Search - Brahms, Wolf, Allen :: Lieder Recital

A feast of Lieder singing

01/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a splendid pair of discs. Thomas Allen's performances of these great songs are thoroughly idiomatic and beautifully sung from beginning to end. He has an inate sense of line and does not need to interupt the melodic flow of the songs with excessive expressive posturing as many other singers do. His Wolf recital (the second disc) would make an excellent introduction to the music of this composer. He has an exceptional accompanist in Geoffrey Parsons who has always been appreciated as one of the finest of all accompanists. Listening to these performances it is easy to see why. The recording is excellent -- a warm acoustic and a perfect balance between the voice and the piano. The set represents exceptional value although the documentation is diabolical. No texts are provided. This is one of the most enjoyable lieder collections available. I have no doubt that any lover of lieder will be delighted with the performances."

An Introduction to the Songs of Brahms and Wolf

Robin Friedman | Washington, D.C. United States | 07/05/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In many ways, this two-volume CD is outstanding. It consists of one CD devoted to the songs of Johannes Brahms (1833 -- 1897) and a second CD devoted to the songs of erratic genius, Hugo Wolf

(1860 -- 1893). Baritone Thomas Allen has a deeply rich and expressive voice; his performance of these songs is all that could be desired. Pianist Geoffrey Parsons is one of the most gifted lieder accompanists. Elizabeth Schwarzkopf described Parsons as "a wonderful accompanist, especially for Hugo Wolf." The piano part for the Wolf songs is rich, detailed, and difficult, with long postludes. The piano frequently assumes orchestral proportions.



Brahms and Wolf are a study in contrasts. Brahms was a consummate master of large musical forms, including symphonies, concertos, and chamber music. Many music-lovers are unfamiliar with his songs. Yet these works, in their lyricism and simplicity show an important side of Brahms's work that is often overlooked -- his gift for melody and romance. Brahms composed songs througout his life beginning with his song "Liebestreu", opus 3 which first brought him to public attention through the "Four Serious Songs" opus 121 which commemorated the death of Clara Schumann. Brahms's songs are heavily indebted to Schubert. But they are carefully wrought and generally do not include the attention to verbal detail found in Schubert. Most of the songs sing of love found and lost -- the latter predominating -- and have an intimate quality not found in Brahms's larger compositions. Allen and Parsons perform beautifully a selection of 25 songs on this CD including the famous "Wiegenlied" (Brahms's lullabye).



As a young man, Hugo Wolf left a portfolio of work with Brahms for the master's review and approval. Unfortunately, Brahms was not impressed and advised the budding composer to pursue further studies in counterpoint. Angered, Wolf became Brahms's arch-enemy and never tired of deprecating the great composer during his career as a journalist and music-critic.



Unlike Brahms, Wolf excelled only as a composer of lieder. He worked erratically and in spurts, and most of his songs are collected in song-books devoted to the work of a single poet. Wolf tried to create songs in which voice, piano, and texts functioned as a unity. Musically, he is a successor to Gluck, Berlioz, and Wagner. There is no composer who paid more attention to the nuances of his texts. Wolf's music is of a surprisingly varied character but it tends to be declamatory and difficult in style and literally to wrap itself around the poetry.



This CD consists of 16 songs from Wolf's first songbook devoted to the poet Eduardo Morike. These songs are of a wide emotional range from passionate love songs to character studies, and to sardonically satirical verse. The CD also includes 15 of Wolf's Goethe songs which are generally serious and difficult in tone. Wolf's great settings of two works with classical themes, "Anakreon's Grab" and "Phanomen" are included here as are the three "Harfenspieler" songs from William Meister. (Schubert and Schumann also set these verses.)



With two CDs of songs by two great composers, beautiful performances, and a low price, this CD has much to commend it. The one deficiency in this collection lies in the program notes which are non-existent. Unfortunately, there are no song texts for either composer. The lack of texts is a much more serious ommission in the case of Wolf than for Brahms in that Wolf's songs depend heavily for their effect upon the set word. I couldn't give this set a five-star rating because of the absence of the texts.



That being said, I would still recommend this CD to the listener interested in song. Neither Brahms nor Wolf are overly well-represented in accessible CDs of lieder. The Brahms songs are rich and melodic and will appeal immediately even without the texts. The Wolf songs are more difficult in character, but I found myself able to respond to the performances here without the texts.



For those who know the Schubert and Schumann songs and wish to explore the works of these two later masters of lieder, this is an excellent choice. This CD will help you fall in love with the songs of Brahms and Wolf -- and to pursue texts and further detail if you so desire. If you already know these songs, these performances will be a welcome addition and will deepen your love for this great music.



Robin Friedman



"

Allen conquers two very different worlds of song

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For this 2-CD set Virgin has combined a Brahms recital from 1990 and a Wolf recital from 1992. We can be thankful that a record company would take the risk, however small, of recording them in the first place. Lieder by Brahms isn't a sure seller, and Wolf even less so. But the company had an exceptional singer in Thomas Allen, and he was caught in prime voice (he continues to sing very well today in his sixties). The world of Brahms' songs is an unblushingly romantic one, where he emphasizes the human simplicity of heartfelt emotion and melody. Wolf's world is also romanti but far more shadowy, intense, and ambiguous. It would be hard to imagine a greater contrast.



Allen doesn't change his singing style very much, and yet he sounds perfectly fitting in both worlds. His smooth, full voice has an immediately winning timbre, and he spins out beautiful tone throughout. When it comes to Wolf's concentrated, shifting harmonies, Allen continues to sound mellifluous, which puts him at a far remove from mercurial singers like Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau, who try to add a new inflection for almost each syllable. Although simplr, Allen's appraoch makes Wolf sound simpler and more agreeable. I count that as a virtue. Sadly, as noted by another reviewer, this budget reissue is hampered by offering no texts."