Search - Wagner, Frederiksen, Koppel :: Faust Lieder

A fascinating selection, but poor performances

Laon | moon-lit Surry Hills | 03/30/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This album contains many things of interest to people wanting to explore the remoter reaches of the Wagnerian repertoire, especially the songs he wrote in his starveling early days in Paris. Given its brave selection of these rarities, I had high hopes for this disk when I ordered it from Amazon, but with great regret I have to say I can't really recommend it. Soprano Lone Koppel and baritone Björn Asker, with the Hymnia Chamber Choir, accommpanied by Jorgen Ellegard Frederiksen, sing a selection of Wagner rarities, several of which are not otherwise available. They offer:All seven "Compositions for Goethe's Faust":
1 Lied der Soldaten
2 Bauer unter der Linde
3 Branders Lied
4 Lied des Mephistopheles ("Es war einmal ein König")
5 Lied des Mephistopheles ("Was machst du mir")
6 Gretchen am Spinnrade
7 MelodramAnd:
Der Tannenbaum
Geburtsangrüss an Cosima
Adieux de Marie Stuart
Dors mon enfant
Attente
Mignonne
Tout n'est qu'images fugitivesLes deux grenadiersThe problem is that the two soloists have quite unattractive voices. The first time I listened to the disk the main pleasure it gave me was the pause after one or the other of them stopped singing. Baritone Björn Asker is the worst offender, whose voice has a noticeably harsh, hard timbre, even when he is trying to sing tenderly; and it easily slips into a grating snarl, sometimes making some of the ugliest noises I've ever heard seriously offered as singing on a classical recording. Soprano Lone Koppel is merely adequate, in a rather old-fashioned way, which by contrast with Asker is almost a relief. The choral pieces, such as "Lied der Soldaten" are rather better. I regret having to be so hard on a recording I very much wanted to like, but there it is. So while it was a great idea to record all seven "Compositions for Goethes Faust", and it's good to have "Adieux de Marie Stuart", which so far as I'm aware isn't available on any other collection, it's hard to get a feel for the merit of these pieces when they are sung in performances that range from merely serviceable to actively ugly. I hope somebody else has a go, and soon.By the way the liner notes claim that "Geburtsangrüss an Cosima" is a world premier recording of this piece. Actually, a far superior recording (admittedly in a different and much better arrangement) was released under the title "Kinderkatechismus" on the last side of Deryck Cook's lecture on the _Ring_; at least in the vinyl release. That recording seems to have gone missing in the CD era. In that version, though not in the one on this album, it's a lovely piece. I hope that earlier recording turns up again soon.There are some very good early Wagner songs. If you are interesting in exploring this repertoire, I recommend the recital disk _Romantic songs_ by baritone Thomas Hampson, with pianist Geoffrey Parsons. He offers five of the songs from this disk, incomparably better sung, along with some wonderful early songs by Berlioz and Liszt. I've given this disk three stars for Koppel and Asker's enterprise in seeking out and recording these rarities. The performances themselves merit two stars. It's one for Wagner completists only; and I hope a better recording of the otherwise unavailable pieces comes along soon. Cheers!Laon"