Notturno: The Timeless Music of Schubert

ABC Classics 476 5328

TPT: 68’49”

reviewed by Alice Woode

Of all the works Schubert wrote for the piano – and they are many – I cannot readily recall one that, for sheer untroubled serenity, is more successful than the Impromptu in G flat. I cannot imagine anyone, even the curmudgeonliest of listeners, failing to fall under the gentle spell of the piece.

Unsurprisingly, there are very many recorded versions of the piece and most of them succeed in evoking its inherent tranquillity. Roger Woodward’s account of it, however, is in a class of its own. His superbly controlled negotiation of its rippling figurations elevates the performance to a high category of excellence. In years of listening to, and writing about, music, I am hard put to recall any other interpretation that is in a similar league. No less sensitively presented is Woodward’s account of the Lullaby, D498.

There’s more enchantment in Die Blumensprache (The Language of Flowers) to which soprano Marilyn Richardson and accompanist extraordinaire, the late, great Geoffrey Parson, respond at an awesome level of inspiration. Lavish bouquets, too, to both soprano Yvonne Kenny and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a deeply probing account of the Romance from Rosamunde.

All the above tracks are just the ticket for listeners wanting to unwind after a stressful day. Certainly, listening to these fine recordings is far better than, say, Valium and – no matter how frequently one turns to these delights - they are never habit forming!

Few, I think, would disagree that Schubert’s Standchen, perhaps better known as Serenade, is one of the most charming of love songs – and on this CD there are two versions. The first, sung by Yvonne Kenny, is musical in the best sense, the orchestral accompaniment, especially from the woodwind choir, finely played. A very different version – for recorder and guitar - is offered by Genevieve Lacey and Karin Schaupp; this improbable transcription works surprisingly well.

But a version for the same medium of that superb lied – Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel) - is far less convincing, mostly because the guitar equivalent of the piano part, no matter how expertly played (and this is very much the case here) can simulate the perpetual whirring of the wheel in a way that a piano can. Instead, it jangles and tinkles rather than murmurs so that – on this level - the performance does not succeed – but it certainly makes for intriguing listening.

Die Leiermann (The Organ Grinder) from Die Winterreise, for all the technical excellence brought to its performance, does not completely reveal that poignant essence that lies at its heart. There’s also an arrangement for piano of Schubert’s delightful song Die Forelle (The Trout) which Stephanie McCallum presents in impressive style. And the Sanctus from German Mass, D 872 radiates piety.

Copyright 2007 Alice Woode

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