by Janos Gereben
EUGENE - The fortunate ones who attended both Thomas Quasthoff's orchestral concert on Tuesday and recital on Saturday, experienced a blissful deja vu in many ways.
From the otherworldly calm acceptance of Bach's "Ich habe genug" that opened the earlier program in Silva Hall, there was a direct line to the last scheduled song in Beall Hall: Richard Strauss' expression of absolute happiness in "Morgen." In Quasthoff's interpretation, both times, there was that rare sense of the music continuing in the silence at the end, applause rudely breaking the hush, in which time appeared suspended.
Quasthoff remained in the prime form experienced earlier in the week, in a near-miraculous gestalt of flawless, transparent vocal production, direct communication with the audience, artistry of the highest kind.
Also present at both concerts, significantly, Jeffrey Kahane - the conductor Tuesday, the accompanist Saturday. The conductor-pianist was drafted 48 hours before the recital to replace Justus Zeyen, the singer's "permanent accompanist," when he slipped by a swimming pool and cracked his kneecap in the fall. As Zeyen was flying back to Germany for surgery, Kahane stepped in and rescued the concert, which would have been cancelled otherwise. To make do in a situation like this is commendable, but to play as brilliantly as Kahane did is something else, well justifying Quasthoff's repeated and heartfelt acknowledgments.
Schubert's hour-long, wonderfully varied song cycle, "Schwanengesang," opened the sold-out concert (to be repeated on July 13), immediately establishing that Kahane needed no allowance for the circumstances. As the bass sang about the "rushing brook," the sound of water cascaded from the piano, the "rushing torrent" came on thickly, "gently curling waves" played gently, all more convincingly than the real stuff over at Silva in the amplified bowls of "Water Passion."
When the text described "darkling flicker of flames," Kahane's piano was on fire, in a flickering way. An amazing moment occurred at the end of the second song, "Kriegers Ahnung," with the singer's "good night" trailing off, and then the piano's last note hanging in the air until silence became a reality.
Time and again in the Schubert songs, some of the great singers of our age were heard in Quasthoff's voice - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, most prominently - but with a crucial difference. "FiDi" and the others most of the time "sang" in a singerly manner, they and the audience aware of the occasion. With Quasthoff, the music pours out seemingly without effort or any artificiality. There is no question of breathing or technique, conscious phrasing or careful diction - it's all natural and transparent, providing the music alone, pure and simple.
This "techniqueless singing" became even more impressive in four difficult Hugo Wolf "Mörike Lieder," with their dissonance and chromaticism. Without the slightest hesitation and easily, elegantly on pitch, Quasthoff dispatched the four songs, apparently enjoying their challenge.
Four gorgeous Richard Strauss songs closed the program, "Heimliche Aufforderung" and "Die Nacht" before that sublime "Morgen." One song, "Zueignung" - which most lieder devotees still hear in Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's extremely rich and perhaps "overdone" interpretation - sounded too quick and plain, at least for a Schwarzkopf loyalist. Singer and pianist performed the song with what seemed to be deliberately mimimal legato.
Two encores closed the evening: "Röslein," and "Danny Boy," the first, wonderfully elegant, the latter, a tear-jerker sung (and played) "straight" and yet resulting in wet eyes all over the place. Zeyen was missed, but Kahane played admirably; he and Quasthoff both served the music brilliantly.
Oakland (CA) Post - 8 July 2002