Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin
Like all great music, Schubert's song-cycleDie schöne Müllerinis 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