ERIC SAMS:
RECORD
REVIEWS
Schubert: Mirjams Sieggesang
d942; Gesang der
Geister über dem Wassern
d714; Nachtgesang im Walde
d913.
Buckel/Lohmeyer/South German Madrigal Choir and Instrumental
Soloists/Gönnenwein (Turnabout)
In
the last year of his life, the mortally sick Schubert sometimes
doubted whether he still belonged to this world. His music too
underwent an identity crisis. In 1828 he not only turned to hut
practically turned into Haydn, Beethoven and others, even Rossini. In
d942, a Grillparzer
setting on the theme of
Israel
out of
Egypt
(apt topic for Turnabout), we predictably hear Schubert disguised as
Handel. This performance well conveys the thinness of the disguise;
soprano solo, piano, chorus and recording alike too often sound tinny
and insubstantial. But the music itself, though perhaps more
commissioned than committed, has marvellous moments; and some are
compellingly rendered here. The chorus divides like the
Red
Sea,
whose towering walls become aquarium windows whence fish gaze in
goggle-eyed amazement at the dry-shod Israelites. The mysterious
murmurings and the watery tremolandos vividly evoke the scene; so do
the similarly ominous antiphonal exchanges heralding the storm as
Jehovah rides Wotan-like in pursuit of Pharaoh. The composer's mind
had evidently been brooding on Exodus; the story is engraved in
quaint motivic writing, making a Rosetta stone of musical equivalence
which must fascinate all Schubertians. The readings might have become
even clearer in the contemplated orchestral arrangement. Something of
its potential power and mastery can he heard in the earlier
Gesang der Geister d714
for eight-part male chorus and lower strings, even as performed here,
in a style which sounds anything but ethereal. With
d913, for four-part male chorus and four horns, we are
back with late Schubert but in propria persona, at ease among
his own circle of friendly voices and domestic music-making. In this
vein the South German Madrigal Choir too sounds more at home, and
their relaxed account of this affable work is easily the most
successful of these three choral Gesänge.
The
Musical Times,
Feb. 1980 (p. 106) © the
estate of eric sams
