Schubert: String Quintet & Lieder
Quatuor Ebene ,Gautier Capucon,Matthias Goerne
Schubert: String Quintet & Lieder
Quatuor Ebene ,Gautier Capucon,Matthias Goerne
In 2014 Erato released Schubert’s glorious ‘Trout’ Quintet, recorded live at Paris’s Salle Pleyel by members of Quatuor Ebène with nonagerian pianist Menahem Pressler. The French quartet - with a new viola-player, 24-year-old Adrien Boisseau and a distinguished guest cellist, Gautier Capuçon - now turns to another Schubert quintet, his final chamber work and one of his sublime masterpieces: the Quintet for two violins, viola and two cellos in C major D956, often known simply as the Schubert Quintet. Its slow movement in particular, in which time seems to stands still, is a favourite with music-lovers.
In a characteristically imaginative move, Quatuor Ebène has complemented this substantial work, which lasts nearly an hour, with five of the 600 or so songs that Schubert composed during his lifetime. Replacing the customary piano accompaniments are sensitive new arrangements for string quartet and double bass (Laurène Durante), made by the Ebène’s cellist, Raphaël Merlin, while the singer is the German baritone Matthias Goerne. Established as one of the world’s greatest interpreters of lieder, he has a timbre that, in the words of Gramophone, is notable for its “distinctive mellow roundness … at once deep and soft-grained”. Goerne has said that: “There are no limits to Schubert. He is limitlessly deep - whether you are interpreting him or listening to him. He reveals all the facets, desires, fears and flaws of a human being.” The five songs on this CD - ‘Die Götter Griechenlands’, ‘Der Tod und das Mädchen‘, ‘Der Jüngling und der Tod‘, ‘Atys‘ and ‘Der liebliche Stern‘ - all deal with themes of death or nostalgia, while also demonstrating Schubert’s extraordinary expressive scope.
Track listing:
Schubert:
String Quintet in C major, D956
Gautier Capuçon (cello)
Die Gotter Griechenlands D677 (Schiller)
arranged for string quartet and double bass
Matthias Goerne (baritone) & Laurene Durantel (double-bass)
Der Tod und das Mädchen, D531
arranged for string quartet and double bass
Matthias Goerne (baritone) & Laurene Durantel (double-bass)
Der Jungling und der Tod, D545 (Spaun)
arranged for string quartet and double bass
Matthias Goerne (baritone) & Laurene Durantel (double-bass)
Atys D585
arranged for string quartet and double bass
Matthias Goerne (baritone) & Laurene Durantel (double-bass)
Der liebliche Stern, D861 (Schulze)
arranged for string quartet and double bass
Matthias Goerne (baritone) & Laurene Durantel (double-bass)
Review
Alexandra Mathew
Recently, German baritone Matthias Goerne performed Schubert’s Wintereisse in Melbourne. At the end of the performance the audience remained still. No one clapped. Goerne, without word, exited stage right. But this wasn’t a reflection on the quality of the singing – not at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite. So affecting was Goerne’s performance, and so involved were we as an audience in his harrowing journey, that applause seemed an inappropriate response. We were stunned into silence. Goerne’s onstage presence was powerful, and his voice ethereally beautiful. It is for these reasons that Goerne, and not headliner Quatuour Ébène, is front and centre in this recording. Although Goerne shines, Quatuor Ébène, joined by cellist Gautier Capuçon, gives a magnificent performance of the String Quintet in C major – one of Schubert’s finest pieces.
Accompanied by the expanded French string quartet, Goerne sings five Schubert lieder in arrangements by Raphaël Merlin. Franz Schubert, apparently a shy and private man, preferred the company of his fellow artists to that of the social elite. He and his friends would gather for ‘Schubertiades’ in his salon to share their music and art. Often Schubert would sing his latest compositions, accompanied by a friend at the piano, or himself on guitar. According to the CD liner notes, ‘We can be in no doubt that accompanying the lieder with a string quintet … is truly in the Schubertiade spirit’.
The combination of Goerne’s steely and controlled – but still poetic and subtle – voice with the energetic and tight string quintet is sublime. Die Götter Griechenlands (‘Greek gods’) is typically melancholic, and evocative of the beautiful world for which the singer yearns. The string accompaniment is hypnotic, and the bright timbre of the first violin compliments the mellowness of Goerne’s sound. An essential Schubert recording.
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