Schubert: Schwanengesang,D.957 / Brahms: 4 Last Songs,Op.121

Thomas Quasthoff (Artist), Franz [Vienna] Schubert (Composer), Johannes Brahms (Composer), Justus Zeyen (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Justus Zeyen
• Composer: Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Johannes Brahms
• Audio CD (August 14, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B00005AAFB
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,029 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Baritone Thomas Quasthoff here tackles two of the cornerstones of the lieder repertory, and the result is one of the most moving, exciting lieder discs in years. Much of its appeal lies in his attractive vocalism, a rich, firm voice comfortable with both the lyric and dramatic demands of these songs. Throughout, Quasthoff threads the fine line between maintaining the songs' musical thread and interpreting the texts without the distortions of overemphasis. Above all, he communicates directly; the songs seem to go from heart to heart. In Schubert's late Schwanengesang--never intended as a seamless cycle--Quasthoff makes these 14 gems adhere as a whole, something that eludes many others. And he's helped by Justus Zeyen's accompaniment, beautifully balanced by the engineers and full of telling pictorial touches. Fine as the Schubert performances are, they're trumped by the Brahms, in one of the most compelling recorded performances they've ever had. The texts, culled from the Bible, drew from Brahms some of his most moving music, here delivered by Quasthoff with empathy and an inevitability that feels spontaneous. It's obvious that the singer feels them deeply, and because he does, and welds that feeling to the highest vocal and musical values, you do, too. --Dan Davis

From International Record Review - subscribe now

It is rare, these days, to encounter a singer recording Schubert's so-called swansong in the form published after his death by Tobias Haslinger in one of classical music's first successes with the compilation genre. Schreier, Fassbaender and Holzmair give us Schwanengesang plus – grouping the Rellstab settings (originally intended for Beethoven and composed by Schubert as a commemorative tribute after his death) and the great Heine poems separately and adding several Seidl songs to make a group with the wistfully witty odd-song-out, Schubert's very last composition, Die Taubenpost. Additionally, both Fassbaender and Schreier tinker with the ordering of the songs in an attempt to make them into a coherent cycle. Not all Schubertians are convinced.In this distinguished new reading, Thomas Quasthoff, undisturbed by such scholarly and artistic considerations, returns to the published order and his coupling is a bold one: another great German Lieder composer's swansong – Brahms's four solemn settings of Biblical text – which, as far as I can ascertain, is unique on disc. Quasthoff certainly has the vocal stature to carry off such an apparently heavyweight programme: his baritone is darker than most of his contemporaries; indeed, it sounds more full-bodied than that of Fischer-Dieskau in Schubert's dramatic Heine songs and the Brahms, although he doesn't bring the Wagnerian grandeur of tone that Hotter was able to lavish on the Four Serious Songs in his famous recording. Even if his voice lacks the personal imprint of his two great predecessors, it is a noble instrument and as a Lieder interpreter he is easily their equal. I suspect many listeners will find his eloquent, but less detailed textual inflexions, preferable to Fischer-Dieskau, whose vocal and verbal mannerisms are not to all tastes. It's hard to pick out highlights from such consistently satisfying performances, but Quasthoff easily moves from the delicate romance of the Rellstab Lieder – his Serenade has a Don Giovanni-like seductive lilt – to the harrowing psychodrama of 'Die Stadt' and 'Der Doppelgänger' and back again to the airy, twinkle-in-the-eye yearning of 'Die Taubenpost'. Zeyen is a superb pianist, underlining the gravity and anger of Quasthoff's singing of Brahms's death-obsessed songs with his profoundly musical playing. After this, and their excellent Brahms/Liszt recital (reviewed on page 102 of the May 2000 issue), this is obviously a partnership we will be hearing more of on disc. Exemplary recording, too, the voice in ideal balance with the piano. Hugh Canning

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quasthoff/Zeyen, Schubert/Brahms, August 22, 2001

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[e-mail] (London, U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Schubert: Schwanengesang,D.957 / Brahms: 4 Last Songs,Op.121 (Audio CD)

Thomas Quasthoff/Justus Zeyen - Schubert, "Schwanengesang" Brahms "Vier Ernste Gesaenge"

"To sing like that just once - and then ..............." wrote Maxim Gorky after hearing Chaliapin - and there really are moments on this recording which make one understand exactly what he meant. There is a definitive quality about the singing, which persuades you that Quasthoff's way with these songs is the only one, and his accompanist is in all aspects his equal, with a poetic yet muscular style which ideally complements this most individual of voices, with its noble, burnished tone and its sense of powerful ease.

This combination of works is unique on disc, surprisingly since it is a very logical one; both are late works, both represent the composer's valediction to the genre, and both are ideally suited to the baritone voice. There has been much discussion of late as to whether or not "Schwanengesang" ought to be performed as though it were a "cycle," or as two or even three separate sets of songs. The latter approach was taken in the Hyperion edition, not entirely successfully, but Quasthoff brushes aside these considerations; such is the magnetic power of his singing that one rarely imagines that these songs could be performed in any other way.

All of Quasthoff's great qualities are apparent in the Rellstab settings - superb legato line, natural inflexion of words and that uniquely beautiful tone with its embracing warmth and sweet tremulousness. These interpretations easily stand comparison with the best, and it is a matter of taste as to whether or not you prefer, say, John Mark Ainsley's bright, youthful tone and ardent manner to Quasthoff's aching yet understated passion. For me, Ainsley has the edge in "Liebesbotschaft" and "Staendchen" - in the latter, the tenor is simply perfection; at "Liebchen, komm' zu mir!" you can, as Graham Johnson puts it, almost feel the singer's tenderness, and at "Komm, begluecke mich!" you sense the lover's forlorn mood. Quasthoff also sings this beautifully, but he lacks Ainsley's tender ardour - he is rather fierce at moments, sounding almost threatening rather than pleading.

The Heine and Seidl settings are another matter; here, Quasthoff is in his element, and it would be difficult to find a more ideal interpretation of songs such as "Ihr Bild" and "Am Meer." "Das Fischermaedchen" is beguilingly seductive in a way totally lacking in Anthony Rolfe Johnson's version, and "Die Taubenpost" is one of the finest pieces of Schubert singing I have ever heard. Where Rolfe Johnson annoys with his reedy tone and approximate German, Quasthoff enchants and moves with his exquisite modulation and colouring, especially at the song's close, where he makes you gasp at the way he handles the little appoggiatura lean on "Sehnsucht" and his just-enough pressure on "treuen."

The Brahms set is equally fine; Quasthoff's singing and Zeyen's playing are both magisterial from start to finish. This singer seems to have a special affinity for the music of Brahms, and together with his marvellous pianist, always sensitive and consistently virtuosic in the best possible sense, he convinces the listener that these songs are among the greatest in the genre. Their darkness and almost obsessive quality make them perfect for this voice, and Quasthoff interprets them in wonderfully fervent tones.

Rather than externalising the dramas of both "cycles," this singer conveys their individual moods and feelings not by pointing at himself and saying,"Look at me! See how I suffered," seeming instead to point at us, and say," Look at you!" His singing unites emotional poetic grace with muscular reason, and this major recording is one which will be indispensable for all who love this sublime music.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fine CD from Quasthoff, September 14, 2001

By 

jhorro (VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Schubert: Schwanengesang,D.957 / Brahms: 4 Last Songs,Op.121 (Audio CD)

All of this music is familiar territory for Thomas Quasthoff, so it is not surprising that he conveys a consistency of mood and character. He is not afraid to color his voice in the Schubert and have some restraint in the Brahms, but both are sung in good taste. The recording is warm and captures Quasthoff's voice superbly. There are many voices that will do justice to this music, but Quasthoff knows just how to make his voice meet the demands of these works.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plain Singing, March 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Schubert: Schwanengesang,D.957 / Brahms: 4 Last Songs,Op.121 (Audio CD)

I never thought I would hear anything like Thomas Quasthoff's performances on this CD. His plain, unaffected, yet technically masterful singing is more than "revelatory." It transmits the emotional impact of the songs very powerfully and with a directness I have never heard from any other singer, whether lieder specialist or not.
Quasthoff, I think, is leading the way as a singer and artist. All singers will be grateful to him, as will the public, for exposing us to lieder which is heart felt, rather than just a mass of calculations. He is indeed a master.