ORFEO International – Reviews

Important Releases Briefly Introduced

March 2015

Franz Schubert - Die schöne Müllerin

Pavol Breslik has for a long time now been one of the most in-demand lyrical tenors on the world’s operatic stages – but nor has he neglected the concert scene or the Liederabend. His youthful yet masculine timbre, possessing clarity of tone and a timbre neither dark and baritonal nor overly bright, seems almost predestined for the world of Franz Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, his song cycle to texts by Wilhelm Müller.
C 737 151 ABreslik is captivating in this new studio recording. He sweeps us along on the miller boy’s journey, falling in love with his master’s daughter, then enduring disappointment, despair and ultimately infidelity and betrayal that lead to his abandonment of life. Pavol Breslik aptly conveys all this. The text is given its full due, while his phrasing is natural and faithful to every nuance and expression, from the fresh attacca opening to the close with its long legato arches of melody in the brook’s lullaby. The brook itself – the miller boy’s constant companion – is just as eloquent in Amir Katz’s piano accompaniment. The clarity of pedalling means there is no hint of opacity, and Katz’s experience as both soloist and chamber musician allows him to convey the rich accents of Schubert’s music in all its twists and turns, its irresistible torrents and, at the close, in its serene stasis when all the ripples have been calmed. And just as the brook accompanies the miller’s boy in all his ups and downs, so too does his interpretation go beyond all the thrilling motorics to encompass a multitude of nuances across the keyboard and the dynamic spectrum, affording a maximum of variety in the strophic songs without this variety ever becoming an end in itself. And all is at the service of the text, with its shifting moods and the trials and tribulations of the miller boy’s emotional life. The exciting musical dialogue between Breslik and Katz (who will both soon be taking the miller boy’s journey to the concert halls) means that this well-loved song cycle by Schubert comes across as lively and true-to-life as any lover of the Lied could wish for.