**** The name Prégardien is gradually becoming a hallmark of sublime art in vocal music. There was first the famous father Christoph Prégardien, and gradually the son Julian is increasingly following in his footsteps. This cd titled Dichterliebe is therefore not just another recording of this famous song cycle by Schumann. For that, the whole of the programme is too consciously chosen and above all Julian Prégardien's interpretation too personal.
The famous cycle Dichterliebe is surrounded by some lesser-known songs from Schumann's earlier and later song repertoire. Thus Prégardien immediately makes clear that Schumann's art of the lied is not only to be admired in the famous song year 1840, when his art fully broke loose thanks to his marriage to Clara Wieck. The cd opens with In der Nacht, a duet from Spanisches Liederspiel (opus 74) – a little-known cycle of ten songs for tenor and soprano – and closes with the wonderfully beautiful ballad-like late song, Mein Wagen rollet langsam from the 4 Gesänge (opus 142). The poignantly tragic Die Löwenbraut evokes a fairy-tale love between a lion and a young girl. There are also a couple of pieces by Clara Schumann, albeit very few to speak of a real tribute to the 200-year-old composer. Her work – Three Romances for piano and the song Wenn ich in Vöglein wär – is rather integrated as a kind of intermezzo to give the programme the atmosphere of a house concert.
New edition
With the "pre-programme" Julian Prégardien prepares the listener, as it were, for the world of happiness and despair, extreme rapture and vulnerability that makes Dichterliebe such an intimate and moving cycle. In his foreword, Prégardien explains that he uses the new edition of the cycle by Bärenreiter, but in any case he interprets very personally and does not shy away from applying his own phrasing and here and there small embellishments according to his own feeling. Together with pianist Eric Lesage, he takes the listener on a flowing and engaging journey through the poet's love. Piau may join in and confesses her love in the background of Wenn ich in deine Augen seh.
Prégardien confirms his countless possibilities for colour and nuance. His tenor voice has a wide register with both bitterness (Ich grolle nicht) and tenderness. Listening to a song like Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen almost makes you speak of expressionist vocal art. I find him a singer with an interpretive art comparable to Ian Bostridge. He has a completely different voice timbre, but also places very specific accents and has a strong personal text interpretation.
Artful postlude
I am not sure whether the choice for Sandrine Piau in this repertoire is the right one. Piau is undoubtedly a very beautiful, pure and sensitive singer, but she lacks projection. She sounds intimate and poetic, but also uncertain. And when Julian Prégardien appears on stage, the difference in presence is so great that Piau falls short as a partner.
And then there is the delightful playing of Eric Lesage on the soft pianoforte. He ensures the ideal balance between voice and piano, for deepening the emotion or resolving the tension. Every postlude is a work of art in itself.
This recording offers a renewed listening experience for Schumann's music. The entire cd and the cycle Dichterliebe gains a deepening of meaning through the power of the interpretation, the accents, the rhythm and the delightful piano sound.
- WHAT: Robert Schumann (1810-1856) | Dichterliebe
- WHO: Julian Prégardien (tenor), Sandrine Piau (soprano) and Eric Lesage (piano)
- RELEASE: Alpha Classics 457