Christoph Prégardien's Challenge Classics recording of
Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with pianist
Michael Gees was so excellent that one wonders what he could possibly do for an encore. How about Schwanengesang, with his other piano partner
Andreas Staier? That's a heck of a good idea; although
Prégardien has recorded some selections from Schwanengesang for a one-off
Schubert disc done with
Gees for Virgin Classics in 1996, unlike Die Schöne Müllerin,
Prégardien hasn't recorded the whole cycle before. The disc is intelligently filled out with
Schubert's settings of poet Johann Gabriel Seidl, all late and including
Schubert's actual last song, "Die Taubenpost." As in Die Schöne Müllerin,
Prégardien employs a measure of elective ornamentation in his singing, which has elicited comment and some controversy; if
Schubert had intended such details, wouldn't he have written them in? Perhaps, but all of it fits in the vocal line, the ornaments are artfully executed, and it helps add some personality and depth to
Prégardien's interpretation of these very familiar, oft-recorded lieder.
Andreas Staier elects to perform the accompaniment on a Graf fortepiano with a sound so alternatively powerful and mellow one would swear it was a modern piano; in loud passages the jangly sound of the fortepiano becomes apparent, but in legato passages the sound of the Graf is uncommonly smooth. As good as
Staier is,
Prégardien is still the star of the show; he seems to be in the right place in terms of the time he has spent singing
Schubert to project these songs with the maximum amount of characterization, theater, and tonal beauty. One would have to go back to
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the 1960s to find
Schubert lieder as good as this, and Challenge's recording quality is splendid. This is a keeper.