Schumann – Liederkreis
Gerald Finley; Julius Drake
Hyperion CDA67944
Canadian singer Gerald Finley is living proof that being a baritone is not some form of divine punishment. Finley demonstrates his advantage with a rich, resonant ease in a range that basses and tenors can rarely match.
His choice of the Schumann Op.24 and Op.39 song cycles offers him the opportunity to move through a wide range of poetic texts by Eichendorff and Heine. Whether nostalgic, frustrated or purely romantic, Finley captures the spirit of each iteration with a conviction as honest as Schumann’s own must have been. The writing is imbued with the passion and frustration of his romance with Clara Wieck whose father found Schumann an unsuitable match for his daughter and resisted the ever-deepening relationship that would inevitably result in their marriage.
These songs reflect a structural freedom that is neither fully through-composed nor fully strophic. Yet Schumann seems entirely comfortable with his decision to live in an evolving world between accepted forms. His writing offers singers a freedom to exploit the emotional and dramatic potential of each poem, and Finley does this exceptionally well, especially in the more gentle songs.
Finley brings an engaging tenderness to the opening tracks of Op.39, especially “Mondnacht.” Where many singers glide through the text on the merit of Schumann’s melody, Finley uses strategic pauses to heighten the sense of nocturnal mystery. The Op.24 “Berg’ und Burgen” also shows Finley’s superb artistic sensibility. Altogether a very fine performance.
