Search - Hugo [Composer] Wolf, Irwin Gage, Arleen Auger :: Hugo Wolf: Songs to the Poetry of Goethe and Mörike

Lovely tone, lovely playing - but the centre of interpretati

Ingrid Heyn | Melbourne, Australia | 07/01/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Arleen Augér was one of the loveliest sopranos of her generation; her voice had a silvery purity and enough warmth to make her an admirable Mozart singer, for instance. But when one is singing Lieder - and in particular, the Lieder of Hugo Wolf - one needs a voice of quality, superb musicality and an ability to find the heart, soul and flesh of meaning in the text and in the music itself.



Ms Augér without question has the first two qualifications. She is admirable as a musican and as a singer. But she is not a deep interpreter, and it's this that speaks so tellingly in the limits of this performance.



One does not hear sighs, smiles, tears, mischief, sensuousness, robustness, innocent wonder, etc., except in the broadest sense. The finer detail is not conveyed, and this stands out in contrast to the Lieder singers who exemplify beauty and meaning with depth, colour and richness. These singers include Schwarzkopf (of course), Elly Ameling, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (again, of course), Olaf Bär, and quite surprisingly, Soile Isokoski (whose recently released recording of the Italian Songbook was utterly enchanting). Barbara Bonney also released a truly beautiful CD of Wolf and Strauss Lieder.



So in contrast to these, I found so much lacking in this recording that it felt anaemic. Lovely in a pallid way, but without the depth I wanted. However, I've heard Ms Augér do some truly gorgeous things (her Aspasia in Mozart's Mitridate, for example). I think she and Wolf are not an ideal pairing - it does not show off her lovely voice to its best advantage, and it does not reveal the intricacies and beauties of Wolf's Lieder.



I can recommend this mainly as an addition to one's existing Wolf Lieder collection, not as the sole representation."