{"id":25869,"date":"2015-02-27T16:02:03","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T21:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=25869"},"modified":"2015-03-04T21:48:04","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T02:48:04","slug":"concert-review-christian-gerhaher-warms-up-a-blustery-die-winterreise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2015\/02\/27\/concert-review-christian-gerhaher-warms-up-a-blustery-die-winterreise\/","title":{"rendered":"CONCERT REVIEW | Christian Gerhaher Warms Up a Blustery Winterreise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Christian
German baritone and bass singer Christian Gerhaher (R) and pianist Gerold Huber (L)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Baritone Christian Gerhaher and pianist Gerold Huber, at\u00a0Koerner Hall, Thursday.<\/h3>\n

Once in a blue moon, I hear a song recital that makes me question the purpose of all other forms and genres of music.<\/p>\n

As I sit, mesmerized and delighted by what I\u2019m hearing, I may say to myself, \u201cWhat is the purpose of elaborate scenery, costumes and lighting? And what do we need with a phalanx of strings, or a barrage of brass, or a conductor flailing around on a podium? All that\u2019s needed to achieve the full breadth and depth of musical expression is a singer and a piano.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursday night\u2019s recital at Koerner Hall by baritone Christian Gerhaher and pianist Gerold Huber put me in mind of such thoughts.<\/p>\n

Fresh from a performance at New York\u2019s Alice Tully Hall, the well-matched pair of recital artists was in excellent form. And of course it helped that they brought to the stage a consummate masterpiece: Schubert\u2019s Winterreise<\/em>. (It was an apt choice, given the frigid weather that has descended on Toronto this winter.)<\/p>\n

From the first song, \u201cGute Nacht,\u201d Gerhaher\u2019s and Huber\u2019s shared ideas about Winterreise <\/em>unfolded like the petals of a flower. Their approach was intimate, balanced, and even a little restrained. It was an \u201cinside-the-box\u201d performance, devoid of extravagance or wilfulness. But within the box that two musicians skilfully constructed, they revealed a miniature universe, intricate and fascinating in every detail. Yet at the same time, there was an arc to the recital, as Schubert\u2019s 24 songs were built up into a strong and unified musical structure.<\/p>\n

Throughout, Gerhaher\u2019s technically flawless delivery was at times lyrical, at times declamatory \u2013 but always clear and direct. And, in a very refreshing way, this Winterreise<\/em> wasn\u2019t smothered under a blanket of maudlin self-pity. Melancholy was certainly a prominent emotion \u2013 but there was also serenity in the famous \u201cLindenbaum,\u201d and a kind of religious ecstasy in \u201cDie Nebensonnen.\u201d<\/p>\n

And particularly impressive was Gerhaher\u2019s skilful way of shifting the mood of a song, throughout its course. A short song doesn\u2019t give a singer a lot of room to manoeuvre \u2013 but in \u201cR\u00fcckblick,\u201d \u201cDie Post,\u201d \u201cFr\u00fchlingstraum,\u201d and others, he deftly changed course in fluid and persuasive ways.<\/p>\n

In all these ways Gerhaher virtually became the central figure in Winterreise<\/em>, as effectively as an opera star might inhabit Carmen or Figaro on stage. Yet in Gerheher\u2019s case, this transformation was accomplished in white tie and tails, while he calmly stood next to a piano. It was an inward, rather than an outward, manifestation of the poet Wilhelm M\u00fcller\u2019s unfortunate protagonist, brilliantly achieved through the medium of Schubert\u2019s music.<\/p>\n

Gerhaher also sings opera \u2013 \u201cin select productions,\u201d according to the program notes. But based on this performance, it\u2019s clear why the 46-year-old German singer is regarded as the heir to Dietrich Fischer Dieskau as an interpreter of Lied. Let\u2019s hope he comes back to Toronto soon.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once in a blue moon, I hear a song recital that makes me question the purpose of all other forms and genres of music…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":25872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118,76,19,52],"tags":[759,5322,5321,2943],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/02\/6a00d834ff890853ef00e55197f9528834-800wi.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-6Jf","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25869"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26011,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25869\/revisions\/26011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25869"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=25869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}