Search - Alban Berg, Mitsuko Shirai, Hartmut Höll :: Alban Berg: Lieder, 1900-1925

A lovely recording, a must have for the Berg fan

Stephen Jackson | Texas, USA | 05/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There has been a bit of chaos in the release of Berg's early piece beyond the Sieben frühe Lieder (1907). Berg apparently never intended them to be released, and his wife refused permission through the rest of her life as well. The 7 early songs are nearly standard vocal rep for adventurous singers at this point, but Fischer-Dieskau and Mitsuko Shirai seem to be the only singers who've effectively tackled some of the other "forgotten" works.



The Jugendlieder are simple, lovely, charming pieces in the late romantic style without excessive sentimentality or bombast. Shirai really shines her in the beautiful and simple melodic content. Some listeners may not like the darkness and slight cover of her voice, but the color is very effective throughout this disk. Of particular interest is the setting of Goethe's "Mignon", a very famous text, treated QUITE differently here than in other settings, and Im Morgengrauen, which is simply lovely, although Shirai's vocal production is less admirable here. Many of the Jugenlieder pieces would fit quite nicely into a set of middle or late german lieder and certainly deserve exploration. Additionally 4 of these tracks were world premier recordings at the time of release.



The Sieben frühe Lieder, are a wildly different set of pieces than the Judenlieder. Berg had developed a wider palette of chromatic idiom at this point, and a more self-assured feel for form, contrast and melodic development. Each piece in the cycle is a fully developed micro-cosmos of harmonic and melodic exploration. There are many recordings of this cycle available, and I honestly prefer Anne Sofie von Otter's recording, but Mitsuko Shirai does an absolutely fine job with the pieces here.



Vier Lieder (op 2. 1910) is a return in some ways to some of the more direct melodic material in the Jugenlieder, but the harmonic richness and more self-assured exploration of form and variation continues to progress freely. Some of the more difficult melodic moments (in contrast to the harmonies at least) seem less free and confident in Shirai's renditions here, but overall, she has interpretted these piece with an excellent feel for the line and intent of the composer. The initial statement in Nun ich der Riesen Stärksten überwand is a sudden departure emotionally for the pieces preceeding it, but marks the beginning of much darker emotional material in the recording. Of interest here is the setting of Leukon by Gleim. It is quite literally, the german equivalent of Gather Ye Roses, but certainly moves into a different atmosphere here. Also, Die Näherin, such a clean and evocative setting of text surely deserves more frequent performance.



Overall, this is a TRULY excellent album with only a few insignificant flaws. I definitely recommend it for anyone who is a fan of lesser known romantic lieder, because that is exactly what these pieces are. Lovely, delicate, passionate, evocative recordings of deeply interesting poetry."