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Track(s) taken from CDJ33021

Der Flug der Zeit, D515

First line:
Es floh die Zeit im Wirbelfluge
composer
1817 (?); first published in November 1821 as Op 7 No 2
author of text

Edith Mathis (soprano), Graham Johnson (piano)
Recording details: October 1992
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Martin Compton
Engineered by Tony Faulkner
Release date: June 1994
Total duration: 2 minutes 15 seconds
 

Reviews

‘What riches are to be found here in a recital that is, by any yardstick, a profoundly satisfying one … the musical marriage of the performers seems one made in heaven’ (Gramophone)

‘A delectable group of 24 songs written in 1817/18, including a high proportion of charmers’ (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs)

‘A source of endless delight’ (Classic CD)
Schubert, master of water music, sees the passing of time (in this song at least) as water under the bridge. This much is clear in his casting this setting in the form of a quick barcarolle – a prelude to the inspired use of the same rhythm in Auf dem Wasser zu singen which is also ultimately about the nature of time on the move. The softly bouncing rhythm of Der Flug der Zeit is perhaps a trifle too gentle for the force and drama of the first part of Széchényi's words, but it is well suited to the sweetness of friendship's power lauded at the end. It is interesting that the definitive Schubert song about the passage of time, the very different An Schwager Kronos, was also cast in 6/8 rhythm. There was something about compound time used in this way which seems to have suggested to the composer inexorable pre-ordained movement – the swing of the pendulum, the tick of the clock, as well as the movement of sure-footed horses whipped into a gallop by Time, the old coachman.

The song is in two strophes with the same music serving as introduction and postlude. At first hearing one thinks of this as more or less a strophic song, but the modifciations, though tiny, are numerous. The main melody is built around an arpeggio in the home key. At the start of each verse we hear more or less the same music, except for a typically Schubertian inflection which changes major to minor the second time round. For Fischer-Dieskau these switches of key express `the paradoxical nature of all experience'. So much for the first two lines of each verse. The next two lines move from A major into C major for the first verse (at 'Wohl stürmisch war es') and into F major for the second (at 'und endlich da die raschen Flügel'). This last modulation allows the bass line to slip a semitone down and achieve the most magical change of key in the piece: as F falls to E in the left hand, a perfectly placed second inversion of the home key slips in at 'in süsser Ruh …'

Apart from these felicities the effect of the song is unpretentiously simple, too simple perhaps. It is easy perhaps to see why it has not received a particularly good press from the commentators; it seems under-energised and not quite at home with the poem. There seems to be a mis-match between the sweeping scale of what the poet is describing and the modest scale of the song. It would be some years before Schubert would write another barcarolle (Das Fischermädchen from Schwanengesang) with a similar introduction which seems at first to be similarly unadventurous, rooted as it is in the tonic key, and with a melody which suggests folksong. This Heine setting (where the composer used many of the same melodic and harmonic tools as in Der Flug der Zeit) has enchanted thousands of listeners. Eleven years' experience and a greater poem made all the difference in the world.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1994

Other albums featuring this work

Schubert: The Complete Songs
CDS44201/4040CDs Boxed set + book (at a special price) — Download only
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