Urlicht – Songs of Death and Resurrection
Samuel Hasselhorn (baritone)
Poznań Philharmonic Orchestra/Łukasz Borowicz
rec. 2023, Adam Mickiewicz University Auditorium, Poznań, Poland
Reviewed as 96/24 WAV download
Sung texts with French and English translations enclosed
Harmonia Mundi HMM902384 [56]

In October 2023, Harmonia Mundi issued a recording of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, one of the most recorded song cycles, with the rapidly rising baritone star Samuel Hasselhorn. I immediately realized that here was a singer with not only one of the most beautiful voices to have appeared for quite some time, but also with rare interpretative insights. I awarded the disc  a “Recommended” tag, and in due time selected it as one of my recordings of the year, where I wrote: “I admire the beauty of his voice and the exquisite handling of nuances, but also something deeper: an intellectual and emotional insight that went to the heart, to the kernel of this much-loved and oft-recorded cycle.” And I wasn’t the only one who appreciated it. 

When the present disc appeared on the wish-list I quickly snapped it up, convinced that he would be the right person for this challenging and highly emotional programme. “Songs of Death and Resurrection” is not a theme that is easy do digest in one sitting, and I don’t recommend anyone to do so. The subject also invites composers to write slow and heavy compositions, but this is no problem, because there are such great contrasts, and only Gustav Mahler is vouchsafed more than one composition. He opens the programme and ends it, and also has two more numbers, and thus becomes the connecting link among the seven composers. 

I do recommend listeners to read Jean-François Boukobza’s insightful liner notes before listening. There, he pedagogically analyses the various kinds of deaths we meet in the texts. I quote a passage: “All of the rather sombre texts deal with death, whether it be that of children whose royal lineage is revealed (Humperdinck), of a fiancé on the eve of his wedding (Pfitzner) or of soldiers still in their teens (Mahler, Braunfels), the impossibility of finding closure after losing a loved one (Korngold, Zemlinsky), feminicide (Berg), metaphysical despair (Um Mitternacht) or the vicissitudes of earthly life and the fragile hope of redemption (Urlicht). The poems frequently lend themselves to more than one interpretation, and may also focus on the figure of the artist, depicting his or her withdrawal from the world (Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen) and powerlessness to redeem society (Um Mitternacht).”

Mahler’s Revelge opens proceedings and marches with considerable springiness, the drums and brass signals foreboding war and the death of young soldiers. Hasselhorn sings expressively and with well-focused tone. This is of course well-known music, as are the remaining three Mahler songs, and also Korngold’s Pierrot’s Tanzlied from Die tote Stadt – but the rest of the programme is hardly hackneyed repertoire. Don’t be frightened by names like Pfitzner, Zemlinsky, Braunfels and Alban Berg. They are, all of them, masters in their ways. Humperdinck is still on the standard repertoire in most opera houses with his fairytale opera Hänsel und Gretel, but Die Königskinder, another fairytale opera, has also been quite successful and was played at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1910 with Geraldine Farrar as the poor goose-girl – with a flock of live geese on the stage – who falls in love with the king’s son. They live in poverty rejected by the people and die together. The Fiddler’s aria, which concludes the opera, is a promise of eternal life to the wretched couple and the children’s chorus in the background  repeat Königskinder as a testimony that they have been posthumously granted their Royal status. The whole scene is so beautiful and touching, and Hasselhorn sings with deep feeling, while the boys’ voices are as angelic as the angels they are supposed to impersonate. 

For many years I have had a special liking for Thomas Hampson’s recording of the hit song from Korngold’s Die tote Stadt: Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen – so beautiful, so sensitive, so warm – but Samuel Hasselhorn is definitely his equal in every respect, and next time I want to hear this aria I might very well choose his version. It is truly wonderful. He shows his mastery again in his reading of Mahler’s Um Mitternacht, sung with perfect legato, restrained but with bite in the tone when required. The last stanza is highly intense – and touching. Hans Pfitzner’s songs are not very frequently heard in recital programmes – I can’t remember hearing any of them live, but on CDs they are well catered for. Both Naxos and CPO have complete series of the songs with piano and CPO also have the complete orchestral songs, to which Herr Oluf belong. This ballad from 1891 has a text by Herder, which in its turn is based on a folk song. It’s a cruel story of a man who refuses to dance with Erlkönig’s daughter, because he is going to marry the next day. She punishes him with a heavy blow, and he is dead when his bride and the wedding guests arrive. Hasselhorn differentiates skilfully between the man and Erlkönig’s daughter, and the drama becomes a horrible thriller. As a contrast, Urlicht is simple and comforting. Hasselhorn sings with touching inwardness and warmth, making time stand still. Similarly moving is Zemlinsky’s almost contemporaneous Der alte Garten. The atmosphere is both soothing and mystical.

Walter Braunfels had memories of brutal deaths in wartime, having himself participated in the Great War and been injured. The intensity of the vocal part and the violent chromaticism of  the accompaniment reflect how much he was affected of his experiences. Hesse’s text and the setting of it can’t possibly leave the listener unmoved. Even worse is the scene by the lake in Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, where the title character murders his beloved Marie. This is among the cruellest scenes in any opera, and both Samuel Hasselhorn and Julia Grüter are deeply involved. It is a relief to listen to one of Mahler’s most beautiful and touching songs, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen sung so sensitively – again, time stands still. 

This is a disc I will be returning to again and again. The singing is masterly, the playing of the orchestra excellent and the recording first class. I will be surprised if this issue isn’t one of my Recordings Of The Year when we reach December. 

Göran Forsling                           

Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free

Contents
GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911)
1 | Revelge 06’28
extr. Des Knaben Wunderhorn
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK (1854-1921)
2 | Verdorben! Gestorben! (Fiddler’s aria) 06’42
 extr. Königskinder (Act III, Finale)
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD (1897-1957)
3 | Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen (Pierrot’s Tanzlied) 04’04
extr. Die tote Stadt
GUSTAV MAHLER
4 | Um Mitternacht 05’31
extr. Rückert-Lieder
HANS PFITZNER (1869-1949)
5 | Herr Oluf Op.12 07’51
GUSTAV MAHLER
6 | Urlicht 05’44
extr. Des Knaben Wunderhorn
ALEXANDER VON ZEMLINSKY (1871-1942)
7 | Der alte Garten 04’55
extr. Zwei Gesänge 
WALTER BRAUNFELS (1882-1954)
 8 | Auf ein Soldatengrab Op.26  04’09
ALBAN BERG (1885-1935)
9 | Dort links geht’s in die Stadt (Wozzeck and Marie’s duo)
extr. Wozzeck (Act III, Scene 2) 04’49
GUSTAV MAHLER
10 | Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen 05’55
extr. Rückert-Lieder

Julia Grüter (soprano), [9] The Poznań Nightingales Boys’ Choir of the Poznań Philharmonic [2]