You’d hardly know that this year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Hugo Wolf (1860-1903). Even as orchestras and music publications worldwide extol the praises of Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), church bells are hardly pealing Wolf melodies.
Despite Wolf’s reputation as one of the finest and most subtle 19th-century composers of German lied (song), performances and recordings of his songs are hard to come by in the U.S. Rarely will you find an entire recital devoted to him. And while EMI has just issued an important, eight-CD Hugo Wolf Anniversary Edition, the complete Hugo
Wolf Society recordings from the 1930s are available only as an expensive import, while many other indispensible recordings are out of print. When was the last time you heard Wolf songs on FM radio?
Because most lieder specialists tend to favor Wolf’s Mörike, Goethe, and Italienisches Liederbuch (Italian Liederbook) collections, only a handful of the 44 songs in the Spanisches Liederbuch (Spanish songbook) occasionally surface in recital. Which makes a major event of soprano Susannah Biller, baritone Austin Kness, and pianist/coach Allen Perriello’s daring programming of Wolf’s entire Spanisches Liederbuch for their San Francisco Opera Center Schwabacher Debut Recital on Sunday in Temple Emanu-El’s Meyer Sanctuary.
Even singing half the songs would have made for a full recital. You have to hand it to these three current Adler Fellows and Merola grads for audaciously following in the footsteps of, most recently, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Irmgard Seefried, Gerald Moore, and Erik Werba by programming every single one of these songs in their 2½ hour late-afternoon recital.
Novel Groupings
The bookish-looking Perriello, whose unusual billing before the singers on the face of the gratefully well-laid-out program booklet suggests that he was the motivating force behind the programming, began by explaining that the artists had grouped the songs into five sets. Four of these contained the Spanish Songbook’s Weltliche Lieder (Worldly songs); the other set, which came fourth in the program, presented all the Geistliche Lieder (Spiritual songs). In San Francisco, at least, the flesh had the final word.
Introduced with some humor, the sets were:
- I. This relationship is doomed from the start, so please enjoy.
II. The pain group, distinguished by the chromaticism that Wolf embraced through the inspiration of Richard Wagner.
III. Life lessons, the most operatic of the bunch.
IV. The spiritual journey, with references to Jesus, Mary, and the early gospel.
V. The love songs, aka “he’s going to run away before the neighbors see him.”
Kness began with “Auf dem grünen Balkon” (On the green balcony). Most impressive was his relatively clear diction, which in the fourth row mostly survived the sanctuary’s notoriously over-resonant acoustic. The voice, at least in the beginning, sounded stretched at the top of the range, and undernourished at the bottom. While the top grew fuller as the recital progressed, the bottom never blossomed. Perhaps he was not in best voice; I recall none of these problems from the excellent Don Giovanni he sang with Merola a few summers back.
Biller initially sacrificed enunciation for the sake of vocal production. Although her enunciation improved once she tuned her voice to the acoustic, enunciation was not her strong suit.
For this, the brittle acoustic of Meyer Sanctuary must bear its share of responsibility. While the piano sounded clear and direct, and Kness’ forward production fared pretty well, Biller’s beautifully bright, clear, high soprano was handicapped by the excess resonance of the sanctuary’s glass/plaster surfaces.
My sense is that her instrument, which seems sent from the head, is of the highest quality. It moved from the lowest to highest passages with supreme ease, and was kissed with freshness and beauty. In the War Memorial Opera House, it undoubtedly stands out as special. But in Meyer, its beauty was compromised. Might the piano or at least the singers be moved a level down and forward for future recitals?
Passion Blossoms
Biller, who sounded fresh throughout, produced wonderful, free sounds and picture-of-freshness highs. She sounded especially beautiful in youthful passages, and was able to alter her tone somewhat to pout, flirt, and express sadness. Her low range at the start of “Ob auch finstre Blicke glitten” (Though dark looks have slipped) was also quite beautiful, and the entire performance was touching. Biller perfectly pared her voice down to a slim thread of sound in “Trau nicht der Liebe” (Trust not love), and then expressed voluminous passion in “Wunden trägst du mein Geliebter” (Wounds you bear, my love). Although her rendition of “In dem Schatten meiner Locken” (In the shade of my curls) just missed the mark, her overall excellence suggests that she could blossom into a first-rate lieder singer of the Seefried mold.
Kness’ performance, which fared best when he sang strongly in the middle range, was less differentiated. By the fourth set, he began to sound tired. Numerous songs were not ended properly; the last note was sounded mundanely, and the energy died. (Perriello did the same in the final song.) Spiritual profundity and a transcendent sense of faith were not within his vocal compass. Rather than capturing Mary’s great spiritual journey in “Nun wandre, Maria” (Onward now, Mary), Kness sounded empty, hollow, and monotonous.
Perriello’s playing was forthright, technically impressive, and, to my ears, accurate, though he held forth while making little contact with his singers. His tendency was to overwhelm rather than caress the vocal line.
This may have been a collaborative effort, but the electricity between artists that puts a joint lieder recital over the top was not in evidence. It was a recital to appreciate and be thankful for, but not to love.