Thomas Quasthoff has reached a position as one of the leading concert and lieder singers of his generation. He has also recorded opera arias. Recently he took part in a Mozart disc with, among others, Anna Netrebko (see review). First and foremost, however, he is a brilliant lieder artist and his care for the texts, his exquisite shadings and nuances are in evidence throughout this disc of sacred arias from the German 18^th century tradition. Rarely have many of these been delivered with such insight. The singer that immediately springs to mind is Peter Schreier. I know, Schreier is a tenor, but imagine his voice a fourth lower and voilá, there is Quasthoff. Besides all the well-known characteristics of Schreier’s interpretative talent, there is also, in many instances, a close similarity in the actual voice quality. Neither of them has the most ingratiating of sounds, sometimes there can be a certain dryness but both have the ability to scale down the voice to ravishing pianissimos and inflect a phrase so memorably. One hears over and over again both intelligence and identification with the texts. Moreover Quasthoff, whose bass-baritone normally is more baritone than bass, can deliver brilliant and impressively ringing fortes. He also has the black low notes when needed.
 
He is at his best in the classicist and romantic arias of Haydn and Mendelssohn, where his expressive handling of the contrasting emotions really go to the heart of the music. His Bach singing is technically beyond reproach and he imbues the words with meaning but I can’t help observing a certain uniformity in the singing. Perhaps Bach is more to blame than Quasthoff. He is joined by soprano Sibylla Rubens in the duet Herr, dein Mitleid (tr. 2) whose bright voice contrasts sharply with Quasthoff’s darker sounds. There are also some excellent instrumental solos in the Bach arias, most prominent Markus Schmutzler’s fluent trumpet in Grosser Herr (tr. 1). He is also an impressive partner to Quasthoff in the aria from Messiah (tr. 6), which offers some of the most powerful singing on the whole disc.
 
He is lighter of voice than many Simons in Die Jahreszeiten, but this is not at all unbecoming. His Schon eilet froh der Ackersmann – the aria that quotes the slow movement from Symphony No. 94 – is lively and spirited, whereas Erblicke hier, betörter Mensch is sung with compassion for “the misguided man”.
 
Best of all are the Mendelssohn arias. For the beautiful and noble Herr Gott Abraham Quasthoff lightens the voice to remove all signs of superiority. This Elias is the benign servant, while in Es ist genug the voice is full of pain – but also self-esteem.
 
As a bonus he gives us an inward and nuanced version of the spiritual Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, the text of which is not printed in the booklet. The woirds of all the other arias are supplied. There is also a good note on the music by the assiduous Nick Kimberley, who quotes Quasthoff as saying: “We chose pieces which allow me to give voice to what I consider important in singing: colours, expression, beauty. But I wouldn’t describe myself as a singer for whom beauty counts above all else. For me the most important thing is the symbiosis between text and music.” This is expertly demonstrated on this well produced disc, where the Dresden chorus and orchestra perform well under the baton of Sebastian Weigle, who is rapidly becoming a frequent recording conductor.
 
Göran Forsling
 

 

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