Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall, New York

19 January 2008

Dorothea Röschmann (soprano)
Ian Bostridge (tenor)
Thomas Quasthoff (baritone)
Julius Drake (piano)

Franz Schubert: Songs from Goethes’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre:

Three Harpers Songs: (Ian Bostridge)

• Wer sich der Einsamkeit ergibt D478
• Wer nie sein Brot mit Tränen aß  D480
• An die Türen will ich schleichen D479

Mignon Songs:

• An Mignon D 161 (Ian Bostridge)
• Mignon und der Harfner (Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt) D877, No1
  Dorothea Röschmann, Ian Bostridge
• Heiß mich nicht reden, D877, No 2 (Dorothea Röschmann)
• So lass mich scheinen, D877, No 3 (Dorothea Röschmann)
• Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, D877, No 4 (Dorothea Röschmann)
• Kennst du das Land, D321 (Dorothea Röschmann)
• Ganymed (Wie im Morgenglanze) D544 (Thomas Quasthoff)
• Grenzen der Menschheit D716 (Thomas Quasthoff)
• Erlkönig D328 (Thomas Quasthoff)
• Normans Gesang (Die Nacht bricht bald herein) D846 (Thomas Quasthoff)

Kantate zum Geburtstag des Sängers Johann Michael Vogl, D606
(Dorothea Röschmann, Ian Bostridge, Thomas Quasthoff)

Songs from Goethe’s Faust:

• Der König von Thule D367 (Dorothea Röschmann)
• Gretchen am Spinnrade D118 (Dorothea Röschmann)
• Gretchens Bitte D564 (Dorothea Röschmann)
• Szene aus Goethes Faust (Dom) D126 (Dorothea Röschmann, Ian Bostridge, Thomas Quasthoff)

Licht und Liebe (Nachtgesang) D352 (Dorothea Röschmann, Ian Bostridge)

Der Hochzeitsbraten D930 (Dorothea Röschmann, Ian Bostridge, Thomas Quasthoff)

What the critics say

William R. Braun, Operanews.com, April 2008

Gerald Moore, the first world-famous accompanist, retired in 1967. For his gala farewell performance, Victoria de los Angeles, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau shared the stage. There hadn’t been anything quite like that since – until January 19, when Thomas Quasthoff, Ian Bostridge and Dorothea Röschmann turned up together at Carnegie Hall to join Julius Drake for a liederabend.

Drake isn’t retiring, fortunately. Far from it: this program was not only a long, sober and well-chosen series of Schubert pieces but a real examination of Schubert’s relationship with Goethe’s poetry. The first half concentrated on the Harfenspieler settings and the various Mignon songs. “Mignon und der Harfner,” an obscure and odd duet, served as the logical pivot point. Most of the music in the second half was Faust-related. This included a scene (with Röschmann as Gretchen, Quasthoff as an evil spirit and Bostridge joining in on the hymns) that may well have been speculative, unintended for performance. Indeed, much of Drake’s repertoire was unhackneyed. There was a fragment, “Gretchens Bitte,” performed in a completion by Britten, and a charming Magic-Flutish duet, “Licht und Liebe.” The finale, “Der Hochzeitsbraten,” was a delightful trio in which an engaged couple goes hunting and gets more than they bargained for when they encounter a huntsman. All ended well in a bout of G-major yodeling.

Drake’s pianism is notable for pearly tone, rhythmic reliability and a penchant for pianissimo. He is acutely sensitive, perhaps to a fault in his work with Quasthoff, who needed fuller support. The Faust scene in particular induced some colorful playing. On the other hand, the strophic “Der König in Thule” brought no variety of expression, and reticence turned to loss of focus in “Ganymed.” But he certainly can float a line. The introduction to “So lasst mich scheinen” hovered in the air, and he and Quasthoff kept the audience rapt for the long, quiet “Grenzen der Menschheit.”

Bostridge, with a bel canto soprano’s attention to grace notes, was in great voice. His platform demeanor still breaks out of decorum, but his voice never follows suit. He seems, impossibly, to be even taller and thinner than before, like an HD television picture with incorrect cable hook-up. Previously, I’ve always felt that I caught Röschmann on an off night. Here, in her Mignon songs, I finally fell for her mezzo-ish timbre (”Kennst du das Land” was even in the medium key), her ability to portray yearning without distorting the tone and her excellent intonation. Quasthoff sizzled in “Erlkönig,” giving us a truly pitiable child and a seductive demon. (For those who must know, Drake availed himself of many left-handed chords and alternating fingers to help keep the triplets going. So did Moore.) Quasthoff’s storytelling in the rarity “Normans Gesang” had real bite. Like his baritone colleague Christian Gerhaher, he sometimes bends the tuning of long notes into sourness. Let’s hope this doesn’t become a trend.

Moore was an accompanist; Drake is a “collaborative pianist.” His work is still cut out for him. The same week as his Schubert program, there was a Winterreise in New York. The Times critic got around to the pianist in the eighth and final paragraph of his review,