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Here is a disc entitled Schubertlieder. It’s bound to raise expectations. Well, you may be in for a bit of a shock once you start playing it.
 
It is patently not a recital of Schubert songs, as delightful as that prospect may appear. However, it is a highly entertaining, original and, in many ways, challenging exploration of the works of this prolific composer of vocal gems. The music is written by Markus Kraler and Andreas Schett and they acknowledge their indebtedness to the lieder composer.
 
The music on the album was composed for the ‘wo du nicht bist’ (Where you are not) music and image theatre project which Franui, together with the Berlin theatre group Nico and the Navigators performed for the Kunst aus der Zeit. This was part of the 2006 Bregenz Festival. It was later repeated in the Sophiesalen Concert Hall in Berlin.
 
Franui explain, in their cover-notes, that their interpretations are a ‘liberating blow’. They ridicule those tense recitals where people, dressed up to the nines, sit in serried rows, attentively listening to a stuffed shirt singing these intimate songs which reflect the innermost feelings of an often troubled composer. ‘Great art is always mixed with torment,’ they suggest.
 
But what a difference this compilation makes. The ensemble produces some challenging, even bizarre, combinations. It’s really something we should expect, given that the orchestrator’s palette includes a violin and a double-bass, clarinets, saxophones, trumpets, cornets, a trombone and tuba, a harp, dulcimer and zither, as well as an accordion and three male voices.
 
The result is something which sometimes approaches the rather decadent dance-like music of Weill from the 1930s. At other times, it is gentle, evocative and soul-searching. Take, for instance, the highly familiar Ständchen – which is almost eerie and could easily accompany one of those dusty 1960s monochrome French films.
 
Or there is the teasingly, fun-loving Abschied as well as the equally light-hearted Die Taubenpost. But, for a perfectly Weill-inspired bit of cabaret, try I’m a Stranger (On the Danube). Here, Sven-Eric Bechtolf is the guest soloist, where his Sprechstimme – where the text is spoken in a rhythmic and almost melodic way – adds marvellously to the tension of a rather sad piece which is turned into a gentle entertainment.
 
This has brought Schubert’s art into a modern context, albeit inspired by a trend which hit its height of popularity nearly eighty years ago. It is a fine experiment – and it works.
 
Glyn Mon Hughes
 

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