CLASSICAL MUSIC — Christian Gerhaher

Cecelia Porter
Washington Post
Saturday, October 13, 2007; C12

Christian Gerhaher's voice is at once lustrous and deeply penetrating … Presented Thursday by one of Washington's premier concert sponsors, the Vocal Arts Society, Gerhaher gave a capacity audience at the Austrian Embassy a glorious evening of lieder by Robert Schumann … Gerhaher, obviously well aware of these often-opposing sound qualities [between the poet's text and the composer's setting], subtly blended them into a meaningful new whole.

… Gerhaher delicately approached Schumann's daunting "Liederkreis" cycle of poems by the supreme lyricist Joseph von Eichendorff, capturing the intense dosage of languorous melancholy and biting irony that the composer lends to his setting … Accompanist Gerold Huber left no doubt that Schumann's piano writing vies with the vocal line in expressive power.

Christian Gerhaher: Im Lied das tiefe Leid

Charles T. Downey
ionarts.blogspot.com
Saturday, October 13, 2007

The concerts offered by the Vocal Arts Society may be the greatest value for your classical music dollar in Washington. For $40 a ticket, you can hear some of the world's best singers in recitals of that most intimate and intellectual musical genre, the art song … Gerhaher sings with exquisite diction, the text always clear as a bell … Huber … hunched over the embassy's sonorous Bösendorfer, favoring the soft pedal to craft a delicate envelope of sound … perfectly scaled to Gerhaher's voice …

That sensitivity also made those moments when the full power of Gerhaher's high range and the boom of the Bösendorfer were unleashed even more impressive. My hair literally stood on end when Gerhaher roared at the end of Waldesgespräch and in Frühlingsnacht, both part of a complete performance of Liederkreis, op. 39.…

If you did not read the interview and concert preview that Jens Laurson wrote for WETA, it gives some insight on why Gerhaher is attracted to the dark corners of the song repertoire. Gruftmusik this was indeed, and the most satisfying set on the recital.

Robert Schumann

Selected Lieder from Myrten, Op. 25
  No. 2 Freisinn (Goethe)
  No. 7 Die Lotosblume (Heine)
  No. 17 Venetianisches Lied I (Moore)
  No. 18 Venetianisches Lied II (Moore)
  No. 24 Du bist wie eine Blume (Heine)
  No. 25 Aus den östlichen Rosen (Rückert)

Liederkreis, Op. 39 (Eichendorff)
   In der Fremde
   Intermezzo
   Waldesgespräch
   Die Stille
   Mondnacht
   Schöne Fremde
   Auf einer Burg
   In der Fremde
   Wehmut
   Zwielicht
   Im Walde
   Frühlingsnacht

F ünf Lieder, Op. 40 (Andersen)
  No. 1 Märzveilchen
  No. 2 Muttertraum
  No. 3 Der Soldat
  No. 4 Der Spielmann
  No. 5 Verratene Liebe

Melancholie Op. 74. No. 6 (Geibel)
Tief im Herzen trag ich Pein Op. 138 No. 2
Der Einsiedler Op. 83 No. 3 (Eichendorff)


Der arme Peter Op. 53, No. 3 (Heine)
  Der Hans und die Grete tanzen herum
  In meiner Brust, da sitzt ein Weh
  Der Arme Peter wankt vorbei

Belsazar Op. 57 (Heine)