12 Lieder, Moments musicaux

Schubert, Franz

album cover

Day Becomes Night, in a Heartbeat

Some composers take an entire movement to tell a story. All Franz Schubert (1797–1828) needs is one well-deployed chord change. He slides from major to minor at an unexpected moment, and suddenly everything shifts: Day becomes deep night, and what began as a pleasant tune develops a tempestuous undercurrent. The music of "Die junge nonne" lilts along in a bubble of serenity until the melody seems ready to end, fully resolved. But Schubert doesn't let go so easily; holding on to a series of tense suspended chords, he slows down the procession in a way that prolongs the conclusion.

Schubert's primary medium was song; some consider him the father of the modern art song. These pieces, sung with authority by German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, show how he expanded the rigid form— usually ABA or ABAB—with gentle shifts of tonality and temperament. He arranged his songs into cycles, loosely linked "concept albums" centered on a theme; one set, "Winterreise," follows a man's progression into delirium as he walks out into the snow to die. It's heavy, chilling stuff. This set culls twelve of Schubert's stellar songs from different groupings, many of them written in the last eighteen months of his life.

Schwarzkopf understands that Schubert's schemes require open sky, and yet never flies at such elevation as to lose contact with pianist Edwin Fischer's anchoring accompaniment. Her singing illuminates Schubert's heady qualities. So, for that matter, does Fischer, both in the lieder and the fantastic "Moments musicaux" that close the disc. The piano piece, again an interconnected cycle, is notable for its shadows and understated sense of lyricism. Fischer treats it with spiritual reverence; at times, it sounds like he's playing a mass. His deep, carefully distilled phrasing celebrates the supremely organic singing quality of Schubert's lines, as though he's arguing that the composer is worthy of awe, not just admiration.

Genre: Classical
Released: 1953, EMI
Key Tracks: "Nachtviolin," "Die junge nonne," "Das lied im grünen," "Moments musicaux."
Buyer Beware: There are many versions of Schubert lieder sung by Schwarzkopf; another on EMI, in the Great Recordings of the Century series, offers twenty-four lieder, but not "Moments musicaux"
Next Stop: Edwin Fischer: Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2, Berlin Philharmonic (Wilhelm Furtwängler, cond.)
After That: Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
Book Page: 678