Schubert Schwanengesang/ Anna Fraser, soprano/ Neal Peres Da Costa, piano/ Deux-Elles
Schubert Schwanengesang is a new release on the independent UK based Deux-Elles label (DXL 1231) featuring Australian artists soprano Anna Fraser with Neal Peres Da Costa at the piano, in a bold new re-imagining of Franz Schubert’s eponymous song cycle.
In 31 brief years, Schubert composed over 600 songs, amounting to more than two-thirds of his canon. He had an instinct for verse and, taking that instinct further, set those verses to music, using the voice and the piano as equal partners to tell tales of love and terror, belonging and alienation, to paint characters and draw vivid soundscapes.
From his first surviving song composed when he was just 15, Schubert set the words of over 150 poets. He found inspiration in the words of Schiller, Goethe and Rückert as well as the poets who feature in the 14 Lied of Schwanengesang, Rellstab, Heine and Seidl. The song cycle itself is a collection of songs composed in 1828, published and given its title posthumously in 1829 by Tobias Haslinger.
Schwanengesang has been the domain of male singers for decades. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hans Hotter, Roderick Williams and Peter Schreier are amongst the tenors and baritones who have made recordings. More recently, Jonas Kaufmann presented a powerful staged version in New York with pianist Helmut Deutsch. Dame Janet Baker and Brigitte Fassbender have made recordings with pianists Raymond Leppard and Aribert Reimann, respectively. Beyond these, the profile for female recordings is low, one issue that is addressed by this release.
Another important aspect of this project, the second commercial recording to be produced from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project, The shock of the old: Rediscovering the sounds of bel canto 1700–1900, is that Fraser and Peres Da Costa have taken a deep dive into the historically accurate interpretation of these songs, through early recordings and extant manuscripts. Their insights and methodology are presented in their liner notes and Fraser herself has undertaken the (printed) translation of the text from German to English.
Their entrée to this Schubert anthology and woven into the rest of the repertoire are three songs composed by Johann Anton André, (1775 – 1842), from his Lieder und Gesänge mit Begleitung des PianoForté. A German composer and music publisher of French extraction, André importantly, an editor of Mozart’s works, creating a chronological archive in collaboration with Constanze Mozart and her husband Nissen. André’s work was to lay the foundation of Ludwig von Köchel’s later catalogue.
André’s instrumental works far outnumber his pieces for voice, but as a pedagogue and archivist, the detailed instructions he has left on his vocal scores permit first-hand knowledge of the stylistic practices of the time. Indications of mood, tempo, dynamics and articulation are meticulously noted and represent a clear indication of how André wanted his songs interpreted.
Fraser sings André’s songs in style. Liebe, is a declamatory challenge to death over life, sighing, swooning and passionate. Sehnsucht is more conversational and nuanced, with glottal stops for emphasis; and Serenade is a lament with teasingly extended pauses for effect. These features are taken into the 14 Lieder of Schwanengesang.
Fraser sings with clear-toned line polished with ample portamenti and touches of vibrato. Her diction is clear and expressive. Recordings of Lieder have the unavoidable drawback of missing the visual elements of story-telling. Despite this, the duo deliver an engaging performance, especially effective in the shimmering Frühlingssehnsucht, the cold loneliness of In der Ferne, the carefree trotting of Abschied and the suffering of Der Atlas.
A major element of the impact of the performance is Peres Da Costa’s role at the keyboard, a replica c.1819 fortepiano after Conrad Graf by Paul McNulty Broken chords, improvisatory phrases and arpeggiation enrich the narrative.
Schubert Schwanengesang is another offering from Deux-Elles in the continuing, evidence-based understanding of historically informed performance.
Shamistha de Soysa for SoundsLikeSydney
