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Little in music is as moving and intimate as Schubert's songs. This lovely new CD by soprano Ailish Tynan and pianist Iain Burnside reminded me of the special nature of this music. The recording consists of 17 songs composed from the early to the late years of Schubert's brief life. The songs are grouped loosely around what Burnside calls in his liner notes "Women in Love" or the varied ways in which Schubert's songs portray women. Many of the songs on the album meet this criterion. There are songs that meet the criterion that are not included, such as the "Suleika" settings. And a number of the songs on the CD don't appear to be about particular women at all, including "Nach and Traume" the beautiful song that gives the CD its title.
This was my first time hearing each of the performers. Tynan is an Irish soprano with many operatic, choral, and song performances to her credit both live and on CD. She has a light, lyrical, and intimate voice which she puts to expressive, passionate use in these songs. Burnside is a producer and educator as well as a pianist with ambitions to record further CDs of Schubert songs with different singers. He brought a great deal of insight and some surprises to his performance here. The piano had a slightly dry, fortepiano sound, and Burnside played with many telling beauties of phrasing and accent. The singer and the pianist collaborated closely and convincingly on these songs.
The poets set on the songs include Goethe, Schiller, Ruckert, Sir Walter Scott, Schobart, and others. Most of the 17 songs will be familiar to lovers of Schubert, but some will likely be new. For example, Tynan performs, "Amalia" an early song with contrasting recitive and aria sections setting a poem of Sir Walter Scott. This song was written shortly after "Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel", a highly familiar Schubert song which receives an impassioned reading on this CD. Other familiar songs include "The Young Nun", "Ave Maria" and "The Trout".
Some of Schubert's intensely romantic songs including "Wanderers Nachlied", "May My Love be With You" "You are Stillness" and the title song, "Night and Dreams" receive deeply personal performances. Some of the more romantic songs that may be less familiar include "That She Was Here" and, a song new to me, "Todesmusik" -- "Song at the Deathbed". ,
Other songs, including "To my Piano", "Standchen", and "Laughing and Weeping" display a more sentimental, lighter mood. In addition to "Ave Maria" the CD includes two related songs "Soldier Rest! thy Warfare is Over" and "Huntsman Rest! Thy Warfare is Done" that were composed for the same Sir Walter Scott setting and for the same character. that may not be as familiar to some listeners as "Ave Maria", the third song of the set. The CD includes a performance of a short love song, "Schwanengesang" that sometimes is overlooked as a result of the late collection of songs under that name.
A single CD with 17 selected songs allows the listener to concentrate and enjoy each individual work more fully than would a larger collection. With its emphasis on familiar songs, this CD makes an excellent introduction for new listeners. But lifetime lovers of the songs will want to hear these performances as well. The liner notes include text and translations of each song in addition to Burnside's commentary. The CD is on a British label, Delphiian, which Gramophone Magazine honored as its 2014 label of the year. Naxos distributes the CD and also kindly provided me with a review coy.
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