Poplutz, Antje Asendorf & Stefan Hladek (guitars) *
Andreas Post, Tatjana Dravenau
Christoph Prégardien, Michael Gees
Christoph Prégardien, Michael Gees (DVD)
Christoph Prégardien, Andreas Staier
Hermann Prey, Leonard Hokanson
Hermann Prey, Leonard Hokanson (DVD/Blu-ray))
Josef Protschka, Helmut Deutsch
Elja Puukko, Risto Lauriala *
Thomas Quasthoff, Justus Zeyen *
Klemens Sander, Uta Sander
Hiroshi Satoi, The Taro Singers (a cappella version) *
Michael Schade, Malcolm Martineau *
Markus Schäfer, Tobias Koch
Andreas Schmidt, Rudolf Jansen
Maximilian Schmitt, Gerold Huber
Rudolf Schock, Gerald Moore
Michael Schopper, Wolfgang Brunner *
Peter Schreier, Walter Olbertz
Peter Schreier, András Schiff *
Peter Schreier, Norman Shetler
Peder Severin, Dorte Kirkeskov *
Bo Skovhus, Stefan Vladar
Nathalie Stutzmann, Inger Södergren
Krzysztof Szmyt, Katarzyna Jankowska *
Roman Trekel, Oliver Pohl
Zeger Vandersteene, Levente Kende
Georgi Vinogradov
Per Vollestad, Liv Glaser
Fritz Wunderlich, Hubert Giesen
Fritz Wunderlich, Kurt Heinz Stolze


(* download only)

[Richard Tarleton]

For absolutely no logical reason I prefer this sung by a tenor and Wintereisse by a baritone...perhaps just what I'm used to. The protagonist of this cycle is rather a drip - the miller's daughter was well out of it. I only have two versions - Schreier/Schiff and DFD/Moore. I saw Schreier perform it with Geoffrey Parsons in the QEH in the early 70s - his voice has that plangent quality which captures the self-pitying tone of the guy perfectly. Actually the narrator in Winterreise could do with a course in positive thinking as well.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

When I was a teenager, my uncle lent me his double LP DF-D 1951 set. I listened to it many times. Since then, all other interpretations have been found wanting.

I suppose I really should get hold of a CD and see whether the magic persists.

[LeMartinPecheur]

EA: there's (yet?) another Peter Schreier version still available in here. with Stephen Zehr (fp), rec. 1980. Guess the fp may give it novelty value at least.



I have this box but not played much of it

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Is it generally available?

[visualnickmos]

Oh, no - NOT Schubert lieder! Just too 'Victorian' posh drawing-room after-dinner entertainment, for me!

[visualnickmos]

The only lieder I have genuine love for is Richard Strauss and Mahler - call me a philistine! Maybe I am….

[LeMartinPecheur]

Is it generally available?

Yes, it's so listed on 'proper' Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Schubert-Li...eder+on+record 17CDs for just £26.84. Clearly one for visualnickmos to snap up!

[teamsaint]

The only lieder I have genuine love for is Richard Strauss and Mahler - call me a philistine! Maybe I am….

Looks like you are more of a fill-a-stein, Mossy.

Cheers.

( Looking forward to this, one....)


PS, tell me I am wrong, but is there a strong tendency for BaL to give the Baroque/Choral/song stuff to women reviewers, and the big Romantic/Classical/C20 orchestral stuff to men ?

[richardfinegold]

I got to know this via Wunderlich on DG. Frankly, I really didn’t care what he was singing about (and tend to agree with Richard T), but that voice! Every time I hear another singer in the work I become impatient wishing it was Fritz...

[LMcD]

Will the top recording from among the many available be declared the Lieder of the Pack?

[verismissimo]

In my rather vast collection of Schubert Lieder LPs and CDs, I have only two Miller cycles, neither of them in Alpie's fine list:

Julius Patzak with Michael Raucheisen in 1943
Ian Partridge with Jennifer Partridge in 1973

Time for something more recent, I think.

[mikealdren]

My one and only recording with Gérard Souzay isn't there either.

[visualnickmos]

Looks like you are more of a fill-a-stein, Mossy.Cheers.

( Looking forward to this, one....)


PS, tell me I am wrong, but is there a strong tendency for BaL to give the Baroque/Choral/song stuff to women reviewers, and the big Romantic/Classical/C20 orchestral stuff to men ?

PS Yes, I think there is such a tendency. Are they (women reviewers) paid less?

[Mal]

Oh, no - NOT Schubert lieder! Just too 'Victorian' posh drawing-room after-dinner entertainment, for me! ... call me a philistine.

I also find it difficult to warm to Lieder. But is it really the "posh Victorian" aspect that's the problem? The posh Victorians also had chamber music in the drawing room. Are you going to dismiss Beethoven's string quartets for being too posh and Victorian? And, as the drawing room is unlikely to be the culprit, are you also going to dismiss all orchestral and Operatic music before Mahler?

So let's dig deeper, like Schubert digging into the text of a minor poet on one of his off days, and ask, why Lieder *really* inspires that "Oh No!" reaction in many classical music lovers.

For me, Lieder are just too simple - a singer and a piano, and the pianist isn't doing much. No Lieder has anything like the variety and complexity and excitement of Beethoven's sonatas! I like lots of things going on—the many strands of a symphony or tone poem, a seething orchestra; the four voices of a string quartet, joining, parting, joining again in an endless web. Texture, density, multiple lines, and an overwhelming, engulfing sound—that’s what I like.

Also there's all that German romantic poetry to put up with, usually written by a minor poet. Brooks, millers, maidens, deaths, swans, endless tears, it quickly palls!

In summary, I'm not calling you a philistine for dismissing Lieder, I'm calling you someone with a taste for better things, unlike the current producer of BAL & Record Review who seems to be obsessed with Lieder. We had Britten's Winter Words just a couple of weeks ago, now we get a Schubert cycle. One lieder cycle a year is enough, surely!