Der Glückliche, S334 (Liszt) - from CDA67782 - Hyperion Records

Reviews

‘Polenzani is evidently a tenor of the finest quality: a lyric voice, sweet and ingratiating, with the capacity to ring out excitingly, gloriously easy on high but with a perfectly adequate body to the tone in its middle and lower registers. He is firm and even, pleasingly expressive … he sings with warmth, intelligence and conviction, matching the superb playing of his pianist Julius Drake’ (Gramophone)

‘Polenzani remains an extraordinarily communicative Lieder singer, possessed of an agile and flexible voice of tremendous versatility. In the most intimate of these settings, as well as in the quasi-operatic ones, Polenzani and Drake create performances that are at once thoughtful, richly atmospheric and never less than compelling … this auspicious inauguration of the series whets the appetite for more’ (International Record Review)

‘This stupendous disc, issued ahead of the Liszt bicentenary next year, marks the start of Hyperion's survey of his complete songs, still a grey area for many despite past attempts by major artists such as Brigitte Fassbaender and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to rehabilitate them … as with so much of his music, their difficulty in performance is to be found in their emotional and expressive extremes. The challenges are more than met here, with Polenzani doing things in songs such as Der Fischerknabe or Pace Non Trovo that you never thought were possible for a human voice, while Drake's intensity is total and unswerving’ (The Guardian)

Der Glückliche is a late song to a poem by the minor author Adolf Wilbrandt, who also translated a play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca into German and wrote novellas as well as poetry. Here, once again, a lover sees everything in Nature through eyes newly dazzled ever since lips and bodies met in mutual desire. Beginning with exultant but ceremonial-sounding rising harmonies in the piano, the song quickens pace and becomes ever more passionate … until the soft and reverent ending. This is a particularly moving example of Liszt’s lifelong love of extreme contrasts in song.

Der Glückliche est un lied tardif sur un poème d’Adolf Wilbrandt, un auteur mineur, qui a également traduit en allemand une pièce de Pedro Calderón de la Barca et a écrit des nouvelles et de la poésie. Ici encore, un amant a une vision de la Nature avec des yeux fraîchement éblouis depuis que les lèvres et les corps se sont rencontrés dans un désir mutuel. Commençant par des harmonies ascendantes triomphantes mais solennelles au piano, la mélodie accélère et devient de plus en plus passionnée … jusqu’à une conclusion douce et pleine de vénération. C’est un exemple particulièrement émouvant de l’amour que Liszt a porté toute sa vie durant aux contrastes extrêmes dans la mélodie.

Der Glückliche ist die späte Vertonung eines Gedichts des weniger bedeutenden Adolf Wilbrandt, der auch ein Theaterstück von Pedro Calderón de la Barca ins Deutsche übersetzte sowie Novellen und Gedichte verfasste. Auch hier sieht der Liebende alles in der Natur durch neu verklärte Augen, seit Lippen und Körper sich in wechselseitigem Begehren vereinten. Das Lied beginnt mit jubelnden, aber zeremoniell klingenden Harmonien auf dem Klavier, gewinnt schnell an Tempo und wird immer leidenschaftlicher … bis zum sanften, liebevollen Ende. Dies ist ein besonders gutes Beispiel für Liszts Vorliebe für extreme Kontraste in seinen Liedern.

Recording details: February 2010
All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: November 2010
Total duration: 1 minutes 53 seconds

Cover artwork: Photograph of Matthew Polenzani. Sim Canetty-Clarke

Der Glückliche, S334

Matthew Polenzani (tenor), Julius Drake (piano)

Reviews

Introduction