Brahms's songs
Brahms's Songs
Gramophone Choice
Liebestreu, Op 3 No 1. Spanisches Lied, Op 6 No 1. Anklänge, Op 7 No 3. Der Schmied, Op 19 No 4. Vier Lieder, Op 43 – No 1, Von ewiger Liebe; No 2, Die Mainacht. An die Nachtigall, Op 46 No 4. Sonntag, Op 47 No 3. Der Gang zum Liebchen, Op 48 No 1. Fünf Lieder, Op 49 – No 1, Am Sonntag Morgen; No 4, Wiegenlied. Dein blaues Auge, Op 59 No 8. Geheimnis, Op 71 No 3. Fünf Lieder, Op 72 – No 1, Alte Liebe; No 4, Verzagen. Vergebliches Ständchen, Op 84 No 4. Mädchenlied, Op 85 No 3. Sechs Lieder, Op 86 – No 1, Therese; No 2, Feldeinsamkeit. Sapphische Ode, Op 94 No 4. Sieben Lieder, Op 95 – No 1, Das Mädchen; No 2, Bei dir sind meine Gedanken; No 4, Der Jäger; No 6, Mädchenlied. Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht, Op 96 No 1. Nachtigall, Op 97 No 1. Fünf Lieder, Op 105 – No 1, Wie Melodien zieht es mir; No 4, Auf dem Kirchhofe. Ständchen, Op 106 No 1. Fünf Lieder, Op 107 – No 3, Das Mädchen spricht; No 5, Mädchenlied
Bernarda Fink (mez) Roger Vignoles (pf)
Harmonia Mundi HMC90 1926 (63’ · DDD · T/t) Buy from Amazon
‘Bei dir sind meine Gedanken’, one of Brahms’s happiest songs, makes an inviting aperitif. Buoyed by the evanescent shimmer of Roger Vignoles’s accompaniment, Bernarda Fink is all confiding eagerness, phrasing deftly and gracefully, and showing a natural feeling for Brahmsian rubato. One would expect Fink’s warm, luminous mezzo, flecked by darker, deeper tints, to be near ideal for, say, the nostalgia of ‘Alte Liebe’ or the many songs of elegiac loss and heartbreak, all touchingly done here. But having thought of her as an essentially ‘serious’ singer, dignified, eloquent, the vivacity and ‘face’ she brings to ‘Bei dir sind meine Gedanken’ and other lighter songs is sheer delight.
‘Ständchen’, here more sunlit than moonlit, is charmingly characterised, with an affectionate caress on the dreaming girl’s ‘Vergiss nicht mein’. Fink is playfully coquettish without archness in the delicious ‘Spanisches Lied’, and sings ‘Vergebliches Ständchen’ with an outgoing boldness and witty touches of timing – and the tender lingering on the penultimate ‘Mein Knab’ suggests that the boy’s luck may soon be about to change.
Other singers have brought a more intense yearning to ‘Die Mainacht’ and found greater mystery amid the slumberous balm of ‘Feldeinsamkeit’. But Fink’s flowing performances, sensitively shaped and inflected, are never less than satisfying. It is good to be reminded, too, that, for all its melancholy, ‘Die Mainacht’ is also a song of spring, suffused by warm major-key harmonies, with a hint of excited anticipation at the line ‘Wann, o lächelndes Bild’. On the face of it, Fink’s lyric mezzo would seem to be on the light side for ‘Von ewiger Liebe’. But with Vignoles imaginatively ‘orchestrating’ the keyboard part, she gives a finely graded, deeply moving performance, vividly contrasting the contained passion of the boy’s words with the girl’s gentle candour. The glowing climactic avowal of eternal love is truly overwhelming, setting the seal on a Brahms recital of rare distinction.
Additional Recommendations
Vier ernste Gesänge, Op 121. Neun Lieder, Op 69. Sechs Lieder, Op 86. Zwei Lieder, Op 91
Marie-Nicole Lemieux (contr) Nicolò Eugelmi (va) Michael McMahon (pf)
Analekta AN2 9906 (68’ · DDD · T/t) Buy from Amazon
The absorbing six songs that make up Op 86 are all easily encompassed by Marie-Nicole Lemieux, not least because her technique is so secure that she can pay attention to the meaning of each song. ‘Feldeinsamkeit’, so inwardly sung, and ‘Todessehnen’ receive particularly thoughtful readings, all supported finely by Michael McMahon’s perceptive playing. The nine songs of Op 69 are expressly designed for a woman and have their moments, but they’re among the less inspired in Brahms’s large output of Lieder. Not so, of course, the two songs with viola – the admirable Nicolò Eugelmi here. To these gently lulling, timeless pieces, Lemieux brings the sovereign virtues of firm line and apt phrasing. The CD reaches its zenith in Brahms’s last and greatest Lieder, his Vier ernste Gesänge. Lemieux rises to their challenge. The interpretations are properly earnest, but intimate, never overblown. Her partner is again exemplary in his discreet yet positive playing.A natural acoustic adds to the pleasure to be gained from this sensibly planned recital.
Von ewiger Liebe, Op 43 No 1b. An die Nachtigall, Op 46 No 4c. Herbstgefühl, Op 48 No 7c. Neun Lieder, Op 63 – No 5, Junge Lieder I, ‘Meine Liebe ist grün’c; No 8, Heimweh II, ‘O wüsst ich doch den Weg zur’a. Abendregen, Op 70 No 4c. Geheimnis, Op 71 No 3a. Fünf Lieder, Op 72 – No 2, Sommerfädenc; No 3, O kühler Walda; No 4, Verzagenc. Vergebliches Ständchen, Op 84 No 4c. Sechs Lieder, Op 86c – No 2, Feldeinsamkeit; No 3, Nachtwandler. Vier Lieder, Op 96 – Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nachtc; Wir wandeltena; Meerfahrta. Komm bald, Op 97 No 5c. Auf dem Kirchhofe, Op 105 No 4a. Fünf Lieder, Op 106a – No 1, Ständchen; No 5, Ein Wanderer. Fünf Lieder, Op 107a – No 3, Das Mädchen spricht; No 5, Mädchenlied. Mondnachta. Regenlieda
Dame Janet Baker (mez) Ernest Lush, Paul Hamburger (pfs)
BBC Legends mono BBCL4200-2 (70’ · ADD) Recorded 1960; 1961; 1968 Buy from Amazon
Listening to these Brahms songs culled from BBC broadcasts one realises just why Dame Janet’s reputation continues to remain so high and why so many of her successors don’t quite match her standards. To every song here, familiar or unfamiliar, she brings her special ability of making it her own and reaching to its heart. It’s an almost uncanny gift, and not one easy to explain, but it makes every song in this programme momentous. Wondrous is the sustained half-voice with which she invests ‘Nachtwandler’ with its intimate, sad feeling. Then there’s the outpouring of joy that is ‘Meine Liebe ist grün’, to which she brings the most lustrous tone and an outgoing manner, and finally the gentle sense of fun, never overdone, which she brings to the very familiar ‘Vergebliches Ständchen’.
If Brahms had written no other songs than ‘Feldeinsamkeit’, ‘Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht’ and ‘Von ewiger Liebe’, he would surely be hailed as a great Lieder composer. Baker obviously understands their astonishing high quality. The first is sung, as it should be, with a kind of inner wonder, each amazing line given its full due. In the second, a Liebestod avant la lettre, she sings with the proper impassioned feeling, while the last, a happier statement of eternal love, is sung with the rugged conviction that always showed the singer at her very best.
Lush and Hamburger, especially the latter, are fully cognisant of what to do with Brahms’s intricate writing for the piano. The sound is admirable, catching early Baker in full flow.
