Nicht Wiedersehen!
Günther Groissböck (bass)
Malcolm Martineau (piano)
rec. 2022, Mozart-Saal, Salzburg, Austria
Sung texts with English translations enclosed
Reviewed as download from press review
Gramola 99280 [62]
Austrian Günther Groissböck has steadily climbed the ladder towards the top-layer of operatic basses and is in demand from all the big houses. That he is also a busy Lieder singer may not be so obvious, but he has made several song recordings for Decca and other companies, none of which I have heard. The present disc, recorded as recently as August last year, tempted me, since Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler have a special place in my heart, and here they are joined by a third composer from the same generation, Hans Rott, who died before his 26th birthday and was soon forgotten, even though Mahler held him in high esteem. It was not until more than one hundred years after his death that he was rediscovered, and the premiere of his Symphony in E major in 1989 and a subsequent recording of it led to a newly awakened interest in this once peripheral composer. Today his symphony has been recorded close to a dozen times, and into the bargain the rest of his rather meagre oeuvre is being resurrected as well. The three songs recorded here, all three settings of Goethe, give a hint of what could have been accomplished, had he been vouchsafed a longer life. Der Sänger is in many ways fascinating, highly dramatic and intense, and it cries out for a mighty voice like Groissböck’s. The piano part is also a dream for a keyboard lion like Malcolm Martineau. Geistergruss is gloomy and resigned, well-nuanced, while Wandrers Nachtlied is recessed and calmly beautiful, sung legato; for those who know Schubert’s and Liszt’s settings, Rott’s may seem pale – but who needs to make comparisons?
Before the Rott section, we are offered seven songs by Richard Strauss, a couple of which are fairly rare. The majority of Strauss’s songs were written quite early in his career, many of them with his wife Pauline in mind; consequently, they are set for high voice and piano – but many are set for middle voice or simply “voice and piano”. This is the case with the two first songs here, Zueignung and Allerseelen, the first and last of Acht Gedichte aus “Letzte Blätter“ (Eight Poems from “Last Leaves,” by Hermann von Gilm). These songs, published in 1885 as Opus 10, are the first really important ones from his pen, and several of them are firmly established in the standard repertoire. The two here are deeply emotional, but it took me some time to adjust to hearing them sung by so dark and mighty a voice. It also seemed that his need to scale down the voice to the intimate format felt a bit unwieldy. Repeated listening left the same impression. The following two songs were quite different. Composed between 1902 and 1906 they are the only ones on this disc written after the turn of the century. They are also specifically designed for “low bass voice and orchestra”, even though they are here performed with piano, as they were when they were premiered in Berlin in 1903 and Leipzig 1906 respective. At the piano on both occasions was Strauss himself, and the singer was the legendary bass at the Berlin Court Opera Paul Knüpfer, who also was the dedicatee of the songs. In Das Thal the poet (Ludwig Uhland) looks back on his life in the valley. The sun has already gone down but the poet is still happy:
And then I sink down weary,
So quietly open up the ground for me
And take me in and close it again
And green me with health and gladness!
In Der Einsame (text Heinrich Heine) the poet has lost his beloved and is resigned but in the end, he accepts that all is over: Take me in, ancient night. Das Thal begins, after a lovely intro, softly and inwardly, but gradually the intensity grows and there is great warmth in the singer’s last utterances. Der Einsame is gloomy but in a way hopeful and it is fascinating to hear so sonorous a voice sailing down into its lowest register for the final uralte Nacht.
I have lingered over these two songs since they are so seldom heard. The remaining Strauss songs are again standard repertoire and executed with great seriousness. The five Mahler songs, to texts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, are far more than an appendix; they are actually the apex of the disc. They begin with the sad Nicht wiedersehen, followed by three of the most intense narratives in Mahler’s oeuvre, requiring a real storyteller. They conclude with Urlicht, which was later inserted into the second symphony, where it is sung by a contralto. Initially I was disconcerted to hear it by a deep basso cantante, but so sensitive is Günther Groissböck here that he soon won me over with the hushed singing of Der Mensch liegt in größter Not!
I have still not completely come to terms with Groissböck’s singing, but the fault is probably mine, and he is partnered by one of the most masterly accompanists now before the public, Malcolm Martineau, whom I have admired both live and on literally hundreds of recordings. There are some rarities here that are well worth a listen and the recording cannot be faulted.
Göran Forsling
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Contents
Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
1 Zueignung, Op 10/1 1:48
2 Allerseelen, Op 10/8 3:04
3 Das Thal, Op 51/1 6:42
4 Der Einsame, Op 51/2 3:25
5 Breit’ über mein Haupt, Op 19/2 1:35
6 Heimliche Aufforderung, Op 27/3 3:15
7 Befreit, Op 39/4 4:52
Hans Rott (1858–1884)
8 Der Sänger 5:28
9 Geistesgruß 2:13
10 Wandrers Nachtlied 2:26
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
11 Nicht wiedersehen! 4:57
12 Revelge 7:30
13 Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz’ 4:13
14 Tamboursg’sell 5:50
15 Urlicht 4:44
