Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Daniel Lichti
fortepiano - piano-forte
Leslie DeAth
3:53 4:07 2:39 2:12 3:12 2:02 2:36 3:19 0:55 1:24 4:07 3:52 1:31 2:50 3:01 Total : 62:48
Schubert Winterreise
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828)
Poems / Pomes : Wilhelm Mller (1794 - 1827)
1. Gute Nacht (Good Night / Bonne Nuit) 2. Die Wetterfahne (The Weather-vane / La girouette) 3. Gefrorne Trnen (Frozen Tears / Larmes glaces) 4. Erstarrung (Numbness / Le saisissement) 5. Der Lindenbaum (The linden Tree / Le tilleul) 6. Wasserflut (Torrent / Le torrent) 7. Auf dem Flusse (On the Stream / Sur le fleuve) 8. Rckblick (Backward Glance / Regard en arrire) 9. Irrlicht (Will-o'-the-wisp / Feu follet) 5:16 1:47 2:35 2:43 4:33 4:14 3:41 2:26 3:05
11. Frhlingstraum (A Dream of Springtime / Rve de printemps) 12. Einsamkeit (Loneliness / Solitude) 13. Die Post (The Post / La poste) 14. Der greise Kopf (The Grey Head / Tte de vieillard) 15. Die Krhe (The Crow / La corneille) 16. Letzte Hoffnung (Last Hope / Dernire esprance) 17. Im Dorfe (In the Village / Au village) 18. Der strmische Morgen (The Stormy Morning / Matin de tempte) 19. Tuschung (Deception / Illusion) 20. Der Wegweiser (The Signpost / Le poteau indicateur) 21. Das Wirtshaus (The Inn / L'auberge) 22. Mut (Courage / Courage) 23. Die Nebensonnen (The Phantom Suns / Les soleils parallles) 24. Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-gurdy Man / Le joueur de vielle)
Schubert's Winterreise
Winterreise (Winter Journey) was composed within two years of Schubert's death, in 1827. It is often praised as the greatest of all song cycles, and with good reason. In this work Schubert pushed the boundaries of the melodic and harmonic language that prevailed in his day to the point where early performances met with consternation on the part of the listeners. For at least one person at the first performance, the only comprehensible song in the cycle was Der Lindenbaum at once the most folklike and lyrical of the songs, and the least exemplary of the cycle as a whole. The sustained absence in this cycle, with few exceptions, of Schubert's hallmark gift for seemingly effortless lyricism, is notable. It exemplifies the ready adaptability of his compositional style, matching as it does an extraordinary poetic cycle with equally iconoclastic musical gestures. The melodic line is focused almost exclusively upon declamation, embracing syllabic monotony (as in Die Krhe) as a metaphor for derangement. Schubert sets one note per syllable almost exclusively throughout the 24 songs. Impossible as it is to do justice to Winterreise in anything short of an entire book, we shall concentrate here on that most astounding and bewildering of all Schubert songs, Der Leiermann. As Richard Capell says, Given a thousand guesses, no one would have said that the last song would be at all like this. As with so many of Schubert's finest Lieder, the musical utterance here is focused, simple, and telling. Its poignant impact derives directly from its restraint and economy of means, in which every note and every silence has a direct,
6
palpable dramatic purpose. Empfindsamkeit is a stranger here. Although the drama of Winterreise has been subjected to many interpretations, the message in Der Leiermann surely is one of alienation and derangement. We come to realize in this concluding song that, unlike the hapless youth of Die schne Mllerin, who finds solace in death, the protagonist of Winterreise is condemned to survival. His solace is the poignant sanctuary of insanity. The inescapable Angst of the other 23 songs can only be relieved by symbolically befriending the hurdy-gurdy man. They are fellow inmates of a Bedlam free to roam to no purpose. The hurdy-gurdy man is a wraith a bizarre hero for our protagonist, rising supremely as he does above mundane need, passion and sanity. He walks barefoot on ice, oblivious to physical or emotional discomfort. His plate is empty both literally and figuratively. Our hero too turns his coat inside-out and joins him in his ghastly and ghostly ecstasy, eager to become his Doppelgnger. The psychic disorientation that pervades Winterreise has curious parallels with another landmark of German literature and music Wozzeck. Berg's 1922 opera of that name, considered a paradigm of early 20th-century musical Expressionism, is based on a Bchner play that received its first performance in Vienna in 1914, but was in fact written in 1836, only a dozen years after Mller's Winterreise. Bchner's Woyzeck was left as a series of almost indecipherable fragments upon his death at age 23. It was written in the genre of epic theater, in which the drama is focused on the individual scene rather than
on the unfolding of a continuous narrative. This montage approach is generally con-sidered to be intentional on Bchner's part, and not a result of incompleteness or sloppiness. The ordering of the scenes is changeable without harmful effect, since events and experiences take place in random patterns, unfettered by considerations of cause and effect. Such an approach to drama, so tangible in the Berg opera, has obvious structural parallels with Winterreise. One can imagine many comparably effective reorderings of the poems and songs. Teetering on the brink of sanity, disillusionment with reality, hallucinatory distortion, aimlessness, alienation from society, and a constant preoccupation with the inner workings of the psyche, are shared themes in both song cycle and opera, in spite of the almost hundred years separating their creation. Bchner could well have known Mller's cycle, and been influenced by it. I end these notes, like the poems, interrogatively: Is it too much to suggest that Mller's work already encompasses the aesthetic of Expressionist drama, decades ahead of its time? Poems available on www.analekta.com
music, and we felt that it served the cycle particularly well. Formerly part of the Edwin Buenk collection (Netherlands), it is now owned by the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. An 1868 Streicher piano, also straight-strung and with a Viennese action, was given to Brahms, who used it as his studio piano until his death in 1897. Leslie De'Ath
discours musical ici est focalis, simple, loquent. Son impact motif dcoule immdiatement de sa retenue expressive et de son conomie de moyens, chaque note et chaque pause visant un but dramatique prcis et manifeste. L'Empfindsamkeit n'a pas ici sa place. Bien que le drame mme du Voyage d'hiver ait t l'objet de maintes interprtations, le message de Der Leiermann en est srement un sur l'alination et la dmence. On en vient la ralisation dans cette mlodie ultime que, contrairement au pauvre jeune homme de la Belle Meunire, qui se console dans la mort, le protagoniste du Voyage d'hiver est condamn la survie. Il ne trouvera pour toute consolation que le sanctuaire pathtique de la folie. L'angoisse inluctable des 23 autres mlodies ne peut tre soulage que par l'amiti symbolique du joueur de vielle. Ils sont les codtenus d'un mme asile, libres d'errer leur guise. Le joueur de vielle est un spectre un hros bizarre pour notre protagoniste la faon dont il s'lve avec superbe au-dessus des soucis quotidiens, des passions et de la raison. Il marche nu-pieds sur la glace, insensible l'inconfort physique autant qu'motif. Son assiette est vide, au sens propre comme au figur. Notre hros aussi retourne sa veste pour le rejoindre dans sa troublante et phantasmatique extase, avide de devenir son double. La dsorientation psychique du Voyage d'hiver se retrouve assez curieusement dans une autre uvre phare de la littrature et de la musique allemandes : Wozzeck. Cet opra de Berg, cr en 1922 et considr comme un paradigme de l'expressionnisme musical du dbut du XXe sicle,
a t conu d'aprs une uvre thtrale de Bchner, cre Vienne en 1914 mais en fait crite en 1836, une douzaine d'annes seulement aprs le Winterreise de Mller. Le Woyzeck de Bchner est demeur l'tat de fragments quasi indchiffrables sa mort 23 ans. Il l'avait rdig dans le genre du thtre pique, dans lequel le drame se concentre sur des scnes particulires plutt que sur le dploiement d'un rcit continu. Cette approche par assemblage est en gnral considre comme intentionnelle de la part de l'auteur, et non le rsultat d'un travail incomplet ou bcl. La succession des scnes est interchangeable sans nuire l'uvre puisque les pripties sont le fruit du hasard, dpendant nullement des relations de cause effet. Une telle conception du drame, si flagrant dans l'opra de Berg, trouve des parallles structurels vidents dans le Voyage d'hiver. On peut aisment imaginer de tels remaniements des pomes et des mlodies qui fonctionnent tout aussi bien. Autant le cycle des lieder que l'opra malgr les quelque cent ans qui les sparent partagent comme thmes principaux la raison chancelante, la dsillusion face la ralit, la distorsion hallucinatoire, l'errance, l'alination vis--vis de la socit et une proccupation constante avec les mcanismes internes du psychisme. Bchner a bien pu connatre le cycle de Mller et en subir l'influence. Je termine donc cette notice, comme les pomes, sur une interrogation : Est-ce aller trop loin que de suggrer que l'uvre de Mller, prcoce de plusieurs dcennies, englobe dj l'esthtique du drame expressionniste ? Pomes disponibles sur www.analekta.com
Recorded on August 10 and 11, 2005 / Enregistr les 10 et 11 aot 2005 : Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, Wilfrid Laurier University (ON) Producer / Ralisateur : Edward Marshall Co-Producer / Coralisateur : Daniel Lichti Piano Technician / Technicien du piano : Wray Lovi This recording was made with the assistance of a CD Preparation Grant from Wilfrid Laurier University. / Cet enregistrement a t ralis grce une bourse de production dun enregistrement mise par lUniversit Wilfrid Laurier. This recording is made under exclusive license with Daniel Lichti (P) 2005 Cet enregistrement est sous licence exclusive avec Daniel Lichti (P) 2005 Executive Producer, Artistic Director / Producteur, directeur artistique : Mario Labb Assistant Executive Producer / Productrice dlgue : Julie Fournier Proofreading / Rvision : Lucie Renaud, Jacques-Andr Houle Photos : Jim Hertel, Public Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University Translation of the poems / Traduction des pomes : Arthur Rishi (anglais / English) Gil Pressnitzer (adaptation en franais / French adaptation) Graphic Design and Production / Conception et production graphique: Concept I.S. & Pyrograf
Groupe Analekta Inc. recognizes the financial assistance of the Government of Quebec through the SODEC's Programme d'aide aux entreprises du disque et du spectacle de varits. / Groupe Analekta Inc. reconnat l'aide financire du gouvernement du Qubec par l'entremise du Programme d'aide aux entreprises du disque et du spectacle de varits de la SODEC. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund). / Nous reconnaissons l'aide financire du gouvernement du Canada par l'entremise du Patrimoine canadien (Fonds de la musique du Canada). Analekta is a trademark of Groupe Analekta Inc. All rights reserved. Made in Canada. AN 2 9921 Analekta est une marque dpose de Groupe Analekta Inc. Tous droits rservs. Fabriqu au Canada.
ANALEKTA is taking advantage of the ever increasing market for music downloads by making ANALEKTAs catalogue available at online retailers and digital music stores. For more information, please visit www.analekta.com/download ANALEKTA diffuse maintenant son catalogue sous forme numrique via divers magasins de musique en ligne et sites de tlchargements musicaux. Pour plus de renseignements, visitez www.analekta.com/telechargement AN 2 9921