Schubert and Schumann never sounded like this before!
T. Fisher | 01/28/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I own the video version of this recording, published as a DVD. However, the music is identical, as the DVD (Wunderschonen Monat Mai) is a lip-synced version of the CD with identical tracks. The CD is released with the subtitle "Music edition" and the DVD as the "Film edition".
That little proviso aside, the Schoenberg Ensemble and actress/singer Barbara Sukowa have put together some great music here. However, if you expect historically accurate performance, you'll be very disappointed. This is a modernized, stylized, cooled-up performance of new arrangements of songs by Schubert (mostly from "Die Winterreise") and Schumann (mostly from "Dichterliebe").
Barbara Sukowa is a well-known actress in Germany, and starred in several Fassbinder films. She brings her acting talents to bear in her singing, which is actually somewhere between singing and narration. The original Schumann/Schubert song melodies are often NOT respected, but transformed into more of a spoken-word-over-music format. When the melodies are followed, they are by no means in the typical soprano-at-the-piano style you might expect. The singing is more reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich than any other performer I can think of -- like a seductive songstress in a vintage nightclub.
When she is not singing, but speaking, I was actually reminded of William Shatner's musical performances, although that comparison may be unfair to Ms Sukowa. Shatner doesn't sing -- he (over)acts the lyrics against the musical background. The idea here is similar. Sukowa's performance is much more serious, and really is wonderful, but on occasion the drama does go over the top. I would say it is just all the more enjoyable for that.
All these songs -- 21 of them in a "3 times 7" structure -- were newly arranged for chamber ensemble with 14 musicians including strings, winds, horn, piano and harp. The arrangements by Schoenberg Ensemble conductor and pianist Reinbert de Leeuw are so different from the originals that they are often more like new compositions altogether -- certainly this is true for the work as a whole, which can really be thought of as being by de Leeuw, based on Schubert and Schumann.
Within each set of seven songs, they are generally arranged so as to blend into each other seamlessly -- again reinforcing that this is not straight Schumann or Schubert. Not for old-style Lieder purists. It's stylized, but it's good.
"
Track Listings (21) - Disc #1