Schubert: Winterreise | Rachel Fenlon, soprano & pianist. Feb. 11, 2025, Jane Mallett Theatre.
At the Jane Mallett Theatre last Tuesday evening, a highly enthusiastic audience, yours truly among them, witnessed something extraordinary. It was a Liederabend given by Berlin-based Canadian soprano Rachel Fenlon.
On the program was Schubert’s Winterreise. To art song aficionados, this 24-songs, 70-minute work is widely regarded as the Mount Everest of German Lieder. To do it justice, the soloist needs beauty of tone, technical prowess, stamina, heartfelt expression, and communicative power, not to mention an iron clad memory, when performed without a score.
Soprano Rachel Fenlon has all the above, to be sure. In addition, she has something that others don’t or at least have not attempted to do — that is, to playing the piano while singing. The vocal line and the piano score in Winterreise follow very disparate (if complementary) paths, making the idea of singing and playing an absolutely daunting proposal. I joke that you need two brains to do it!
Yet, Ms. Fenlon has demonstrated that she can sing and play at the same time and do it with distinction. According to her website, she grew up singing as well as playing the piano since childhood. She felt the urge to combine the two and eventually gave an all-Schubert recital in Toronto while accompanying herself. This was the start of her extraordinary journey, one that has made her unique about classical vocalists.
Since that first performance, Fenlon has gone on to explore various repertoire and giving it to the public in performances at festivals and concert halls. Among the vast 600 songs of Schubert, Fenlon was drawn to the Winterreise song cycle like no other. She mentions on her website that it was during the start of the pandemic in winter 2020 when she began studying this cycle, living alone near a forest outside Berlin, cut off from contacts with anyone.
The work, with its central theme of loneliness and solitude, resonated deeply with her during this period of pandemic-enforced isolation. In the summer of 2022, Fenlon sang it for the first time in Berlin. When the time came to make her first recording, Schubert was the obvious choice, and what better song cycle than this sublime and heartbreaking Winter’s Journey? It was released last October.
The CD
Thanks to Karen Choi of Balm Community, I was given an audio copy of Fenlon’s Winterreise on Orchid Classics for review. Winterreise used to be the domain of the male singer, at least unofficially. Yes, it’s about the winter journey of a male protagonist, but there are plenty of examples of female singers tackling male roles — just look at the many “trouser roles” in opera!
On a personal level, I was exposed to female interpreters of Winterreise early in my journey as an audience member. I am referring to the great Lois Marshall who sang this cycle at Hart House in the 1970s, with Anton Kuerti on the piano. I was teaching at Trent University at the time and made my way to Toronto for this most memorable recital. I believe that performance was broadcast on the CBC and a compact disc was issued years ago.
Since that early exposure, I have enjoyed several female interpreters, including the great Brigitte Fassbaender. I heard Adrianne Pieczonka sing it exactly eight years ago. It was unforgettable in more ways than one, as I had the misfortune of falling and dislocating my right shoulder while rushing to Mazzoleni Hall. I braved the pain and heard her sing it before going to Mount Sinai Hospital emergency. I joke that I had my own Winterreise!
I have listened to Fenlon’s whole recording multiple times, and each time I am impressed by her beauty of tone, innate musicality, and her marvellous piano playing. I confess I do prefer lower voices in this cycle. Fenlon’s instrument is a light lyric, as compared to the full lyric of Pieczonka and Marshall, or the high mezzo of Fassbaender. But, I am won over by Fenlon’s lovely tone, very well captured by the sound engineers in Domaine Forget, Quebec where the recording was made.
The Performance
Fenlon has already sung/played it in many venues, in Germany, UK, Portugal, as well as Vancouver. The audience at the Jane Mallett Theatre on Tuesday was not big, but knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and I dare say that they were fully aware that they were witnessing something exceptional. I spotted many singers and people in the music business in the audience.
After a warm welcome by the audience, Fenlon proceeded to share her Schubertian journey, all 70 minutes without an intermission, and without a score or text of any sort. As in the recording, she sang with beauty of tone, her pianism exemplary, and it is not hyperbole on my part. Comparing what I heard live versus on the CD, and I did notice one difference. On the disc, the voice is crystal clear all the way through. In person, with the piano, with lid opened in the full stick person, her middle and lower voice was not as clear as it could be. Kudos to the organizers for arranging the projected text.
I do like her interpretation, which is somewhat understated. When it comes to Lieder, there are two schools of performers — the text-focused singers with a huge amount of “word pointing” and attention to minute details, and those with less obvious interpretation and just let the sound of the voice speak for itself, sort of a “prima la voce” approach. To my eyes and ears, I would say Fenlon belongs to the second school.
Winterreise is an incredibly moving song cycle, set to very touching text. And when the voice is beautiful as well, it adds tremendously to the enjoyment. I am glad Fenlon was able to achieve both in her recital.
Her artistry is preserved for posterity on the CD. I urge any song lovers to give it a listen. It’s a fine accomplishment and not to be missed.
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