Mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink is a very intelligent singer who seems to have a direct line to the heart of these Schumann songs. Most of the selections are concerned with various themes of love, from the famous cycle Frauenliebe und -leben and the Op. 90 set, to the hand-picked individual songs that fill out the program. Although the quality varies from some of Schumann’s finer efforts–the first and the last three songs of Op. 42; “Mignon”; “Der Nußbaum”; “Nachtlied”; most of Op. 90–to some of his least-inspired (the drippy wedding favorite “Du Ring an meinem Finger” and the annoyingly obvious song about a blacksmith, “Lied eines Schmiedes”), Fink and her unfailingly trusty accompanist Roger Vignoles instill each piece with careful expression of the musical lines and loving attention to text and poetic emphasis. Fink’s voice, which is never pushed or otherwise carelessly used, delivers a whole range of emotions, from deeply felt passion for a loved one, to pain and grief, to sheer delight. Underneath these expressions is an edge to the voice that suggests a singer who’s experienced the hurt, the ache, the exhilaration of love herself. The final “Requiem” from Op. 90 is both a masterpiece of songwriting and a model of effective vocal interpretation. The sound agreeably complements the voice but the piano could use more fullness in the bass and just a little more sparkle in the upper registers.
