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WHO: Karim Sulayman, tenor; Yi-heng Yang, fortepiano
WHAT: Songs by Schubert
RELEASED: March 2020
LABEL: Avie Data
A number of months in the past, I had the fortune to see the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble give a workshop right here in New Haven as a part of their inaugural efficiency weekend (my ideas right here). I used to be milling about afterwards and ended up briefly chatting with certainly one of their tenors, Karim Sulayman.
Rewind for one second: Sulayman’s first solo album (I believe? Karim, be at liberty to right me on this submit’s Twitter thread) gained final yr’s Grammy for Finest Classical Vocal Solo. That album, an Orpheus-themed program he recorded with Cleveland baroque ensemble Apollo’s Hearth, deserved each little bit of that gold statue.
Anyway, I advised him I used to be a sometimes-critic and that I beloved his first album, and he mentioned, “Oh, it’s best to assessment my second album which comes out in March!” I am certain he is talked to lots of people since that September night time, and I’ve no purpose to consider he would bear in mind this alternate six months later. However hey, I used to be planning to hearken to the album anyway, would possibly as nicely write a factor or two.
This Schubert has its priorities straight. Textual content comes first in Sulayman’s interpretations. The small inflections in his timbre convey textual themes equally nicely to audiences of all German-speaking ranges — take that from me (three semesters of school German) and my finest pal (a lifetime of Mahler scores and nothing else). From the seemingly bratty little one in Erlkönig (RIP), to the poignantly longing fisherman of Des fischers Liebesglück, he’s an actor first.
Should you do nothing else, watch this video. Like, I might quite
you watch this video than learn my assessment. Fully critical.
However, after all, that is to not detract from his voice, clear and clear. He barely covers his sound, permitting each ounce of that underlying emotion to shine via — have you ever ever heard what a smile appears like? Now I’ve.
Each performers deal with these lieder as chamber music. It is unclear who leads the stretches that come so typically all through the album, however every time one half pushes, the opposite follows. Yang’s barely delayed cadences acquire weight with a fast breath from Sulayman. Sulayman stretches a phrase climax, Yang rolls a chord to assist accent. The 2 work symbiotically, melding the extraordinary drama from every of their components right into a composite, deeply affecting pathos.
I wish to hear Yi-heng Yang play extra Schubert on this wonderful 1830 fortepiano. What are the percentages somebody can fund her to do a sonatas album? (Plus, her Erlkönig was….simply wow. Particularly contemplating the gradual motion on most fortepianos….wow. Wow wow wow.)
Schubert is parlor music. I actually needn’t hear a Wagnerian heldentenor shake the partitions with Winterreise. A superb Schubert duo goes overboard of their story-telling, however not of their sound manufacturing — the partitions needn’t shake so long as my coronary heart is full. Sulayman and Yang are a superb Schubert duo. Even perhaps a terrific Schubert duo. Or possibly an unstoppable Schubert duo.
Outdated folks, a phrase from the following technology: cease crying about how we’ll “by no means have one other Pavarotti” and as a substitute hearken to the immensely proficient tenors that we do have. You could be pleasantly shocked.
Apart from which, are you able to think about Pavarotti singing Schubert? Ew.
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