I arrived in Feldkirch on the 18th of June for the 25th edition of the Schubertiade. That same evening I heard the Liederabend by Thomas Quasthoff and Justus Zeyen, performing Schubert's Winterreise. Expectations were high, but needless to say that they did live up to them... and then even more...
Quasthoff sang a mixture of an aggressive and melancholic "Wanderer". The anger was very much evident in the parts that are taking place now, while his melancholie turns up in the parts where he remembers his lost happiness... there doesn't seem to be much bitterness but mostly happy memories. Switching back and forth can happen very sudden as in "Frühlingstraum" or "Rückblick", but Quasthoff didn't have any problems to make the transition.
The dynamics are also astounding. In the forte singing in "Gefrorne Traenen" or the outbursts on 'Mein Herz' in "Die Post", he showed that this can be sung and that there's no need to shout to make an impression. At the other side of the dynamic scale, he's whispering - actually it doesn't sound as much as piano singing, but it nevertheless carries to the back of the hall. He also used this "trick" on single words such as 'still' in "Auf dem Flusse", although I don't think that this madrigalesque treatment is always necessary.
Equally impressive is when he mixes his bass resonance into his baritone voice as he does in "Irrlicht" (...tiefsten Felsengründe). It gives a whole new meaning to voix mixte, doesn't it ?
To come back on the "whispering"... it was very effective in "Der Lindenbaum" when the tree tries to seduce him, but where the fiercely rustling of the leafs in the piano suggests otherwise... which makes for a very nice constrast. This brings me to Justus Zeyen.
He performs at equal level of Quasthoff, making no compromises towards the singer at all. He must be getting better every time... I seldomly take notice of the pianist, but this time I did, which - next to Quasthoff - is not easy to accomplish.
There was a lot of characterisation in the piano playing. Obvious is of course the hurdy-gurdy in "Der Leiermann". But it was the first time I noticed how eerie the piano could be in "Einsamkeit"... or how transparant "Die Krähe" is... or how the chords in "Das Wirtshaus" can sound as an organ (suggesting a requiem for the Wanderer ?). And then there's the contrast between a violent "Stürmische Morgen" and "Täuschung" played with a very light touch.
Both artists have given me enough material to think about and some new viewpoints on the cycle... and so it seemed to the rest of the audience as well, which kept silent for a long time at the end, before bursting out in a standing ovation...
Margo Briessinck, 24-6-2000
Margo has already reported on this concert in detail, so I'll just add a couple of impressions. This performance was another shattering experience for me. I ended up in tears again and wondering how I got there. It was a somewhat less angry and aggressive reading than the previous time in NYC, seemingly alternating bursts of anger with deep grief. Quasthoff sang very softly in some places, and the first thing I asked Margo afterwards was whether the soft singing had been audible toward the back of the hall, which he assured me was indeed the case. Quasthoff's approach still strikes me as very much a young man's reaction to the cycle: angry, desperate in places, but not quite exhausted and numb at the end. This is clearly not a wanderer on the verge of madness or suicide, IMHO. What a contrast to go backstage afterwards and see Quasthoff sitting there with a glass of beer trading quips with his fans. Very strange!
Celia A. Sgroi, 6-7-2000
In the Vorarlberger Nachrichten from 20-6-2000
[...]
Quasthoff vermittelte unzählige, höchst kultivierte Stimmfarben, aber auch alle Stimmungen, welche dem Opus innewohnen. Und obwohl man in ihm ad personam eiher den Leidenden sieht (den er natürlich beklemmend zu imaginieren versteht), ergriffen mich etwa noch mehr die scheuen Träume vom Glück ("Frühlingstraum", "Die Post"), aber auch der grimmige "Mut" und selbst der fahle "Leiermann", der durch Quasthoff in keineswegs nihilistischer Stille verhauchte. Seine "Winterreise" rührte viele zu Tränen, denn sie war ein echt erlebtes, erlittenes und dennoch nicht hoffnungsloses Stück Menschsein in künstlerischer Vollendung.
Edgar Schmidt