Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Winterreise, D.911, Op 89
John Carol Case (baritone)
Raymond Calcraft (piano)
rec. live, 9 May 1973, Wesley Central Hall, Portsmouth, UK. AAD
German texts & English translations included
SOMM Recordings Ariadne5023 [72]
This CD has been issued to mark the centenary of the distinguished British baritone, John Carol Case (1923-2012). I must admit that until I read the very interesting notes by Raymond Calcraft, I had not appreciated that Case retired as early as 1976 when he was just 53 years old. Calcraft says that he felt that by then he had achieved what he wanted to do as a singer; I believe, though, that he continued as a teacher for some years after his retirement.
I should explain the background to this particular recording, which is set out in the notes. The recital in question was part of the 1973 Portsmouth Festival. This festival was established in 1971 and Raymond Calcraft was closely involved in the organisation. (Calcraft pursued a career not only as a pianist but also as a conductor; he studied with Sir Adrian Boult in the 1960s.) Case came to the rescue in 1971, stepping in to give a programme of English song in place of Wilfrid Brown who died suddenly just a month before the inaugural Festival. Case’s successful appearance led to further invitations to the Portsmouth Festival. Calcraft developed a good relationship with Case to the extent that the singer invited him to play for his final recital in March 1976.
It was Calcraft who suggested to Case that he might sing Winterreise at the 1973 Portsmouth Festival. Surprisingly, perhaps, Case had never sung the cycle; so, what we hear on this disc is, I presume, his first public performance, though the two musicians gave a prior private performance to a select group of friends. I believe that the present recording was made at the behest of Raymond Calcraft, though without any intention of commercial release.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this recording. For one thing, to the best of my recollection, I’ve never heard John Carol Case singing Lieder. I have, though, heard him in several recordings of British music. It’s often appeared to me – and I did some checking just to remind myself – that though his singing was technically excellent he could sound a bit formal; that formality of style is apparent, for instance, in his contributions to the Boult recordings of Elgar’s The Apostles and A Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams. Doing a little web research just before writing this review, I came across an obituary of Case from The Independent, which I had not previously seen. There, reference was made to his “sometimes slightly parsonical manner on the concert platform”, though the author, Garry Humphreys went on to balance this by referencing Case’s sense of humour. I was, therefore, somewhat relieved to find that I was not alone in my perception of a degree of formality. That said, Case could undoubtedly be expressive. My prime example of this is his 1970s recording of Finzi’s Let us Garland bring. I expressed reservations about Case’s overall performance in my review. However, I singled out for special praise his account of the great song ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’. I have never heard a singer deliver the mysterious stanza ‘No exorciser harm thee…’ with the imaginative expression which Case brought to it; his delivery of the word ‘witchcraft’ is printed indelibly in my memory.
Happily, I found that there was a great deal to admire and enjoy in this performance. The Independent obituary already cited, also included the following comment: “His main preoccupations at the English Song Award were with the singers’ diction and with their understanding (or, distressingly often, their lack of it) of the text.” This account of Winterreise is distinguished by great clarity of diction and of voice production. Case’s voice is forwardly and evenly produced and he consistently takes great care over both the musical line and the meaning of the words. In terms of the musical line he’s aided by excellent breath control.
All these qualities are in evidence right from the start in ‘Gute Nacht’. In addition, I was delighted to hear the excellent production of the very top of Case’s vocal range (especially in the fourth stanza). By contrast, the second stanza of ‘Gefrorne Tränen’ shows that his bottom notes are solid. I like the way Case uses dynamic contrast to bring ‘Die Wetterfahne’ to life. These are examples of excellent technique at the service of the music; interpretative imagination is also a feature, though. I noticed this, for example, in the wide range of expression that Case deploys in ‘Erstarrung’. This prompted me to wonder if live performance – and possibly the experience of his first public performance of a work new to his repertoire – liberated him, whereas he may have felt more inhibited by the drive for perfection in the recording studio.
Moving further into the cycle, I admired his account of ‘Auf dem Flusse’ and especially the way he brings a chill to his voice at the passage beginning ‘Liegst kalt und unbeweglich’. On the other hand, for some reason which I can’t quite pin down I had the sense that he wasn’t quite comfortable in ‘Irrlicht’. Both singer and pianist give an expressive rendition of ‘Der greise Kopf’; here, again, I wondered if Case would have been more inhibited in a recording studio.
I liked the intense account of ‘Der Wegweiser’. Then, in that great song ‘Das Wirtshaus’ Case’s command of legato and sense of line are decided assets; he instils the correct feeling of sorrowful resignation. ‘Die Nebensonnen’ is one of the best examples of Case’s excellent breath control and even vocal production. He demonstrates exemplary control in ‘Der Leiermann’; here, he and Calcraft achieve the mysterious stillness which this song needs. The expressiveness of Case in the concluding stanza ensures that the cycle ends in a very satisfactory fashion.
Inevitably, perhaps, I’ve concentrated on the singer in this review; after all, John Carol Case is the focus of this release. However, it would be wrong and unfair to downplay the contribution of Raymond Calcraft, who provides his singer with excellent support. Very few of these songs have more than a couple of bars of piano introduction so the pianist has a real challenge to set the mood before the singer begins. Calcraft is consistently successful in this regard and the way he plays each song demonstrates that this is a genuine interpretative partnership. Unfortunately, his pianism is not ideally served by the recording. Overall, the piano tone is too shallow and distinctly lacking in bass; I craved a deeper piano tone in ‘Das Wirtshaus’, for example. Too often the instrument sounds ‘twangy’; ‘Einsamkeit’ is one such example, another is ‘Der greise Kopf’. But we must remember that this recording was made fifty years ago and was never intended for public circulation. I suspect also that the engineer may have had little time for microphone placement and adjustment; certainly, there would have been no chance of any ‘patching’. That latter comment applies to the artists too; I thought I detected a handful of miniscule slips with words but otherwise the performance seems blemish-free.
The recording has been restored by Oscar Torres, Paul Baily and Andrew Keener. I think they’ve done a very good job. I wonder if the microphone placing slightly favoured the piano; the instrument sounds a bit closer than the singer and there’s also some resonance around Case’s voice. That’s merely an observation, though; I had no problems with the balance and I was able to hear both the piano and the singer very clearly.
As usual, SOMM have documented the release very well indeed. The introductory essay by Raymond Calcraft is affectionate and also informative; I didn’t know, for example, that it was John Carol Case who gave the first public performance of the complete Songs of Travel, incorporating the ninth song which only came to light after Vaughan Williams’ death. The booklet also includes very useful biographies of both artists as well as the text accompanied by Richard Stokes’ English translation.
This is an unexpected centenary tribute to John Carol Case in the sense that we have very little evidence of his work in non-English song. For that reason, the disc is particularly welcome. But it’s just as welcome for putting into circulation a fine and communicative account of Winterreise by this distinguished singer. Raymond Calcraft has put us in his debt by causing this recording to be made in the first place and for now making it available for a wider audience to enjoy. Are there any more archive recordings of John Carol Case which might be suitable for CD release? This one has certainly widened my knowledge of him and enhanced my appreciation of his art.
John Quinn
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