The Arte Nova Voices series introduces a number of up-and-coming singers on early solo CDs. In fact, the first disc listed above has a double claim on our attention, as half a dozen of its Reger songs are also making their bow in first recordings. With their heady late-romantic atmosphere, Reger’s Lieder could easily be mistaken for Richard Strauss. The similarity becomes even more striking where the two composers set the same poems, as in Morgen. In this case it is Reger who indulges himself with the more saturated harmonies. The mezzo Frauke May brings a suitably rich and colourful mezzo to this febrile music and is well accompanied, but the singer’s intonation is a recurring problem. There are texts in German, but no translations.
The second of these Arte Nova Voices discs might be thought to have spoiled its chances by choosing such a frequently recorded work as Schubert’s Schwanengesang. After all, the world’s recital halls are already crowded with baritones wanting to sing Lieder, but on the evidence of this disc Christian Gerhaher should not have any difficulty finding a place for himself. His voice takes well to recording: it is even in tone, never strained at the top, and the sound remains expressively alive even when he is singing softly (important for a Lieder singer). At his best, as in the opening lines of ‘Ihr Bild’, the emission of tone is as steady as a cellist drawing a bow across the string. His only mannerism is a tendency to break the line ahead of short words or syllables, which he does for no apparent reason. Alongside the many star recordings of Schwanengesang Gerhaher and his able accompanist Gerold Huber do not try to compete with the big personalities. But they offer a thoroughly well-groomed style of Lieder performance, which is the right place to start.
The third disc enters a very different field. The English tenor John Treleaven is the new Heldentenor on the block – probably the only one, given the perpetual dearth of Wagnerian singers. His name will be familiar from his period with English National Opera in the 1980s, when he sang in everything from Carmen to Oedipus Rex. From there he moved on to the international circuit and is now on the threshold of a career in Wagner, appearing not least as Tristan with Sir Simon Rattle in Amsterdam in February. This recital disc of ‘Wagner’s Heroes’ is his calling-card to opera houses in search of a heroic tenor.
The chances are they will decide they have found one, as there is much of promise here, even where the performances as recorded are not wholly satisfying. It can be difficult to judge the size of a voice from a recording, but Treleaven seems to have sufficient power to ride the orchestra. Unlike most of his current rivals, he does not sound like a character-tenor wearing roles a size too big for him. His voice has warmth and depth, even though the quality tends to vary from note to note. As Siegmund, he strives for the right lyrical ardour, though a slow vibrato sometimes undermines his efforts. His Siegfried is not entirely happy on the top notes, but suggests a convincing heroic dimension. Both roles will improve as he gets inside them and learns to sing the German words not just clearly, but with meaning and character. The accompaniments by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Bratislava under Ivan Anguelov sound like an unsteady run-through. For some reason Siegfried’s Death Scene from Gotterdammerung runs into the Funeral March, but half-way through the music simply stops, suspended mid-phrase in the wrong key – extraordinary! This last track is certainly one to amuse your Wagner-loving friends.
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