Brahms Lieder

Fink, Bernarda

album cover

The World's Greatest Lullaby, and Then Some

To see if these often-overlooked Brahms songs are your thing, start at the very end. That's where Argentine soprano Bernarda Fink interprets the most famous song the German composer ever wrote, "Wiegenlied," better known as the Brahms Lullaby. Though it's not technically demanding, the piece is nonetheless a formidable challenge to perform—that music-box theme is so fragile, the slightest extravagant gesture can yank it right out of the nursery.

Fink, who was initially discouraged by her family from pursuing a performance career, understands this. She treats "Wiegenlied" as a song, not a showpiece. Her radiant, smooth voice sets the tone, and she sails forth on calm seas, maintaining a mood of soothing intimacy. There are no opera-diva eruptions here—or, for that matter, anywhere on this set, which features Fink accompanied by her frequent collaborator, pianist Roger Vignoles. Rather, Fink creates drama out of gentle, understated hues: Listening to "Old Love," for example, it's possible to pick up all sorts of mixed emotions in her reading of the line "There's a knock at my door but no one is outside." She begins with a tone of apprehension, which morphs into expectation, then a kind of wild hope. As on many of these pieces, Fink is theatrical in a sly, understated way.

A contemporary of the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Fink is well equipped to bring Brahms's often demanding songs to a wider audience. The composer is known mostly for his hefty symphonies and instrumental works, but according to the Grove Dictionary, Brahms led a women's choir for a time, and between 1851 and 1886 published thirty-one volumes of songs—including 196 solo songs, duets, and small-scale choral works. Much of that material has been neglected by modern singers, who gravitate to his late Four Serious Songs or his lighter fare. With this collection, Fink gathers some of the most expansive pieces in Brahms's book—to hear the protean melodist at peak, cue up the haunting "Wie Melodien zieht es mir" and "Von ewiger Liebe." Through her measured readings, Fink makes these feel as familiar, and as beautiful, as that ubiquitous lullaby.

Genre: Classical
Released: 2007, Harmonia Mundi
Key Tracks: "Wiegenlied," "Wie Melodien zieht es mir," "Von ewiger Liebe."
Another Interpretation: Deutsche Volkslieder, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Catalog Choice: Canciones Argentinas
Next Stop: Frida Leider: Lebendige Vergangenheit
After That: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: Handel Arias
Book Pages: 276–277