Search - Wolf, Upshaw, Bar :: Italian Songbook

A pretty puzzle among song cycles.

B. Marold | Bethlehem, PA United States | 07/22/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The 'Italienisches Liederbuch' has always been a puzzle to me, as a devoted listener to German Lieder from Schubert to Mahler and Zemlinsky, but my casual listening to this work always puzzled me. The style of music is quite clearly nothing like Italian songs, and they are all written in German. Now I know Wolf was the last great Lieder specialist, so he must have had something up his sleeve.



Just as I resort to reading the directions after all putzing around with software installation fails, I read the liner notes and discover that the Italian influence is in the style of lyrics, written by Paul Heyse. All the short pieces (46 in all) roughly alternate between male (Olaf Bar) and female (Dawn Upshaw) pieces and there is some degree of conversation between the two parts.



Reading the text, I also detect that the subject matter is distinctly Italian, with food, wine, and carnal appetites being high on the list of subjects (unlike the very sentimental German take on love).



I am generally fond of Dawn Upshaw's singing, but she is clearly a lightweight, and does not do as good a job as, for example Anne Sophie Von Otter does with Wolf's 'Spanisches Liederbuch'.



The work is so interesting, this rendition encourages me to seek out additional interpretations. Stay tuned!"