Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Licht und Schatten
Samuel Hasselhorn (baritone)
Ammiel Bushakevitz (piano)
rec. 2024, b-sharp, Berlin
Sung texts with English and French translations enclosed
Reviewed as download
Harmonia Mundi HMM902747 [66]

Since I first came across Samuel Hasselhorn a couple of years ago, I have eagerly looked forward to every new disc, and I have never been disappointed. For his most recent offering, he returns to Schubert after the wonderful Schöne Müllerin, which was one of my Recordings of the Year in 2023. Here, he  builds a contrasting programme titled Light and Shadow. The chosen songs are all from the last few years of his life, but even with that limitation the supply of suitable songs is so rich that he was able to include several songs that one doesn’t hear very often. Besides the fifteen songs that he has chosen there are three instrumental entr’actes in the shape of Ländler and German dances, of which there seemingly exists an inexhaustible number. These easy listening little gems are played with elegance and lightness by the eminent Ammiel Bushakevitz, whose accompaniments to the songs also are reliable and inventive.

By now I am very familiar with Hasselhorn’s artistry: his fresh voice is capable of deliciously beautiful pianissimos and brilliant and thrilling top notes, and its powerful middle register allows him express the most dramatic outbreaks effortlessly. He is also very concerned about nuances and dynamics. Add to this his excellent enunciation, and we have all the important attributes for a great career as Lieder singer. 

Light and shadow are opposites, but one cannot exist without the other; they live in symbiosis. Hasselhorn here weaves them together to a unit, a togetherness of light and shadow. The entr’actes also contributes by being contrasts to the songs, a further interaction. He opens with one of the best known of Schubert’s songs, Die junge Nonne, which makes heavy demands on the singer: drama and expressivity, word pointing without exaggeration, but also the soft, sensitive nuances, which he handles so well. Listen to the concluding Alleluja! It’s magical. Auflösung is also intensive, and the monumental Die Allmacht which is one of the greatest of all. It needs sensitivity and brilliance, and it gets both – a truly thrilling reading. The two short Ländler that follow become a welcome moment of relaxation after the tension. 

Der Einsame, light and elegant, and the delicately nuanced Abendstern make a comfortable couple, before we encounter the lively and intense Normans Gesang. This is a relative rarity, based on Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake, and is a welcome new acquaintance for me. As far as I can remember, I haven’t heard Das Heimweh before, either. It is a gloomy and rather nervous picture of homesickness that is painted here. Hasselhorn’s reading is detailed and full of insight.

A second Entr’acte followswith 3 German dances forming a rondo – very elegant again . These dances are contemporaneous with the songs, while the Ländler were comparatively early compositions. The next group of songs is also a little off the beaten track. Fülle der Liebe is definitely a great song, and Hasselhorn sings it with obvious affection. I recognised it but it had been quite some time since I had heard it. On the contrary, Des Sängers Habe seemed new to me, but Schubert seldom composed a bad or even indifferent song, and the singing here also ennobles this one. The intensive and ever forward moving needs no extra advocacy – it is as explosive as anything Schubert wrote, but of course Hasselhorn is as receptive as any. He finest song in this group is, however, the wonderful Im Abendrot. It is so sensitive and inward.

The last entr’acte consists of the five German dances D 783, which happens to be a work that I have been familiar with since my early youth, and it is a pleasure to hear it again. The last section opens with the lively Lied des gefangenen Jägers and An mein Herz, life enhancing songs both. The programme closes in calm and contemplation: Goethe’s Wandrers Nachtlied and Schlegel’s Wiedersehn, and here, to use the hackneyed phrase, ‘Time stands still’! A wonderful conclusion to a wonderful programme. 

Göran Forsling

Contents
1 | Die junge Nonne D.828 (Jacob Nicolaus Craigher de Jachelutta) 4’52
2 | Auflösung D.807 (Johann Mayrhofer) 2’26
3 | Die Allmacht D.852 (Johann Ladislaus Pyrker) 5’05
4 | 2 Ländler D.366 2’41
 No.3 – No.4 – No.3 (bis), in A minor / la mineur / a-Moll
5 | Der Einsame D.800 (Karl Lappe) 4’11
6 | Abendstern D.806 (Johann Mayrhofer) 2’17
7 | Normans Gesang D.846 (Adam Storck) 3’26
8 | Das Heimweh D.851 (Johann Ladislaus Pyrker) 7’57
9 | 3 Deutsche Tänze D.820 2’28
 No. 1 – No.2 – No. 1 (bis) – No.3 – No. 1 (ter), in A flat Major / la bémol majeur / As-Dur
10 | Fülle der Liebe D.854 (Friedrich Schlegel) 5’30
11 | Des Sängers Habe D.832 (Franz Xaver von Schlechta) 3’35
12 | Auf der Bruck D.853 (Ernst Schulze) 3’15
13 | Im Abendrot D.799 (Karl Lappe) 4’06
14 | 5 Deutsche Tänze D. 783 (Op.33) 3’46
 No.2 in D major / ré majeur / D-Dur – No.4 in G major / sol majeur / G-Dur
 No.5 in B minor / si mineur / h-Moll – No.6 in B flat major / si bémol majeur / B-Dur
 No.7 in B flat major / si bémol majeur / B-Dur
15 | Lied des gefangenen Jägers D.843 (Adam Storck) 3’10
16 | An mein Herz D.860 (Ernst Schulze) 2’51
17 | Wandrers Nachtlied II D.768 (Op.96, No.3) (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) 2’04
18 | Wiedersehn D.855 (August Wilhelm Schlegel) 3’05

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