Von Otter’s artistry still shines in Schubert at Wolf Trap
Anne Sofie von Otter performed Schubert’s Schwanengesang with pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout Thursday night at Wolf Trap. Photo: Rich Kessler
Anne Sofie von Otter, the formidable Swedish mezzo-soprano, turned 70 this year. After a career that has touched almost every corner of the classical vocal repertoire and earned countless accolades in the process, she is still exploring music and finding new things to say.
On Thursday night, von Otter came to the Barns at Wolf Trap with pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, a star in his own right, to sing Franz Schubert’s Schwanengesang (“swan song”), D. 957, interleaved with a couple solo piano pieces.
Nothing attracts commercial interest in an artist like death, so after Schubert died in 1828 at the age of 31, his publisher Thomas Haslinger collected 14 songs written shortly before his passing and published them as the Schwanengesang the following year. Though they do not form a cohesive whole, as the last works of the lieder master they have a special resonance.
Von Otter is surely closer to the end of her career than the beginning, and her voice shows the journey — at times, a bit tonally dry; not as much clarity or power in the high notes; and less range of color than she used to command. There is also the basic fact that she only sang for about 45 minutes on Thursday night, with two breaks.
Yet, as this concert proved, her voice still sounds well enough to showcase her piercing intelligence, keen dramatic instinct, and dedication to illuminating the smallest details of the texts.
With regard to that last aspect of von Otter’s artistry, Wolf Trap failed to provide texts and translations for Schwanengesang in the program, or even a basic description of what the songs were about. Without knowing what’s being sung, Schubert’s lieder lose a lot of their impact.
For example, in “Kriegers Ahnung,” von Otter’s sensitive treatment of the word “sehnsucht”—“longing”—beautifully illustrated the feeling, as did her harrowed “Gute Nacht” at the end. Von Otter had fun acting out the come-ons to “Das Fischermädchen,” but surely they would have landed better if audience members knew what specific terms of endearment were being used. Bezuidenhout’s roiling textures in “Auftenhalt,” and von Otter’s desperate delivery, make more sense if you know that the text depicts storms battening a resting place.
Other highlights included “Abscheid,” a merry farewell in which von Otter and Bezuidenhout ably navigated the twisty melody while enjoying the variety of textual illustrations Schubert created, and “In der Ferne,” where von Otter placed some extra weight on the words “Herzen brach —“heart broke.”
After the first set of six songs, the audience, denied an intermission, started to rustle, but Bezuidenhout silenced it with a single commanding chord: the beginning of Schubert’s Impromptu in C minor, D. 899, number 1. Bezuidenhout often plays fortepianos and harpsichords, and here one could almost hear him feeling out the big tone of Wolf Trap’s Steinway, seeing how stark he could make the unaccompanied lines of the opening section sound, testing how much color he could introduce as the music became more elaborate. He took special care with the repeated notes in the left hand, making them a steady drumbeat that drove the music forward.
Coming after the subsequent set of four songs, the Andante from the Sonata in A Major, D. 664, felt like the interlude it is within the sonata, but it functioned as an effective transition from the climax of “In der Ferne” to the concentrated drama of the four songs that rounded out Schwanengesang.
To begin that final group, Bezuidenhout set the tone for “Die Stadt” with evocative trembling in his piano, and von Otter matched it with uncanny intensity. The duo made the wistfulness of “Am Meer” equally vivid. Von Otter held some strength in reserve for the whole program to deploy at the climax of “Der Doppelgänger,” frightening in its vehemence, expertly delivered. The program closed with “Der Taubenpost,” a charming tale of a carrier pigeon delivering love messages, which sparkled winningly in von Otter and Bezuidenhout’s performance.
In an unfortunate scheduling mishap, von Otter and Bezuidenhout performed their encore after conducting the requisite Chamber Music at the Barns Q&A session. Most of the audience had decamped for complimentary dessert and champagne, leaving just a few to hear Schubert’s melodrama “Abscheid (Leb wohl, du schöne Erde),” D. 829.
Speaking rather than singing allowed von Otter to rest her voice, but also to hear her and Schubert relate text to music in a different way; the theme of what to take and what to abandon when leaving the Earth resonated with the rest of the program. It made a tender sendoff, with von Otter clearly enjoying the dramatic recitation and Bezuidenhout sensitive in his accompaniment.
The Barns at Wolf Trap next presents the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in a “Viola Celebration,” featuring works of Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, and Mozart, 7:30 p.m. November 16. wolftrap.org
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