This record is
evidently not expected to circulate beyond the German-speaking
world since the booklet notes are in German only. We get the
texts in the original languages and German translations of
those that are in Italian. I hope the disc will reach a wider
audience even so, for it contains some interesting material,
very well performed.
Brahms wrote a
total of thirteen duets for soprano and contralto with piano
accompaniment, of which eleven are included here; the first
two of op.20 are missing. Rather than filling out the programme
in the “obvious” way with duets by Schumann and Mendelssohn,
Sandmann and Vierlinger have noted that Brahms realized the
figured bass for an edition of Handel’s vocal duets and present
here five of them. Having thus proposed the theme of “Johannes
Brahms as Composer and Arranger” - I understood at least the
title of the booklet note! - they develop it further by including
six of his arrangements of German folksongs. As these are
for solo singer, they sing three each.
Brahms was perhaps
the first great composer to develop something of a musicological
interest in his past roots - he also edited the keyboard works
of Couperin - and a great advocate of a revival of the works
of Bach and Handel. So don’t expect an operation such as Liszt
might have attempted, an anachronistic meeting of musical
minds. Brahms’s Irish fan club Stanford made an edition of
some Purcell sonatas so outrageously over the top that it
would be worth performing, not as a work of Purcell but as
a work of Stanford. Brahms on the other hand put his creative
genius firmly to one side and produced a straightforward realisation
of the figured bass such as any other competent musician of
his time might have made. So in all truth gramophone listeners
today would presumably sooner hear them with an authentic
accompaniment realized according to our present knowledge
of such things. That said, they would still be useful for
live concerts by a duo like this who could begin with a baroque
group before going on to romantics. The name of Brahms would
give it greater legitimacy than would the name of Ebenezer
Prout or someone similar. But even on disc our curiosity on
reading that Brahms made such arrangements no doubts leads
us to demand that a few should be available. Just don’t expect
too much.
These singers
have considerable experience in baroque music and sing with
the virginal tones, free of any trace of vibrato, habitually
employed today in “authentic” performances. Their passage
work is clean, their Italian is clear, their phrasing is musical
and they blend well. True to the Brahmsian aspect of the operation
they do not add any further ornamentation or decorate “da
capo” reprises, as I suspect they might if they had been working
with an authentic accompaniment. In short, I can’t imagine
a better approach.
They also maintain
similarly dulcet tones, with very sparing vibrato, in Brahms
himself. In the duets this certainly allows the single lines
to remain clear, with the perfect blending which becomes difficult
if there are two conflicting vibratos to contend with. The
pianist also adopts a very clean approach, with less pedal
than we normally hear in romantic music. After all, Brahms
didn’t actually specify the pedal was to be used and I never
found him dry. My only criticism in the whole programme was
his rather rough way with the forte refrains in “Wir Schwestern
zwei”.
When on their
own, however, I found these singers a shade lacking in personality,
though the singing remains well-trained and musical. I was
able to compare two of the folksongs with performances by
Irmgard Seefried. She was almost equally sparing of vibrato
and could not be called interventionist, yet with a little
emphasis on the words here and there she brings the pieces
to life in a way these singers don’t quite. She also has that
elusive thing that I can only call personality.
For this reason
I would have perhaps preferred it if two of the folksongs
had been omitted to make space for the two missing duets.
However, I do wish to emphasize that, while I don’t exactly
clamour to hear lieder recitals from them individually, as
a duo they make a fine partnership and I would happy to hear
this followed up with the duets by Schumann and Mendelssohn
and – if they can sing in Czech and Russian – Dvořák
and Tchaikovsky. There is also a set of twelve very attractive
duets by Reinecke - with German words. Excellent recording.
Christopher
Howell
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Doerthe Maria Sandmann
(soprano), Lydia Vierlinger (contralto), Russell Ryan (piano)
