Liszt Orchestral Songs: Die Lorelei; Titan; Die Vätergruft; Le Juif Errant; Die drei Zigeuner etc. Sunhae Im (soprano), Stephane Houtzeel (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Hampson (baritone), Tomasz Konienczny (bass-baritone); Chorus Viennensis; Orchester Wiener Akademie/Martin Haselböck Aparté AP324 65:27 mins
Martin Haselböck is a seasoned Lisztian who, together with his Orchester Wiener Akademie, has cultivated a period-informed approach to works familiar and less so. In this latest album of orchestral songs there are no fewer than three premiere recordings, including ‘Die Vätergruft’, orchestrated in Liszt’s final year and premiered in London just a few months before his death. In a sense he was composing his own sepulchral ‘abschied’. Eerie percussion, spectral trombones and trumpets striking a heroic attitude, preface a sotto voce ending wherein the protagonist surrenders to death’s inescapable embrace. Receiving first recordings, too, are ‘Weimars Toten’, a centenary salute to Goethe, and ‘Der Titan’ – in an incarnation adding male voice chorus to the mix, Tomasz Konieczny the robustly stentorian storyteller.
From 1860 comes a clutch of Schubert song arrangements as well of three of Liszt’s own. The results are mixed. In ‘Die junge Nonne’ the orchestral storm lumbers somewhat, though ‘Erlkönig’ offers a more tempestuous ride, Thomas Hampson firmly in the saddle, and bent on not reducing the voice of the child to mere caricature. Most successful of all is ‘Der Doppelgänger’, swaddled in the sombre hues of lower strings. To open, Liszt’s own ‘Die Lorelei’ is given an enrapt, velvet-toned account by mezzo Stephane Houtzeel, and Haselböck proves highly attentive to Liszt’s orchestral palette – especially as the song nears its churning, eddying climax. Thomas Hampson shoulders the lion’s share of the songs, and if vocally the result is a little uneven, there’s no gainsaying his clarion command, exemplary diction and perceptive narration.
Paul Riley