Search - Fischer-Dieskau, Richter :: Wolf: Mörike Lieder [Germany]

AN OUTSTANDING DUO...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 07/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

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Along with the Spanisches Liderbuch Wolf: Spanish Songbook and the Italienisches Liderbuch Wolf: Italienisches Liederbuch , scholars and critics have long recognized the Mörike-Liederbuch Wolf: Mörike-Lieder Wolf: Lieder & Orchesterwerke as Hugo Wolf's magnum opus.



The diminutive Wolf (1860-1903) was a companion of Mahler--(in fact, their life-spans were closely identical). Wolf caught the spirochete in his late-teens, probably his first time out with a Viennese prostitute. Hugo Wolf



(Syphilis effects its victims in differing ways: some, it kills quickly; others, it little troubles; some, it drives mad. Prior to the mid-20th Century, it was a certain death-sentence. Many of the greats we know had syphilis: Flaubert, Baudelaire, and Maupassant, for example. Others we strongly suspect: e.g., Schubert, Schumann, Nietzsche, and Wilde. Pox: Genius, Madness, and the Mysteries of Syphilis )



In Wolf's case, contraction of the disease sent an already highly-strung artistic personality into a tail-spin which resulted in periods of both quasi-mania and depression. In his euphoric periods he could be remarkably productive, composing as many a three songs per day; in the depressive slumps, nix.



The complete Mörike-Liederbuch comprises 53 songs. This recording is from a live Austrian concert performance in 1973. Withal, the disc runs about :54mins.--just the length of a recital. The "dream team" duo here are splendid: Richter always worked best with an audience, and Fischer-Dieskau gives an white-hot electrifying performance. Most important is the fact that they work well together, for not infrequently great artists find it difficult to work with others. Really, they swing like a fine jazz duo--each conscious of the other's playing/singing. (Other recordings of their joint aesthetic realizations may be available, for they worked together for many years. For a superb recording of Richter's rare studio sessions see Johannes Brahms: Piano Sonata No.1 and No.2 .) It must be quickly added that the recording itself is pristine, wondrously spatial, and without audience noise--and most gratefully--WITHOUT APPLAUSE.



As to the songs, Eduard Mörike was a Protestant pastor in Swabia--that is, between Stuttgart and Munich: the very heart of central Europe. And his gentle and sometimes witty pastoral poetry reflects the mind and heart of European civilization in the later-19th Century. His main topoi are love (both Eros and Agapéo) and death (Thanatos), drawn with a respect for human dignity and integration with the natural environment--Cosmos, in other words. German Verse, The Penguin Book of: Parallel Text Edition (Parallel Text, Penguin)



As to Wolf's settings, he had enormous respect for the poesy itself, insisting that the poem be read aloud before the lied is sung. And then, Wolf's achievement was to synthesize Schubert and Wagner unto a new vision of art-song, leading unto Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. Schubert: Lieder Schönberg & Berg: Lieder Like Schubert, Wolf had an innate sensibility to choose the unique small cells pregnant with expression to suggest musical analogues to the poem's logos. Too, he was a master of the little postlude in conclusion. And then, his tonal palette was exceptionally chromatic and colourful, combined with intriguing and unexpected rhythms: this is what makes his small corpus so exceptional.

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