Die Schöne Mullerin usually works best as a vehicle for tenors with the youthful timbre associated with its protagonist. But baritones often have scaled its heights, and Andreas Schmidt, with his flexible, resonant voice and mastery of a wide range of the lieder repertoire, is well equipped for the challenge. He’s up against considerable recorded competition, however–not just from tenors of the ilk of Fritz Wunderlich, but from such baritones as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Wolfgang Holzmair. So while Schmidt’s Schöne Mullerin is hugely satisfying and fully competitive, it falls slightly short of the standards established by his rivals. In general, Schmidt’s very welcome straightforward singing, eschewing any hint of mannerism or distortion, simply isn’t as moving as Fischer-Dieskau’s blend of beautiful singing and textual sensitivity (in his 1961 EMI recording, not the later, mannered ones) or Holzmair’s even more beautiful voice and similarly apt responsiveness to the words.
Comparing a sampling of the songs by each of the three yields consistent results. In the opening “Das Wandern” Schmidt’s interpretation is downright martial in its stiff rhythm–and Fischer-Dieskau is even faster, with a hectic quality that later in his career became outright hectoring. Holzmair adopts a slower, brisk trot ideally suited to the song. In “Wohin” Schmidt again borders on the aggressive while his rivals lighten their voices and capture a yearning quality, with Fischer-Dieskau contributing an ethereally lovely soft ending. In “Morgengruss”, in the line “Die Lerch wirbeit in der Luft” (the lark whirls in the air), Fischer-Dieskau’s legato makes the poet’s image come to life and touch the heart. Holzmair’s lovely soft singing achieves a similar if lesser effect, but Schmidt is altogether prosaic alongside his rivals.
In “Der Jäger” Schmidt’s rapid-fire anger blurs articulation that, at an even faster clip, Fischer-Dieskau manages well. At a marginally slower pace Holzmair invests the words with variety, color, and perfect diction. “Trockne Blumen” is sung beautifully by Schmidt, but his straightforward approach seems stiff alongside Holzmair’s halting tread, softer singing, and the moving way in which he raises the temperature for the final stanza. In that same final stanza Fischer-Dieskau is extraordinary–not simply for his gorgeous legato, but for how he manages to simultaneously suggest both triumph and defeat, an effect conveyed purely through vocal color and microdynamics.
The last song tells a similar story: Schmidt hones his big voice down and sings beautifully, but both his rivals sing as beautifully and make even more of the text. Fischer-Dieskau and Holzmair take risks here too, the former with a rocking tempo and Holzmair with what may strike many listeners as a too-slow rendition–two minutes longer than Fischer-Dieskau’s. All three have accompanists who match them perfectly: Fischer-Dieskau’s partner is Gerald Moore; Schmidt’s is Rudolf Jansen, whose pianism here is as objective and cool as Schmidt’s singing; and Holzmair has the eminent Schubertian Imogen Cooper, who like her singer brings warmth and originality to every phrase. None of these comments is meant to denigrate Schmidt’s significant accomplishment here. He ranks among our finest lieder singers and his Schöne Mullerin is one of the best currently available. Further, any CD collection with only one version of this great cycle is unnecessarily undernourished. That said, if you want a baritone version, I’d go with Holzmair or prime-time Fischer-Dieskau.
