Brahms: Lieder (2001)

Roman Trekel Sings Brahms Lieder

Although most listeners know Brahms primarily through his large orchestral and chamber works, Brahms, together with Schubert, Schumann, and Wolf, was a great composer of song. Brahms composed over 200 songs, and they tend to offer a more intimate, personal, and romantic view of the composer than do his larger works. Among singers of Brahms, I have particularly enjoyed Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau (a six-CD compilation is currently available on Brilliant at a low price) and Jessye Norman. But this CD on Arte Nova by the German baritone Roman Trekel offers an excellent place to start with the Brahms lieder. The CD was recorded in 2001 but released only in 2006. It sells at a low price and includes, an increasing rarity, the German texts and English translations of the songs.

Trekel has recorded Schubert's Winterreise and Die Schone Mullerin, as well as collections of other songs by Schubert and other composers of lieder. Trekel's recordings also include Bach cantatas and Wagner. He has a deep, rich and expressive voice and sings Brahms's simple songs with passion and commitment. Trekel is well accompanied on this release by a pianist, Oliver Pohl, who works frequently with him.

Many of Brahms's songs have a folk-song component, and many are pastoral in character. They are often set in the woods or in the fields at an autumnal time of the year. The songs are generally simple in form and work to express the overall mood of the text. Brahms rarely used word-painting. Brahms set texts by a variety of poets, but he emphasized works by his contemporaries, particularly writers that he knew or that were from the area near Hamburg where Brahms grew up. The main theme of Brahms's songs is love. As the composer grows older, the songs become sadder as Brahms recollects love lost and the possibilities that might have been. Other songs, including "Regenlied" and "Mit Vierzig Jahren," included in this CD, also have a nostalgic cast.

Trekel and Pohl offer 25 songs in this collection, ranging from the composer's earliest efforts in opus 3 to opus 105. (Some songs with high opus numbers were in fact composed earlier in Brahms's career.) I enjoyed most the songs that elicit intimate feeling. One of the finest songs on this CD is the opening selection, "My love is green", opus 63, no. 5 with passionate lines for both singer and pianist, as Brahms sings "inebriated/from the fragrance/love-drunken songs,/ many love-drunken songs."

Probably the most familiar song on this CD is "Von Ewiger Liebe" (Of eternal love), opus 43 no. 1, which is set "dark, how dark in the forest and field!" and sings of the hope of lasting love. Other songs I particularly enjoyed include "O Kuhler Wald" (O Cool Forest), opus 72 no. 3 a slow, romantically intense song to a text by Clemens Brentano, and "Minnelied" (Love Song), opus 71 no. 5, also set in the woods and fields and more hopeful in tone than most of Brahms's efforts in this form. The song "Sehensucht" opus 49 no. 3 has a wistful feel and "Herbstgeful" (Fall Emotion) opus 48 no. 7 and "Alte Liebe" opus 72 no. 1 are poignant expressions of love lost. I want to mention again Brahms's song "Mit Vierzig Jahren" (At Forty Years) opus 94, no. 1, which is an expression of both the melancholy and feeling of the need to persevere that accompanies middle age.

Trekel and Pohl perform these songs beautifully and with feeling. This CD will appeal to lovers and collectors of the art song. Its low price will make it especially attractive to listeners new to Brahms's songs.

Robin Friedman