If you were trying to explain why baritone
Wolfgang Holzmair is appealing as a singer, what would you say? That his intonation is impeccable? That his technique is supple? That his interpretations are fluent? That his temperament is poetic? You could say all that and it would be more or less true. But when asked about his range, what could you say but that
Holzmair fades away at the top of his upper register and at the bottom of his lower register and that his middle register isn't too strong, either? And when asked about his voice, what could you say but that it's perhaps a bit too fey, possibly a tad too sweet, and maybe a little too cloying for some tastes? In this 2003 recording of Schubert's setting of
Goethe,
Holzmair, with the sympathetic accompaniment of pianist
Gérard Wyss, turns in an occasionally lovely but ultimately unsatisfying recital. There are many moments of beauty here --
Holzmair's An den Mond is truly transfixing -- but there are many more moments of narcissism -- his Sehnsucht comes close to schmaltz -- and very few moments of real power -- his Prometheus comes close to parody.
Wyss is an able accompanist, but while he can support
Holzmair in moderatos and mezzofortes, he cannot shore him up in allegros and fortes. Tudor's sound is focused far too much on
Holzmair's singing and not nearly enough on
Wyss' playing.