Elisabeth Schumann’s lieder singing was revered, and while the passage of time has dimmed its allure somewhat, enough of her abundant charms continue to cast a spell even as succeeding generations of singers eclipse many of her recordings. So Naxos has performed a valuable service in producing this generous disc (77-plus minutes) of 28 Schubert songs recorded between 1927 and 1945. The vast majority (23 of the 28) were recorded in sessions between 1932 and 1937, when Schumann was in her mid-40s, usually prime-time for a lieder singer. Yet her high, silvery soprano sometimes sounds fragile and technically ill-at-ease. Scooping often intrudes on the musical line and her lower register is woefully weak. In some places, as in An die Musik and Im Abendroth, the natural vulnerability of so thin an instrument can enhance the song’s emotional impact while at the same time inducing discomfort at her evident sense of strain. A similar flaw is glaring in Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, as Schumann’s labored vocal line contrasts with Reginald Kell’s seamless clarinet solo and obbligato playing.
And yet–nobody ever loved Schumann (and she was loved by her audiences) for her technical aplomb. Her trump card was charm, the kind that comes from an obvious, freely communicated joy of singing, not the sickly kind laid on with a trowel. Much of that shines through in this program, as in her spirited Musensohn and Die Vogel and in the sheer delight we hear in the voice in Der Schmetterling. She wisely chose her programs to fit her vocal limitations, though Gretchen am Spinnrade really does need a bigger voice and more dramatic impetus. When singer and song bond, as in Du bist die Ruh, we get a rapt, inward performance. In that song, she intensifies the emotional impact by fining her voice down to a thin line. Here it’s for expressive, not technical reasons, just as she raises the temperature of Die Post with the slow dying away of the phrase “mein Herz”.
The booklet tells us that about three-fourths of Schumann’s Schubert recordings are on this disc, raising hopes that Naxos will issue the remainder, perhaps coupled with Robert Schumann and Strauss, both of whose lieder she sang so well. Transfers are fine, with a slightly muffled quality in the first of the 1927 recordings rapidly replaced by a clear if clinical sound that may extract some of the juice from the voice. No texts or translations.
