Vocal & Choral
Mahler
DasLiedvonderErde
Jonas Kaufmannt, Vienna
Philharmonic/Jonathan Nott
SONY 88985389832
★★★★✩When Mahler composed his great orchestral
songcyclein1909,healmostcertainlyknewhe
hadn’tlongtolive.Avoidingthedreaded‘curse
of the ninth’, he labelled it “Eine Symphonie
füreineTenorundeineAlt(oderBariton)
StimmeundOrchester”,thus
sanctioningtheuseoftwomale
voices,ratherthanthetraditional
male-female coupling. Rejected
bytheauthoritativeBrunoWalter
as an inadequate solution, it
was Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
who began to popularise casting a
baritoneinthework,butuntilnowno
onesingerhasattemptedthefullsixsongs.
JonasKaufmannhashadsomepretty
scathing reviews for his Herculean attempt,
most of them smacking of pre-determined
opposition to the concept by self-styled Mahler
‘experts’.That’sapity,ashisbeautifullyrecorded
version taken from live performances at Vienna’s
Musikvereinhasagreatdealtooffer,notleast
ofwhichareKaufmann’stextualinsights,and
therevelatoryqualitiesofJonathanNott’s
interrogationofMahler’sorchestrations.
It’s an admitted experiment, but Kaufmann’s
uniquely ‘dark’ tenor ensures sufficient timbral
contrastbetweenthehigh,strenuous‘tenor’
songswiththeirbitterfocusondrinkingandthe
shallownessoflife,andthelyrical‘alto’songs,
which spin their autumnal tales of love and loss.
Yes, vocally, Kaufmann is no Wunderlich,
able to fly easy and high above the crowd,
but who is? The openingDrinking Song of the
Earth’s Sorrowis effortful, as it should be, but
Kaufmann still manages to do more with
thetextthan,say,themoreobviously
heroic James King, and he’s head
andshouldersabovethelikesof
KolloorPatzak,forallthelatter’s
pungent characterisation.
Itisthealtosongs,however,
that people will listen to most
sceptically, and it’s here that
Kaufmann’s special baritonal qualities
comeintoplay.Withthelineslyinginthe
relatively effortless part of the voice (and with
theexceptionofacoupleofawkwardlownotes),
Kaufmann is able to caress and float phrases at
will, entering into the composer’s melancholier
reflections at his leisure. Nott plays his part too,
offering a ‘what Mahler wrote’ interpretation
free from unnecessary histrionics. You might
misssomeoftheswingofaWalteroraBernstein
in the bravura sections, but instrumental
textures revealed in the second, fourth and final
movements genuinely ravish the ear.
An intriguing journey then, and in its own
wayuniquelycohesive.Assuch,itdeserves
repeated listening, especially for Kaufmann
andNott’shypnotic,valedictoryrendition of
the finalAbschied.Clive PagetSYMPHONY FOR ONE
Kaufmann flies solo in Mahler’s epicSong of the Earth
Liszt
Lieder
Timothy Fallont,
Ammiel Bushakevitzp
BIS BIS2272 (SACD)
★★★★A cracking debut from a prize-
winning American recital duoThe US tenor Timothy Fallon
seems poised on the cusp of fame,
judgingfromthedebutrelease
with his regular recital partner
the Israeli-South African pianist
Ammiel Bushakevitz. The duo
appear regularly at London’s
WigmoreHall,winningthe2013
Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation
International Song Competition.
Fallon is also making a name in
Europe where he appears regularly
with Oper Leipzig and he is heard
on a couple of Pentatone’s Wagner
series under Marek Janowski.
Finedictionandalovelyclear
higher register even across all
thedynamics,fromalovelysotto
voceto full-bloodedfortissimos,
are qualities he brings to this BIS
recording of 15 songs by Franz
Liszt. His expressive voice is
nimble and nuanced and he pays
greatattentiontothetext,teasing
out the subtle colours and shades
while Bushakevitz’s sensitive piano
keepsmomentumgoing.They
work seamlessly together and there
is plenty of scope for dramatic
stretch, with the standoutDrei
LiederausSchillersWilhelmTelland
the three Petrarch sonnet settings
both offering plenty of emotional
shifts and experimental harmonies.
Thedisccovers40yearsofLiszt’s
output and takes in four languages,
with settings of Victor Hugo and
Tennyson also on the programme.
This album is special and
whets the appetite for what Fallon
mightproduceinthefuture–
Schubert, Wolf and more Wagner
and Strauss operas, you would
imagine.Steve MoffattKaufmann’s
uniquely ‘dark’ tenor
ensures timbral
contrasts between
tenor and alto80 LIMELIGHT MAY 2017 http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au
OREVIEWS