There are some marvelous moments in this beautifully recorded performance: the solo violin and flute in “Der Trunkene…”; the white, dead tone that baritone Stephen Gadd uses to start the “Abschied“ as well as his downright spooky, almost-not-there Ewigs to close the song; the warm and pleasant reading of “Von der Jugend” with its quiet, jumpy energy and lovely Asian inflections matched by Roberto Sacca’s singing; and the weariness in Gadd’s voice in “Der Einsame…”.
But for each of these there’s a counter-issue: While Sacca sings the “Trinklied” well (without erasing memories of either Wunderlich or Vickers), the song’s start, under Jonathan Nott, is not as rambunctious as it should be, which undercuts the contrasting central lyricism–and the repeated “Dunkel ist das Leben” endings lack gravity. And though Gadd is sensitive, his voice lacks the depth for dark despair. In addition, one always hopes for sheer wildness in the central gallop of “Von der Schönheit”, and it is absent here.
I also wish that Gadd sounded less like a tenor and had more body to his voice. He’s probably a marvelous Mozart singer and would do wonders in Britten’s songs as well, but here he sounds like a very small Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Nott and his Bamberger players are superb–the brass is brilliant, the strings are gentle and warm when they need be. Tempos are invariably correct. This is an oddly unmoving performance.
