IT FELT AS THOUGH EVERYONE HAD STOPPED BREATHING, SO INTENT WAS THEIR FOCUS. I WAS IN AN EXHIBIT ROOM AT THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN AUDIO FEST 2018. I DOUBT THAT ANYONE PRESENT SPOKE GERMAN, BUT AFTER SOPRANO SANDRINE PIAU’S RECORDING, WITH PIANIST SUSAN MANOFF, OF CARL LOEWE’S “ACH NEIGE, DU SCHMERZENREICHE” (AH, INCLINE, YOU WHO ARE LADEN WITH SORROWS) BEGAN TO FILL THE SPACE, THE SILENCE WAS SO DEEP THAT YOU COULD ALMOST HEAR HEARTS BEAT. AS PIAU INTONED WORDS BY WOLFGANG VON GOETHE THAT SPOKE OF A LOSS SO PAINFUL THAT IT PIERCED THE HEART AND BORE INTO ONE’S BONES, EVERYONE PRESENT FELT THE EMPTINESS AND LOSS IN PIAU’S VOICE AND LIZST’S SETTING.
As several people approached me afterward to ask about the recording—the album is Chimère—I realized that through a single recorded performance, an entire room had been initiated into the magic of art song. Those present were not put off by a 183-year-old song in a foreign language; rather, because Piau had sung so honestly, so expressively, from such an undeniable place of emotional truth, her performance transcended language and time. That’s what can happen when great music and great artistry unite.
I don’t recall exactly when my own initiation into art song took place. I had been weaned on opera, which alternated with Elvis and Little Richard from the time I was 11, but art song came later. Browsing my ancient LP collection, I recall, during college, staying up well past midnight comparing interpretations of art songs. By the time I graduated, song recordings featuring accompanist Gerald Moore and artists including Lotte Lehmann, Elisabeth Schumann, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and Hans Hotter had entered my collection.
This story is from the March 2022 edition of Stereophile.
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This story is from the March 2022 edition of Stereophile.
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