What I love about Ian
Bostridge’s voice is the way he can
convey an ethereal sense of mystery.
In Hugo Wolf songs, it’s a definite
advantage, because Wolf’s songs, and
the poets he sets, have an almost magical
dimension "beyond" the printed
page, so to speak. They come alive in
Wolf wrote in a manic
fervour of intensity, writing several
songs a day in a manic phase of inspiration,
delirious with excitement. Of course
it wasn’t prosaic, or even healthy:
Wolf ended his days caged in a primitive
asylum for the insane. But those phases
of intense creativity were what gave
his life meaning, and what gave his
music its incredible intensity and richness.
Everything about Wolf was "hyper",
from the way he worked to the way he
spoke, and the way his eyes glowed.
He inspired protective love from his
friends, who realized the strange quality
of his genius. His long-term lover killed
herself a few years after his death.
Had Wolf been clubbable, like, say,
Brahms, he might have been lionized
by society, but that wasn’t his way
at all. His genius was enhanced by his
need to be totally individual and indeed,
revolutionary. He’s called the "Wagner
of the Lied" for good reason. His
intense, quirky music reflected in a
strange way the highly coloured, dramatic
world of fin-de-siècle Vienna.
Wolf was meticulous
about his choice of text. Indeed, he
quite sincerely described his Mörike
songs as mere evocations of the poems.
This music is so beautifully rococo,
that it can tempt florid, "operatic"
interpretations but that would misinterpret
their essence, which is intelligent
text painting. Not surprisingly, this
is natural Bostridge territory.
Eichendorff was a Prussian
civil servant whose poems seem conventional
on the surface. Bostridge hints at quirkier
undercurrents. Even Der Musikant,
a straightforward (by Wolf standards)
ballad about a wandering musician refers
to the sad fact that minstrels don’t
fit in with society.. Even more striking
is the amazing Verschweigene Liebe
(secret love). It’s a disturbingly mysterious
song about unspoken love that secretly
expresses itself, flowing over the landscape
at dead of night, like clouds. Conceptually
it’s so modern and abstract that wonders
what motivated Eichendorff, a happy
Catholic family man. But it’s much more
than a love song : in the silence of
night, "Gedanken sind frei".
The way Bostridge floats the last line,
using the cloud imagery, is exquisite.
There’s similar haunting mystery in
Nachtzauber (night magic). Moonlight
transforms a familiar landscape. It’s
not clear if the night blooming blossom
is a flower or a dream. If Bostridge’s
German is a little exotic at times in
this song, it’s quite in keeping with
its strangeness, and more than compensated
by the way he shapes the lines with
supple agility. This isn’t music to
be taken literally, it doesn’t need
four square singing.
As expected, the Mörike-Lieder
take pride of place. Eduard Mörike
was a visionary, fascinated by what
in his day were "scientific"
studies in the paranormal. He was was
plagued by long illnesses, possibly
of a psychosomatic nature, which he
used creatively to write and paint instead
of "work". Hence, the sensitivity
of Bostridge’s approach to Der Genesene
an die Hoffnung (the convalescent’s
hymn to hope). Bostridge uses the plaintive
edge in his voice effectively : it makes
a listener think about Mörike and
Wolf, both brilliant artists suffering
the downside of being genuinely sensitive
human beings. This sensibility makes
Bostridge’s Gebet exceptional.
It’s a tiny song, so subtle that its
real impact can easily be missed. In
two short strophes, the poet meekly
accepts whatever God sends, but pointedly
neither joy nor suffering, "for
in between lies the happy medium".
It’s profoundly ironic, but anyone knowing
Wolf and Mörike will understand
why it’s critical to get the understatement
Pappano is a very supportive
player, who understands how voices work.
Despite Wolf’s belief in the predominance
of text, his piano writing is complex
and needs real dexterity. At times,
such as in Auf eine altes Bild,
Bostridge’s refinement is a little precious,
but Pappano’s warm, sensual style grounds
the song firmly. Together they are a
team, balancing each other very well
indeed. Sensuality is an important part
of the Wolf/Mörike ethos, too.
Mörike’s sexually explicit drawings
are fairly well known: to him sex was
an essential part of life. Hence the
uncompromising eroticism of songs like
Der Knabe und das Immlein (the
boy and the bee) and Begegnung
(the encounter). The powerful, rolling
piano line replicates the storm which
had blown the night before: the voice
makes it clear that another, more private
storm had occurred indoors as well.
Bostridge’s voice firms and fills surprisingly
well with erotic charge. He’s even more
passionate in Nimmersatte Liebe,
injecting both ferocity and delicious
abandon in the sado-masochistic text
– then, tantalisingly, ending the song
in a whisper. The two Peregrina songs
both stem from Mörike’s personal
experience. Bostridge knows the context
and sings them with appropriate awareness.
The original Peregrina
was an outsider, something both Wolf
and Mörike understood only too
well. Perhaps that sense of being outside
the mainstream gave them both the taste
for satire. There’s plenty of humour
in Wolf, from the gentle irony of Lied
eines Verliebten to the outright
parody of Abschied where a pompous
critic gets his comeuppance. It’s a
little cruel, granted – but then Wolf
scraped a living as a music critic himself!
Bostridge ‘s voice shows the strength
and precision he’s developed over the
last few years – hear how he varies
volume and tempi to draw character –
at times cringingly oily and at others
rasping. Pappano makes the off key waltz
whiz with panache. He also does wonders
with the ebullient accompaniment to
the setting of Goethe’s Gutmann und
Guttweib. Hear how he plays the
chords that announce the burglars. Bostridge’s
comic gift makes vivid the words the
burglar speaks as he sees the schnapps
in the cupboard.
One could wish for
more, perhaps Storchebötschaft,
which Bostridge does to perfection,
his gangly frame and sense of the macabre
making truly marvelous impact when he
performs it live. Or perhaps some of
the magical Mörike Orplid settings.
Orplid was a fantasy world Mörike
created, complete with its own legends,
genealogies and mysteries. it. Bostridge’s
greatest strength is his ability to
breathe magic and otherworldliness into
whatever he sings. No one, I think,
could be better for bringing out the
surreal beauty of that very unique imagination.
Nonetheless, as it stands, this recording
is an excellent and highly individual
approach to Wolf by an interpreter who
really understands Wolf’s special sensibility
and breathes life into the music.
will be reviewing Bostridge
and Pappano in these songs at the Wigmore
Hall on 16th Sept 2006.