A German-born baritone like Benjamin Appl is certainly no stranger to Schubert’s work. I can only assume that the Austrian composer’s impressive list of over 600 songs offer much to Appl’s repertoire, who himself is largely a Lieder singer. Accompanied by American pianist Eric Lu, Appl presented Schubert’s Schwanengesang—his ‘swan songs’—as well as Beethoven’s song collection, An die ferne Geliebte (To the Distant Beloved), at Montreal’s Bourgie Hall on Feb. 13.
What you missed
Though one’s swan song is typically a final piece or performance before retirement or death, Schubert’s Schwanengesang is a collection of Lieder compiled and shared by his publisher only after Schubert’s passing at only 31 years old. That is to say, these pieces do not necessarily combine in order to tell a cohesive story—or at least, not the stories nor grouping Schubert intended. However, many of its 14 Lieder touch upon familiar themes of suffering and loss, set to poems by Ludwig Rellstab and Heinrich Heine. It is this pessimism and conflict that Appl was able to evoke as he and Lu performed in the glow of the intimate Bourgie Hall.
With song texts projected as surtitles behind the duo, it was still important to me that the imagistic world of each piece came not solely from reading the translations, but also from the pianist and soloist’s interpretation of the music. Appl is quite an expressive storyteller, his eyes widening in shock in Beethoven’s Es kehret der Maien, es blühet die Au (May returns, the meadow blooms) and his brows furrowing in pain in In der Ferne (From Afar). In addition to his physical expressions, he was able to channel feelings of absence and separation by his voice alone. Appl seemed very at ease, offering controlled pacing and crystal clear enunciation.
In such a small venue, Appl kept things noticeably light in terms of vibrato: enthusiastic, but not overly embellished. Lu was a great accompaniment, with a good sense of how to best elevate the music without overpowering most of the time. The simply harmonized snippets between voice and piano in Ständchen (Serenade) delicately conveyed its melancholy and desire. By its very nature, however, the accompaniment seemed to dominate the audience’s attention in Die Stadt (The City). Lu’s unsettling, rapid, and quiet arpeggios melded with the repeating octave jumps in his left hand created a memorable vision of the song’s heavy atmosphere—of the sorrowful pace of a rowboat and the mourning of a loved one. Appl’s performance stole the show in the grand scheme of this concert, but I look forward to hearing Lu at another opportunity where he can be more free with his own creative liberties.
Gripes
On occasion, the weight of a song’s building emotion rested more on Lu’s crescendo than on Appl’s voice—as in I relied more heavily on the piano to identify key shifts in tone than Appl’s vocal urgency. Appl is a lyric baritone whose voice carries lots of colour, but there was less authority and darkness in his voice during the Schwanengesang. Therefore at times he seemed a little too restrained, not reaching loud or deep enough to convey the tumultuous energy of a Lied like Kriegers Ahnung (Warrior’s Foreboding). His use of falsetto was sometimes drowned out by the piano, and there were a few times it seemed the lyrics sung did not match the surtitles—though I could not say who was at fault.
Highlights included Der Atlas (Atlas), wonderfully sung with great vocal expression and range to convey the misery and burden of literally carrying the weight of the world. The penultimate Lied was equally tormented, Appl finally stepping away from the piano to approach the edge of the stage in a harrowing rendition of Der Doppelgänger (The Doppelgänger) full of intense eye contact with the crowd.
This concert was short and sweet, a fitting and accessible introduction to Lieder for those unfamiliar.
Appl and Lu’s performance marked the fourth of seven concerts in Bourgie Hall dedicated to Schubert’s Lieder. The next is titled Schubert, Earth and Heaven, conducted by Andrew McAnerney on Feb 23. www.mbam.qc.ca/en
