American Record Guide July-August 2005

Zemlinsky: songs.

American Record Guide July-August , 2005

ZEMLINSKY: songs 6 Maeterlinck; 6 Gregorovius; 2 Cabaret; 12 posthumous Hermine Haselboeck, s; Florian Henschel, p Pan 10162--53 minutes

It is entirely fitting that the nearly forgotten Alexander Zemlinsky's best known song collection would be settings of poems by the even more forgotten Nobel laureate Maurice Maeterlinck. Until 20 years ago it appeared that composer and writer had been swallowed into historical oblivion together, but interest in Zemlinsky has grown markedly in recent years. This recording of 26 songs from the first half of his creative life (they span the years 1889, when he was 18, to 1913, near the height of his career) is the latest example of this renewed interest.

A bit less than half the program is devoted to early unpublished songs, edited for performance by Antony Beaumont, the Zemlinsky scholar who has done so much to restore the composer's reputation. While uncharacteristic of the mature composer, they do point the way toward the 20th Century and have an individual voice. In many ways these unpublished songs show greater originality than contemporary works that he chose to publish, like the very fine but very Brahmsian Clarinet Trio of 1896. The six Waltz-Songs, Op. 6 (1898), texts by Ferdinand Gregorovius. are more akin to the mature Zemlinsky that we finally hear in his six Maeterlinck Songs, Op. 13 (1913), the latest works here.

Hermine Haselboeck, in her debut recording, turns in an assured and convincing performance. The musicality of her singing is such that she lets the composer be the focus of our attention. There are no faults to distract us from the music, but at the same time she avoids the temptation of a self-conscious or mannered approach that would draw too much attention to herself. It is the difference between describing this album as "a recording of Hermine Haselboeck singing Zemlinsky songs" and "a recording of Zemlinsky songs sung by Hermine Haselboeck". It is her ability to carry off the latter approach without falling into blandness that attests most strongly to the soprano's promising artistry and that makes this such an auspicious debut.

The sound captures Haselboeck and the fine accompaniment of Florian Henschel with realism. Christoph Becher's notes are well written. Texts and translations are included. The only real fault is the short playing time. Zemlinsky wrote some 100 songs, so there were plenty of others for the performers to choose from had they decided to fill this album out a little. This mistake was not made by Barbara Bonney and Anne-Sofie von Otter in their DG recording (July/Aug 1990), but that recording is no longer in the American catalogs, thereby eliminating the present album's most formidable competition.

Haselboeck is to be commended for avoiding the obvious repertory choices for a debut album, choosing instead to further the revival of Zemlinsky.

As for Maeterlinck, well, if forgotten by poetry lovers and the theater world, at least Debussy's adaptation of Pelleas et Melisande has kept his name alive--and now perhaps Zemlinsky will do the same thing for him, thanks to recordings like this.

ZEMLINSKY: Quartet 1; see DEBUSSY Collections