Schumann – Dichterliebe
Kristjan Randalu
Berlin Classics 0303295BC (prestomusic.com/classical/products/9609352--dichterliebe)
This recording of Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe by Kristjan Randalu is one of the most ingenious piano recordings not only of anything Schumann that I have heard but possibly any recent solo piano recording. And there have been many recordings by classical pianists far more celebrated than Randalu. All is explained in the final paragraphs below.
Dichterliebe (Poet’s Love), a cycle of 16 songs, takes its text from Henrich Heine. It introduces to German song a mingling of sentiment and irony, much as Heine’s poems had done for German verse. This is a world of disillusionment in which nature acts as an adjunct and reflection to a bittersweet love story.
Perhaps the most immortal interpretation of this song-cycle is baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and pianist Alfred Brendel’s (Philips, 1986). In this (and every other version) the piano becomes an equal partner with the singer, appearing sometimes as a combatant, sometimes as commentator, and given the long preludes and postludes, the instrument adds an extra dimension to the possibilities of the lieder genre. Randalu makes all of the above happen by masterfully employing his insolent virtuosity and febrile imagination to Dichterliebe.
Randalu’s right hand cadenzas are “the singer” adding “vocalastics” through improvisation, a second layer of colour, liberating the lyrical element of Dichterliebe, and defining the emotional element more precisely. His left-hand acts as combatant and commentator. Together they offer Dichterliebe as Schumann dreamed: “a deeper insight into my inner musical workings.”
