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Schubert, Die schöne Müllerin:  Mark Padmore (tenor)  Till Fellner (piano)  Wigmore Hall, London, 19. 5.2008  (ME)


In his touching and knowledgeable notes, Mark Padmore refers to this song cycle as ‘…the Hamlet…of the repertoire’ and says that his initiation in the work was with Fischer-Dieskau – it is clearly these two influences which have most fruitfully shaped his own understanding, a reading strong on tenderness, questioning and doubting, and with exact attention to the poetry as its most remarkable feature. The partnership with Till Fellner, looking so much the Head Boy to Padmore’s Housemaster, made for exactly the right blend of impetuousness and gravity, and if overall the performance lacked a little of the febrile, and tended at times towards a little too much whiteness of tone, it was nevertheless an evening of beautiful singing, revelatory playing and often moving interpretation.

Fellner’s pounding out of those wandering steps and crashing mill-wheels in the first song was a little dogged for my taste, and the voice seemed to be heading too much in the direction of what Thomas Quasthoff once scornfully called ‘Schön Singen,’ with its emphasis on lovely tone and playing down of any sense of youthful exuberance. However, even here there were signs of the potential greatness to come, with ‘Das sehn wir auch den Rädern ab’ as finely articulated as you could wish for. With Wohin this partnership really seemed to come together, the rippling piano supporting the voice without overpowering it, and the singing revealing Padmore’s naturally fine tone and flawless technique, ‘Es singen wohl die Nixen’ totally avoiding any hint of the preciousness into which so many singers fall, and that repeated ‘fröhlich nach’ beautifully floated.

Both singer and pianist were at their best in the quieter, more reflective songs, the more lusty, frenetic pieces such as Ungeduld tending to show a touch of strain here and there, the weight needed in the voice not always being in evidence. In contrast, Der Neugierige, even if it lacked the last ounce of delicate hesitancy in the vorspiel, was close to perfection – ‘O Bächlein meiner Liebe’ sung with exactly the required sense of almost-reverence, and ‘Die ganze Welt mir ein’ given just the right pressure on ‘ganze.’

I always think of Pause and Mit dem grünen Lautenbande as the most crucial songs in the cycle; here, the former was given its full weight, with ‘durchschauert mich’ vividly evoking a shudder and the piano at the questioning close darkly suggesting that the answer will not be a joyful one, but the latter was lacking in anger. That emotion was held in check until Die böse Farbe, the final ‘Zum Abschied deine Hand!’ positively searing. Trockne Blumen revealed the intimacy and subtlety of this partnership, the directness of the singing complemented by the urgency of the piano – ‘Ach, Tränen machen / Nicht maiengrun, / Machen tote Liebe / Nicht wieder blühn’ might not quite have reduced one to the quivering wreck evoked by certain other singers, but there was certainly a little lip-trembling. The tremendous close was as finely done as you could wish for, those repeats of ‘Heraus, heraus’ just on the right side of hysteria. The closing ‘lullaby’ avoided any sense of monotony, with Fellner’s robust phrasing suggesting not sleep but troubled dreams, and Padmore’s gentle narrative reaching its high point at ‘Dass ich die Augen ihm halte bedeckt’ rather than at the more optimistic final lines.

The performance was recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast on May 28^th, and it will be followed by a Winterreise on Wednesday May 21^st (with Julius Drake) to be broadcast on June 4^th, and  Schwanengesang plus Beethoven Lieder on Saturday 24^th,  broadcast on June 11^th.

I shall be there for the Saturday but not the Wednesday – those who may also miss this one might like to know that Padmore is one of the stars of the remarkable Festival de Valloires, and he will be singing Winterreise (with Imogen Cooper) there on August 12^th. If you don’t know of this Festival, this might be the year you should get acquainted with it: described by Le Figaro as ‘a musical bridge between France and England,’ it is set in a wonderful 18^th century abbey surrounded by the most glorious gardens, just about an hour and a half from the Channel Tunnel but a world away. This year also features Ian Bostridge, Paul Lewis and the Belcea Quartet – if that sounds like The Wigmore Hall in rural France, then come on down – www.festival-valloires.com.

Melanie Eskenazi

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