Schubert: Schwanengesang / Terfel

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Having burst upon the music scene like a force of nature, Bryn Terfel has experienced an ascent to fame that is truly meteoric--and no wonder. His voice is like dark, warm velvet, incomparably beautiful, effortlessly produced, flawlessly controlled; it can float with tender delicacy and build up to climaxes of earth-shaking power. Its range of color and inflection is unlimited. Though he recorded Schwanengesang while still in his 20s, there is no doubt of Terfel's empathetic feeling for these somber, dark, often bleak, despairing songs, written toward the end of Schubert's life in failing health and desperate circumstances. Terfel's way with them is deeply, intensely expressive, but sometimes rather overstated. He favors slow tempos and lavishes meticulous attention on both textual and musical details, including a lot of "word painting," which, though his diction is exemplary, betrays a learned rather than a native relationship to the language. His tonal inflections are more indigenous to opera than song, so listeners accustomed to the German school of lieder singing may miss the directness and simplicity of, for example, Wolfgang Holzmair's recording. The latter's performance is also deeply expressive and moving, but more of the cycle seems flowing and inward, letting the music speak for itself and the poems--especially the inferior ones--take care of themselves. Terfel's customary pianist (Malcolm Martineau) is a splendid collaborator, sensitive to every nuance and wonderful in his solos. --Edith Eisler

Schubert: Schwanengesang / Terfel, Music, Franz Schubert, Bryn Terfel, Malcolm Martineau, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Classical Vocals, Miscellaneous Vocal Music, Romantic Music for Voice and Keyboard, Vocal, Vocal Music

Bryn Terfel - An die Musik (Favorite Schubert Songs) / Martineau
Average customer rating:

Operatic Schubert that works, for once

My first recording with Bryn Terfel and I love it!

Terfel's all-encompassing Schubert recital

Die Forelle und ErlKoenig

A superb performance

Bryn Terfel - An die Musik (Favorite Schubert Songs) / Martineau
Franz Schubert , Bryn Terfel , and Malcolm Martineau
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Vocal & Song | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
Terfel, Bryn | ( T ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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Silent Noon

ASIN: B000001GMM
Release Date: 1994-09-20

Tracks:

An Die Musik: Gruppe aus dem Tartarus D 583
An Die Musik: Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen D343
An Die Musik: Die Forelle D 550
An Die Musik: An die Leier D 737
An Die Musik: Lachen und Weinen D 777
An Die Musik: Standchen D 957 No. 4 - 'Leise flehen meine Lieder'
An Die Musik: Das Fischermadchen D 957 No. 10
An Die Musik: Die Taubenpost D 957 No. 14
An Die Musik: Meeres Stille D 216
An Die Musik: Der Wanderer D 493
An Die Musik: Erlkonig
An Die Musik: Der Tod und das Madchen D 531
An Die Musik: Heidenroslein D 257
An Die Musik: Wandrers Nachtlied II D 547
An Die Musik: An die Musik D 547
An Die Musik: Auf der Bruck D 853
An Die Musik: Schafers Klagelied D 121
An Die Musik: An Silvia D 891
An Die Musik: Du bis die Ruh' D 776
An Die Musik: An die Laute D 905
An Die Musik: Rastlose Liebe D 138
An Die Musik: Ganymed D 544
An Die Musik: Der Musensohn D 764

Customer Reviews:

Operatic Schubert that works, for once.......2006-01-09

Bryn Terfel issn't the first heroic bass-baritone to try lieder singing, but for every Hans Hotter who succeeds there's a George London who doesn't. In opera a singer who expresses an inward emotion msut still fill the house with sound. Terfel knows how to scale his voice to a whisper, but that would just be a trick if he didn't go inside personally. He can do that very well while singing strongly--a rare gift--and he dares to employ the high dramatics of oprea, flooding the listener with gorgeous vocalism while maintaining contact with Schubert's intent.

I don't mean to sound so clinical. The simple secret of Terfel's success is his ability to communicate. Every song here is familiar, but whether in Die Forelle, Erlkonig, or Der Musensohn, he finds a way to chatacterize the words emotionally--in this his success mirrors Jessye Norman's, who also sang a thrilling Schubert recital early in her career that gloried in her huge sound instead of trying to supress it. With this 1994 CD and his "Vagabond" recital of English art songs Terfel secured his place at the top of the singing world.

My first recording with Bryn Terfel and I love it!.......2004-02-17

If there is a man who can sing his heart out with Schubert, it's Bryn Terfel. His voice is very much like chiaroscuro; light like the morning dawn, loud like the tearing thunder or gathering waves! The welsh baritone sings the songs as if he feels them and is bursting out his soul. As he said when singing a Mozart opera as I read, "I'm going to sing the hell out of this!". But hell sounds too much like heaven. The arist has a gift and he uses it to the extent. And Die Musik is one disc everyone should have in their collection.

Terfel's all-encompassing Schubert recital.......2003-10-23

This Schubert CD is one of the first high notes in Bryn Terfel's solo discography for DG. Although you might find him at home singing Rodgers & Hammerstein musical excerpts, or a popular Welsh song, this recital of Schubert shows Terfel as sympathetic when he interprets the lieder of this Austrian "sunshine composer." Terfel leads us through a good 69 minutes of 23 favourite Schubert songs, ably backed by the authoritative piano accompaniments of Malcolm Martineau that create the effect of a magic carpet for Bryn, and engage in a sparkling dialogue with him. And DG has ably capped this winning recital with a natural, ambient and clear recording in Hamburg's Friedrich-Ebert Halle .

Terfel's Schubert recital encompasses a great range of moods and emotions. These range from the joie de vivre of "Die Forelle" to the tender, soft and seductive strains of the overplayed "Standchen." In these two immensely popular songs, Terfel gives the Midas touch until you sense it turning into gold. Terfel is also able to let us face the apocalyptic terror of the first song, "Gruppe aus dem Tartarus" and the smooth-talking malevolance of "Der Tod und das Madtchen." But yet, Terfel also treats us to selections that we know are enjoyable, and where he ably evokes the appropriate mood of each song. In his restless "Der Wanderer," he sings it until he makes us want to cry because he evokes the mood of the narrator's restless sould so vividly. There is also a hair-raising and dramatic "Erlkonig" where Terfel ably creates contrasts between the three characters in the story. But perhaps the best songs are those where he savours every moment and has an honest, winning expression. His rendition of the title track, "An die Musik" has a sincere and simple charm that matches the sentiments of the song, and he is able to convey to us the wonder of "Gaymed" and the charming Shakespearean song, "An Silvia." He caps this winning persona with a delightful "Heidenrslein" and "Die Taubenpost" and a cheerful and outgoing rendition of the last song, "Der Musensohn." The only wuibble I have is that 70 minutes is too short to hear Terfel tackle the all-important Schubert songs from his over-600, and I do hope he'll consider recording a volume 2 in the near future. This album seems to omit some of the other well-loved songs like Der Lindenbaum, Fruhlingsglaube, Gretchen am Spinnrade, Horch, horch die Lerch and the original version of Ave Maria with the German translation of Scott.

On the whole, I find this a wonderful Terfel recital of Schubert lieder, and Terfel seems like he is savouring every moment of it. This is one of the essential purchases for anyone who is getting into Bryn Terfel, and should be well-considered alongside the Rodgers & Hammerstein and Welsh albums. Now I wonder when Terfel will come up with a Volume 2 with more well-known Lieder...

Die Forelle und ErlKoenig.......2001-10-22

This is really a delightful CD. I was amazed by the interpretation of "Der Erlkoenig" und thoroughly enjoyed
"Die Forelle". It feels like a brave and extaordinarily
capable voice was at work in the making of this CD.
Very gifted singer !

A superb performance.......2001-04-21

This recording shows very well what Bryn Terfel can do with lieder. He is more dramatic than many rivals - not afraid to use full voice at times or a faint whisper. His Erlkonig is possibly the finest thing on this recording - the characterizations may be too extreme for some tastes, but shows Terfel's ability to capture the listener. Martineau rises superbly to the challenge of supporting this great voice. The recording is also very realistic.

Average customer rating:

One of the very best Schwanengesang recordings--bye bye, F-D
Masterfully Sung

Schubert: Schwanengesang / Terfel
Franz Schubert , Bryn Terfel , and Malcolm Martineau
Manufacturer: Marquis Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B00004SSHV
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Tracks:

Love's Message
Warrior's Foreboding
Spring Longing
Serenade
Resting Place
Far Away
Farewell
Atlas
Her Picture
The Fisher Maiden
The Town
By The Sea
The Wraith
Pigeon Post

Amazon.com

Having burst upon the music scene like a force of nature, Bryn Terfel has experienced an ascent to fame that is truly meteoric--and no wonder. His voice is like dark, warm velvet, incomparably beautiful, effortlessly produced, flawlessly controlled; it can float with tender delicacy and build up to climaxes of earth-shaking power. Its range of color and inflection is unlimited. Though he recorded Schwanengesang while still in his 20s, there is no doubt of Terfel's empathetic feeling for these somber, dark, often bleak, despairing songs, written toward the end of Schubert's life in failing health and desperate circumstances. Terfel's way with them is deeply, intensely expressive, but sometimes rather overstated. He favors slow tempos and lavishes meticulous attention on both textual and musical details, including a lot of "word painting," which, though his diction is exemplary, betrays a learned rather than a native relationship to the language. His tonal inflections are more indigenous to opera than song, so listeners accustomed to the German school of lieder singing may miss the directness and simplicity of, for example, Wolfgang Holzmair's recording. The latter's performance is also deeply expressive and moving, but more of the cycle seems flowing and inward, letting the music speak for itself and the poems--especially the inferior ones--take care of themselves. Terfel's customary pianist (Malcolm Martineau) is a splendid collaborator, sensitive to every nuance and wonderful in his solos. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

One of the very best Schwanengesang recordings--bye bye, F-D.......2006-01-03

I am not an ardent fan of Fischer-Dieskau, but all his considerable abilities were lavished on Schwanengesang. I kept his early EMI recording as a standard for years, but now we have three excellent alternatives--Bo Skovhus on Sony, Thomas Quasthoff on DG, and this early Terfel recording on an obscure Welsh label, Sain. Of the three, Terfel is the powerhouse. His huge dramatic baritone is unleashed in many songs--for heroism and sheer vocal thrills he has no match. But this giant can also walk on air and tenderly break your heart.

Still in his twenties when he made this CD in 1992, Terfel was three years past his win at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition--a wonderfully hyprebolic title for a hyperbolic singer. Everything here is totally heart-on-sleeve, and Terfel's passions spill over the boundaries of the lied. No matter. His musical instincts are completely natural and unforced, just the thing Schubert requires. Happily, the recent wobble in his voice and his tendency to self-parodied histrionics are nowhere in sight. Malcolm Martineau gives a world-class accompaniment, far beyond Gerald Moore for F-D.

All in all, if you have been looking for a great lieder singer with a ravishing voice, something F-D never had, this CD stands high on the list.

Masterfully Sung.......2000-06-20

Terfel displays an understanding of Schubert that transcends most of the mediocre attempts that have preceeded. I highly recommend this C.D., it is a fresh, albeit different, look at this well-known cycle.