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Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin
Franz Schubert, Justus Zeyen, Thomas Quastoff
Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin
Genres: Pop, Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (20) - Disc #1

Like all great music, Schubert's song-cycle Die schöne Müllerin is open to as many interpretations as there are singers to perform it. Quasthoff's must be one of the most unusual, affecting, and riveting. He trea...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Franz Schubert, Justus Zeyen, Thomas Quastoff
Title: Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Original Release Date: 1/1/2005
Re-Release Date: 11/8/2005
Genres: Pop, Classical
Styles: Vocal Pop, Opera & Classical Vocal
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 028947421825

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Like all great music, Schubert's song-cycle Die schöne Müllerin is open to as many interpretations as there are singers to perform it. Quasthoff's must be one of the most unusual, affecting, and riveting. He treats the songs as an intimate monologue, as if the hero/narrator were confiding his feelings and actions to himself, or to the brook and the forget-me-nots on its banks. Indeed, "Pause" (number 12) marks him as a poet who naturally expresses himself in verse. Quasthoff succeeds in sustaining this intense inwardness throughout the whole cycle--an extraordinary feat, requiring utmost vocal control and mental and emotional concentration. He chooses generally subdued dynamics, except for the outbursts of passionate anger and jealousy, and flowing tempi, except for the final surrender to hopeless despair, where the pace is funereal; the last song is less a lullaby than a dirge. His voice seems to have become more lyrical and pure and less pervasively dark over the years. It now has an enormous range of dynamics, colors and nuances, enabling him to vary the verses of the many strophic songs with great subtlety. His breath control is incredible: Quasthoff can spin endless lines and phrases without losing pitch or intensity, and his diction is meticulously clear, proving that he gives the words as much attention as the music. Perhaps most remarkably, he makes every note expressive and yet captures that most elusive quality: natural simplicity, so essential to Schubert's songs in general, and these in particular. Pianist Justus Zeyen anticipates and reflects Quasthoff's every mood with uncanny empathy, and plays beautifully but so discreetly that he sometimes becomes almost inaudible. --Edith Eisler

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CD Reviews

Thomas Quasthoff and 'Die schöne Müllerin': An Introspective
Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 04/03/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)

"'Die schöne Müllerin' of Franz Schubert is one of his most frequently recorded song cycles and the choices are many among some very fine recordings. Usually sung by the tenor voice (Ian Bostridge comes first to mind), Thomas Quasthoff transposes the songs down for his lushly atmospheric baritone and the results are not only a change in timbre, but also an alternative interpretation of this wondrous cycle that for this listener brings new life to the music.



Quasthoff continues to grow as a soloist. Always an intelligent and sensitive singer, his vocal production now seems more warmly secure in every range and the result is singing of the first order unchallenged by the usual hurdles. Quasthoff together with his collaborator at the piano Justus Zeyen bring an introspective, mature, contemplative mood to the cycle - an approach that suggests the singer sees the cycle as reflective rather than impetuous and full of ardor.



In a catalogue that boasts many choices of recordings of this fervent cycle, Thomas Quasthoff and Justus Zeyen offer a mellow, always beautiful, melancholy reading, one filled with exquisitely beautiful moments and honesty. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, April 06"
Quasthoff's subdued approach is puzzling
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/18/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

"By almost universal agreement Thomas Quasthoff is pre-eminent in Lieder, and I have eagerly boutht each and every one of his recordings. But this subdued Schone Mullerin puzzles me. quasthoff seems determined, as the Amazon reviewer rightly notes, to turn the song cycle into an "intimate monologue," which evens out the emotional arc and deprives us, in large part, of the miller's exuberance and joy before his doomed love afair carries him toward disaster. Quasthoff's first Schone Mullerin, for rCA, was more direct, less refined.



In keeping with the singer's interpreation, the excellent Justus Zeyen, a wonderful accompanist, tones down the piano part, and that too is a bit of a shame. Fortunately, almost every other Schubert recording by the superb quasthoff exhibits more energy and high spirits."