Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Lied Edition
Peter Schreier (tenor)
Norman Shetler (piano)
rec. 1972-1974, Lukaskirche, Dresden.
Reviewed as download from press preview.
Berlin Classics 0302928BC [5 CDs: 259]
Peter Schreier was for many years an assiduous horticulturist in the garden of German lieder, and his recorded legacy is a valuable part of the tradition that had its roots in the first half of the 20th century with singers like Heinrich Schlusnus and Karl Erb, and after WW2 developed further, spearheaded by, among others, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Not every commentator has accepted the greatness of D-F-D and Schreier – and some other “iconic” singers as well – but by and large it is fair to say that their contributions have had great impact on the genre.
Schumann’s songs were close to Peter Schreier’s heart, and he often returned to them. In his late 60s, he rerecorded the three great song cycles with András Schiff at the piano, with the voice still in fine condition (review). The 113 songs that constitute the present box, were recorded in the Lukaskirche in his hometown of Dresden in the early 1970s, when he was at the height of his powers, and were issued on five LPs. They were later transferred to CD and in 2015 collected in a 4-CD-box issued by Brilliant Classics. I reviewed that, and having now sampled a random number of songs, I can safely maintain that what I wrote then, eight years ago, is confirmed by what I hear now. I have thus decided to reprint that review with minor adjustments. Let me first say that the layout of the two boxes differs, since in the Brilliant box the 259 minutes of music are squeezed onto 4 well-filled discs, while in the new box, each of the five original LPs is transferred onto its own disc:
I don’t think I exaggerate if I state that Peter Schreier, among tenors, was the pre-eminent interpreter of German lieder during the second half of the twentieth century. His voice, in particular during the late part of his career, wasn’t the most beautiful – there were several lyric tenors in his generation that were his superior in that respect. However, his verbal acuity, his ability to adjust the colour of the tone in order to express feelings and atmosphere and his sense for nuance set him apart from almost any other singer during that period. And the period was long indeed. As early as June 1945, only a couple of months after the destruction of Dresden, he became a member of the famous Dresdner Kreuzchor — he was soon to celebrate his tenth birthday. He then became a soloist and within a couple of years also a recording artist, until his voice broke in 1951. From then on, he studied to become a professional tenor and made his debut in August 1959, when he took the role of the First prisoner in Fidelio. He left the opera stage in June 2000, after a career of almost 39 years, but continued as a concert singer, until 22 December 2005 when he both conducted and was the Evangelist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Prague. During these years his voice changed surprisingly little and listening again to a disc with Schumann’s song-cycles, recorded in 2002 it is actually difficult to decide which version was recorded in 1972 and which in 2002.
I heard him in Dichterliebe in Stockholm well-nigh thirty-five years ago and found his approach very much to my liking. Listening now to this reading, recorded some twenty years earlier, when he was still a fairly young man, I reacted to the surprisingly slow tempo in Im wunderschönen Monat Mai. Comparing this with an old favourite of mine, Danish tenor Aksel Schiøtz, who recorded the cycle with Gerald Moore in 1946, I found that Schreier took half a minute longer for a song that, even at Schreier’s tempo, lasts only 1:43; this is a considerable difference. When I proceeded through the cycle, I noted that in most songs their timings were almost identical, but in some key songs Schreier was markedly slower: Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome, Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen and even more Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen, where Schreier is a full minute slower, clocking in at 2:43. Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet also differs a lot. In the final song, Die alten, bösen Lieder, the difference is again a whole minute, but that is a very long song, 5:20 in Peter Schreier’s reading. What matters more than timings is however how the listener experiences these differences. Is Schreier dragging? No – that is not my feeling. His deep involvement and the hushed intensity in his declamation invest the text and music with such importance that any criticism is silenced. Schiøtz’s reading is perfectly valid in its own right, and so is Schreier’s. Just out of curiosity I took out another dozen recordings and checked timings and the outcome of this was that Schreier is extremely slow in several of the songs mentioned above. An even more illuminating comparison was with his own last (?) recording of Dichterliebe, made in 2002 with András Schiff. The singer was then 67 and as fresh of voice as thirty years earlier and – lo and behold – all these songs I discussed above were markedly faster. Die alten, bösen Lieder took 3:59 — a good deal faster. All three versions are enormously satisfying, Schiøtz the more overtly beautiful, but beauty of tone is less important in Lieder than in opera. We need only remember an even older tenor than Schiøtz, possibly the best Liedersinger before the second world war, Karl Erb. He was also more concerned with interpretation than with pure beauty. He never recorded Dichterliebe, but it is worth the effort to search out his recordings of Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Wolf from, mostly, the late 1930s. He was around 60 then but interpretatively on the same level as Schreier. A two-CD set on Preiser (PR89208) is well worth tracking down.
The gist of the discussion above is that differences in approach need not imply differences in quality. This Dichterliebe should satisfy even the most discriminating connoisseur. This also goes for the other two cycles, Liederkreis Op 24 and Op 39. Here again the 2002 recordings are in many individual songs faster. Besides the 37 songs that constitute the three cycles, there are another 75 from various groups that Schreier for some reason preferred not to record in their entirety. These 75 are just as idiomatically performed. I am full of admiration for the consistency of Schreier’s singing – consistency in this case means that he treats each song according to its contents. Just to pick a couple of songs at random: listen to his magical legato in Der Nussbaum, inward and warm, and the liveliness of Freisinn that follows. Seasoned collectors and lovers of Schumann’s art will find most of their favourites in readings that probably challenge anything that they already have. For those who are only familiar with the most well-known of his songs, there will be revelations aplenty. Some of the “new” songs may need a couple of hearings to reveal their greatness, but they are worth the effort. More immediate are perhaps the Fünf Lieder Op. 40, even though the second of them, Muttertraum, is uncommonly chromatic for Schumann. Der Soldat and Der Spielmann are charming and Verratene Liebe is quite irresistible. Here also is one of Schumann’s most touching songs, the Rückert setting Der Himmel hat eine Träne geweint, followed by Ich hab’ in mich gezogen and don’t miss Zum Schluss.
There are more gems. Zwölf Gedichte von Justinus Kerner, Op 35 is a longstanding favourite. I thought nobody would ever outdo Thomas Hampson, but Schreier is possibly even more involved. No 2, Stirb, Lied’ und Freund’! is heart-rending in Schreier’s hands, Auf das Trinkglas eines verstorbenen Freundes (No 6) is magical and Stille Tränen is so exquisitely interpreted. At first hearing, this group of songs — it isn’t really a song-cycle — may seem rather alien to those who only know the “usual” Schumann. They are more akin to Brahms’ late songs. Give them a chance and they will open up and Schreier is the best possible guide into this new world.
Also lend an ear to the inwardly sung Schneeglöcken. Finally, Schreier takes us to the realm of darkness in Sechs Gedichte von Nikolaus Lenau und Requiem. These were among the earliest Schumann songs I got to know, back in the 1960s, through a Philips LP with Gérard Souzay. I played Dichterliebe on side one over and over again, tears running every time I got to Wenn ich in deine Augen seh’ and it took me some time to turn the disc over to the Lenau side. Perplexed at first – is this the same composer? – but repeated listening won me over and today this group belongs among my desert island songs … and Schreier is great here.
These recordings were originally produced by VEB Deutsche Schallplatten, which was the only record company in the German Democratic Republic. In the West, they were also available on Deutsche Grammophon through a licence agreement.
These 50-year-old recordings are classics and admirers of Schumann and Peter Schreier should own them – but the documentation is scanty.
Readers who already own the Brilliant box can safely stick to it, but those who don’t, should definitely consider a purchase. The hang up is the scant documentation. There are no sung texts enclosed and the download I got was accompanied by a thin folder with an homage to Peter Schreier and Norman Shetler in German and English, but no track-list. With kind help from Arabella Christian of RSK Entertainment, I am able to provide this information (see below).
Göran Forsling
Help us financially by purchasing from
Contents
CD 1
Dichterliebe, Op 48
No 1, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai
No 2, Aus meinen Tränen sprießen
No 3, Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne
No 4, Wenn ich in deine Augen seh’
No 5, Ich will meine Seele tauchen
No 6, Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome
No 7, Ich grolle nicht
No 8, Und wüßten’s die Blumen, die Kleinen
No 9, Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen
No 10, Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen
No 11, Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen
No 12, Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen
No 13, Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet
No 14, Allnächtlich im Traume
No 15, Aus alten Märchen winkt es
No 16, Die alten, bösen Lieder
Liederkreis, Op 24
No 1, Morgens steh’ ich auf und frage
No 2, Es treibt mich hin
No 3, Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen
No 4, Lieb’ Liebchen, leg’s Händchen
No 5, Schöne Wiege meiner Leiden
No 6, Warte, warte, wilder Schiffsmann
No 7, Berg’ und Burgen schaun herunter
No 8, Anfangs wollt ich fast verzagen
No 9, Mit Myrten und Rosen
CD 2
Liederkreis, Op 39
No 1, In der Fremde
No 2, Intermezzo
No 3, Waldesgespräch
No 4, Die Stille
No 5, Mondnacht
No 6, Schöne Fremde
No 7, Auf einer Burg
No 8, In der Fremde
No 9, Wehmut
No 10, Zwielicht
No 11, Im Walde
No 12, Frühlingsnacht
Myrthen, Op 25
No 7, Die Lotosblume
No 21, Was will die einsame Träne?
No 24, Du bist wie eine Blume
5 Lieder und Gesänge, Op 127
No 2, Dein Angesicht, so lieb und schön
4 Gesänge, Op 142
No 2, Lehn deine Wang’ an meine Wang
No 4, Mein Wagen rollet langsam
6 Gedichte, Op 36
No 4, An den Sonnenschein
Lieder und Gesänge, Op 51
No 3, Ich wandre nicht
Lieder und Gesänge, Book 3, Op 77
No 1, Der frohe Wandersmann
3 Gesänge, Op 83
No 3, Der Einsiedler
Myrthen, Op 25
No 3, Der Nussbaum
CD 3
Myrthen, Op 25
No 1, Widmung
No 25, Aus den östlichen Rosen
Lieder und Gesange, Book 1, Op 27
No 4, Jasminenstrauch
3 Gedichte, Op 30
No 1, Der Knabe mit dem Wunderhorn
No 2, Der Page
No 3, Der Hidalgo
Lieder und Gesänge, Book 2, Op 51
No 1, Sehnsucht
5 Lieder, Op 40
No 1, Märzveilchen
No 2, Muttertraum
No 3, Der Soldat
No 4, Der Spielmann
No 5, Verratene Liebe
Myrthen, Op 25
No 2, Freisinn
No 5, Sitz’ ich allein
No 6, Setze mir nicht, du Grobian
No 8, Talismane
6 Gedichte und Requiem, Op 90
No 1, Lied eines Schmiedes
No 2, Meine Rose
No 3, Kommen und Scheiden
No 4, Die Sennin
No 5, Einsamkeit
No 6, Der schwere Abend
No 7, Requiem
CD 4
12 Gedichte, Op 35
No 1, Lust der Sturmnacht
No 2, Stirb, Lieb’ und Freud
No 3, Wanderlied
No 4. Erstes Grün
No 5, Sehnsucht nach der Waldgegend
No 6, Auf das Trinkglas eines verstorbenen Freundes
No 7, Wanderung
No 8. Stille Liebe
No 9, Frage
No 10, Stille Tränen
No 11, Wer machte dich so krank?
No 12, Alte Laute
5 Lieder und Gesänge, Op 127
No 1, Sängers Trost
No 2, Schneeglöckchen
No 3, Ihre Stimme
12 Gedichte aus Liebesfrühling, Op 37
No 1, Der Himmel hat eine Träne geweint
No 5, Ich hab’ in mich gesogen
No 8, Flügel! Flügel! Um zu fliegen
CD 5
Romanzen und Balladen I, Op 45
No 2. Frühlingsfahrt
Lieder und Gesänge I, Op 27
No 5. Nur ein lächelnder Blick
6 Gedichte, Op 36
No 2. Ständchen
Spanisches Liederspiel, Op 74
No 7. Geständnis
3 Gesänge, Op 95
No 2. An den Mond
Lieder und Gesänge III, Op 77
No 3. Geisternähe
Romanzen und Balladen III, Op 53
No 3. Der arme Peter wankt vorbei
Liederalbum für die Jugend, Op 79
No 7. Zigeunerliedchen
No 8. Jeden Morgen, in der Frühe
4 Gesänge, Op 142
No 3. Mädchen-Schwermut
Lieder und Gesänge IV, Op 96
No 1. Nachtlied
Liederalbum für die Jugend, Op 79
No 4. Frühlingsgruß
Spanische Liebeslieder, Op 138
No 3. O wie lieblich ist das Mädchen
No 7. Weh, wie zornig ist das Mädchen
Liederalbum für die Jugend, Op 79
No 14. Marienwürmchen
Minnespiel, Op 101
No 1. Meine Töne still und heiter
Romanzen und Balladen III, Op 53
No 2. Lorelei
Minnespiel, Op 101
No 4. Mein schöner Stern!
Spanische Liebeslieder, Op 138
No 5. Flutenreicher Ebro
Lieder und Gesänge III, Op 77
No 5. Aufträge
Myrthen, Op 25 “Venezianische Lieder”
No 17. Leis’ rudern hier
No 18. Wenn durch die Piazetta die Abendluft weht
Myrthen, Op 25
No 26. Hier in diesen erdbeklommnen Lüften
