BY BRIDGET O’BRIEN
There is so much music that relies on the excavation of committed musicians to help it bubble back to the surface of the general public sphere, where all good music belongs. Australian baritone David Greco is an artist who doesn’t shy away from this unspotlighted repertoire. His career, built upon lieder and early music, has explored some of the grandest and most exquisite works that are in danger of going unheard.
David’s latest venture is a revival of Schubert’s stormiest and most formidable cycle, Winterreise. The narrative in this cycle spans across a plethora of romantic themes, drawing torment and resolution from the landscapes and natural offerings of winter.
The work stands as one of the most iconic ever conquered by lieder great Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, among worthy others. And this September, alongside pianist Erin Helyard, David presents us with his own take on a classic – the first time in Australia this work has been recorded on period instruments.
Schubert (and lieder in general) can be quite introspective in performance, and I’ve found it to be typically denied any bells and whistles. How do you approach this raw genre of storytelling?
It’s a great question, because the eternal issue, especially when you’re young and/or at college, is: ‘Do you sing lieder with a different tone or different voice than you would opera?’
The answer is yes and no. Schubert’s favourite singer Johann Michael Vogl was a great opera singer, and there is a handy clue. He was drawn to the theatricality of his performance – I also come at lieder from a theatrical perspective – after all many of the songs are as deeply dramatic as any opera plot. Each song is a mini opera. But it’s true, the fact is lieder is a more intimate setting (only voice and piano); and so you adapt your expression and story-telling accordingly. But you also have freedoms you wouldn’t have on the operatic stage: the ability to sing pianissimo very softly and employ expressivity that would otherwise be lost or covered by an orchestra.
Regarding lieder, do you isolate your influence to what’s in the score, or engage in further exploration – such as deepening historical knowledge of the composer, poets, or singers who’ve gone before you?
It’s impossible to listen to Winterreise in 2018 without inevitably conjuring up the familiar sounds of Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore; or other such luminaries, Hermann Prey or Peter Schreier from the 20th Century’s so called ‘golden era’. I’m not only interested in the score, I’m also interested in the performances that have come before mine, as they also inform my interpretation and enrich the music.
I mention Schubert’s favourite singer Vogl: he came out of an Italian operatic tradition, and so he would have no doubt brought his expressive practices from the stage to the salon. We have accounts of these practices from written sources of the day – but also a fascinating clue to how, maybe, Schubert may have heard his singers, is found in the first recordings ever made. These recordings captured some of the greatest names from the dawn of the 20th Century, such as Nellie Melba, Lotte Lehmann and Elizabeth Schumann. In rare instances, the vocalism of artists whose careers and performance style stretched back to the mid-19th Century were also preserved, such as famed soprano Adelina Patti (b.1843).
On first listening, these recordings are challenging to modern ears; ugly, even, in some cases:
We notice singers indulging in all kinds of ‘extravagant’ expressive practices: sliding between notes (portamento), modifying the pulse of the music itself, as well as using rubato (where the accompaniment is strict, but the melody is expressively dislocated), altering the written text and rhythms, and ornamenting more freely than we are accustomed to. But what if these were not extravagant, unthinking, or indulgent practices, but rather evidence of a highly conditioned and un-notated 19th Century style of singing that many composers (Schubert among them) expected — even desired — of their singers? I’ve enjoyed researching these extinct expressive devices and using them to enrich my own vocal expression, and to help convey the text in a way that I think Schubert might have heard.
You’ve just toured with the Australian Haydn Orchestra, performing some highlights of Winterreise. What do you need to change about your presentation of the pieces from studio to stage?
This harks back to my first answer about expression and the theatricality of this music. A few more instruments making the texture a little thicker, or providing some more tone colours than a piano is capable, inspired me to colour my voice differently and maybe make certain sections a little more visceral than I would usually do it. I suppose you just respond to the soundscape you’re working with.
What advice would you give a young singer approaching the interpretation of lieder for the first time?
Lieder is a great marriage of text and music. The text is so rich, and obviously often more rich than the libretto for an opera (not always), and so the text is a good place to start. Having said this, as a young singer it’s important not to be hung up on the intimate nature of lieder; not to get too precious or careful. Don’t forget these first lieder singers were highly theatrical opera singers and there was less divide between the mediums than we may think today.
What was the journey like to finding your Fach in early music?
Early music just ‘spoke’ to me and I was encouraged and inspired by the richness of harmony and melody and a general aesthetic of the words and a very text-led delivery. In that way, I guess it was natural that lieder, with its high attention to text was a natural destination for me as well.
Fach–wise, I gravitated for the higher bass arias of Handel and Mozart, but Bach – even though I adore singing his music – was always a problem as he writes so instrumentally for a singer. He doesn’t take into account that a singer must breathe, or that a singer has a particular range, and in that way is more of a structural composer. But you get used to it and develop ways around it.
What’s your favourite operatic role that you’ve ever interpreted and what did it teach you?
My favourite role by far has been Monteverdi’s Orfeo that I sang for the first time last year. The role is so rich; the text is full of pathos and longing and joy and packed with amazing melodic invention. It’s Hamlet for a high baritone.
What experiences in your career have been the most musically, creatively, or personally demanding?
Recording Winterreise was obviously one of the biggest, most demanding things I’ve done – and also one of the most rewarding. It’s such a beast of a work and seemingly insurmountable in terms of its emotional weight and also vocal power required.
I’ve enjoyed as well touring Europe in the great works of Bach, Handel, and Mozart with cutting-edge early music orchestras such as Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, and also Amsterdam Baroque. Working so closely with masters such as Ton Koopman and Richard Egarr rubs off on you and demands that you raise your bar.
David Greco’s mastery and fervour is evident through his new 22-track recording; his artistic industry illustrates the entire spectrum of Schubert’s romantic intention. Winterreise is now available on ABC Classics and features Erin Helyard (piano). It is the first Australian recording of this work on period instruments.
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Image supplied. Credit Amelia J Dowd.
