Composer: Franz Peter Schubert
Performer: Samuel Hasselhorn, Ammiel Bushakevitz
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalogue: HMM902720
Release: 2023
Size: 1.13 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795
01. No. 1, Das Wandern
02. No. 2, Wohin?
03. No. 3, Halt!
04. No. 4, Danksagung an den Bach
05. No. 5, Am Feierabend
06. No. 6, Der Neugierige
07. No. 7, Ungeduld
08. No. 8, Morgengruß
09. No. 9, Des Müllers Blumen
10. No. 10, Tränenregen
11. No. 11, Mein!
12. No. 12, Pause
13. No. 13, Mit dem grünen Lautenbande
14. No. 14, Der Jäger
15. No. 15, Eifersucht und Stolz
16. No. 16, Die liebe Farbe
17. No. 17, Die böse Farbe
18. No. 18, Trockne Blumen
19. No. 19, Der Müller und der Bach
20. No. 20, Des Baches Wiegenlied
As if he had become one with Wilhelm Müller’s hero, Schubert explores solitude, emotional turmoil, the lure of new horizons, disappointed or impossible love – and death too. In this first instalment of the Schubert series that Samuel Hasselhorn and Ammiel Bushakevitz will be offering us every year at 200-year intervals from the composition of the songs in their programme, they give a poetic and poignant reading of this founding masterpiece of the lied.
This 2023 release inaugurates an ongoing series from baritone Samuel Hasselhorn and pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz, performing Schubert works two centuries on from their date of composition, and slated to culminate in 2028, the bicentennial of the composer’s death. The project begins with one of the most famous Schubert song cycles of all, Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795, depicting the crackup and despair of a young wanderer who falls in love with a beautiful miller’s daughter. Hasselhorn has plenty of recent competition in this cycle; listeners can sample the 2017 recording by Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber for another approach, but this one promises well for the ongoing project. Die schöne Müllerin is a work in which Schubert took vast strides toward the emancipation of the piano in the lied, and Bushakevitz leans into this aspect, with details that illuminate and often foreshadow themes developing in the text. Hasselhorn has a warm baritone with an appealing conversational tone that turns chilly and quiet toward the cycle’s downer conclusion. Another draw is Harmonia Mundi’s sound from the b-sharp studio in Berlin; the engineers put Bushakevitz just a bit forward in the mix, not so much as to sap energy from Hasselhorn’s singing, but enough to highlight his perceptive performance. This release bodes well indeed for the duo’s future work.