John Blyth wrote:
'Have you heard the (now a quarter of a century ago)
Schoene Muellerin sung
by Ian Partridge? I rate it highly, and, though I feel
like Ian Bostridge
has almost re-defined the work (in a good way)
Partridge still strikes me
as very good, and his German pronunciation (at least
to my ears) is better
than Bostridge's! '
Dear John and co-vocalisters,
The name Ian Partridge somehow rings a bell, but his
Müllerin is not part of my harem. He is not on the
Hyperion Schubert 'trailer' cd either. I will check
out.
To be honest I am not that fond of Ian Bostridge: his
timbre always irritates me a bit and as Lloyd already
wrote, his vowel line could be better (but mine as
well;). A few days ago I wrote, Bostridge was doing
quite well for an amateur (when he still was an
amateur) and better than many professional singers,
and I meant what I wrote, but no more than that. Maybe
I should have added to that, that I also know singers
that do better.
I have the feeling Bostridge has a resonance that
seems to be tuned to avoid lower resonances, c.q. a
baritonal sound (his larynx definitely looks
baritonal, or am I mistaken?), combined with singing
with a huge amount of head voice all the time. I think
his peculiar resonance also makes him sound quite
nasal, although you can hear he did some efforts
hiding this.
As for Bostrdige's interpretation: I think that is
quite ok, you can hear he knows very well what he is
singing. But again: his timbre distracts me too much;
it sounds so unnatural and artificial, that I can
never believe he means what he's singing, and that is
very important i.m.o. To be honest and also a bit
rude: this kind of singing I experience as
self-castrating. Isabelle would probably say: no meat,
which expression gets a complete new meaning in this
context. The funny thing is: sometimes you can hear he
has a core in his voice, he is just hiding it,
probably for the sake of timbre unity. But I must say,
I've never heard Bostridge live, he was going to sing
at this Schubertiade, but he cancelled.
Are there people that have heard him on this list?
I've heard his voice is very small, and that would
somehow make sense, but on the other hand, his
interpretation seems to impress the audience very
much. And yes, his German pronunciation is not
perfect; but it is difficult to say though whether his
vowel colouration has to do with the fact that he is
not a native German speaker or with his technique.
The most peculiar aspect of Bostridge's Müllerin is
Dieskau's role as narrator: In DFD's first book on
Schubert Lieder ('Auf den Spuren der Schubert-Lieder')
, DFD writes he is a bit ashamed of the fact that he
ever sang the Müllerin with a narrator reading the
Müller texts Schubert did (i.m.o wiseley) chose not to
use. Yet a few years later he narrates the mentioned
texts for a Bostridge recording of 'Die schöne
Müllerin'. In his new book ('Franz Schubert und seine
Lieder') DFD even admits his second 'sin', and
explains it as a homage to Müller. I must say, I don't
believe that: I'm afraid DFD had just too much repect
for Bostrdige's academic background to say no.
It may sound a bit arrogant to do 'voice wrecking' to
people like Bostridge, that obviously have their
merits, if you're neither a authority on the subject
of singing, nor an established singer. And of course,
thinking other singers are bad, does not make yourself
sing any better. But sometimes it makes it a little
bit easier to live with the never ending fight against
your own imperfections. Even more important: what I
write about Bostridge and others is also some kind of
a self-reflection about my singing, and this I would
like to share with others, hoping I will learn
something from their reactions.
Best greetings,
Dre
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