Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder
Berg: Seven Early Songs
Mahler: Rückert Lieder
Anja Harteros (soprano)
Valery Gergiev / Munich Philharmonic (Munich Philharmonic)
(scroll down for English review)
雖然全碟都是格杰夫指揮、由慕尼黑愛樂自家品牌推出，但主角終究還是女高音哈特露斯。或者這碟是配合或緊接哈特露斯在慕尼黑歌劇節，和考夫曼一起唱《崔斯坦與伊索德》而推出。
哈特露斯的聲名其實是在十年前最響，是最搶手的德國女高音，假如夥拍考夫曼就是黃金組合，門票一定售罊，我幾年前有幸這對組合三次。不過她以前的缺場機率很高，甚至有可能被某些大歌劇院列為黑名單，近年她的狀態穩定了，但又沒那麼紅，可能就是她唱多了演奏會、所以有這套管弦歌曲的契機。
華格納《威森當克歌曲集》（軌一至五）差不多是華格納女高音的專利，哈特露斯雖然唱過兩三齣華格納，但她也沒有以華格納女高音自居。這套歌集對人聲的要求，我聯想到理察史特勞斯《最後四首藝術歌曲》，充滿綿延不斷的句子，生人勿近，哈特露斯如履平地，亦能兼顧較低的音域，雖然不像華格納女高音可以爆得這麼大力，但我寧願聽她這種控制較佳、剛柔並重的唱法。
貝爾格《七首早期歌曲》（軌六至12）她的唱法我覺得特別在，當其他人想營造神秘的浪漫感覺，她卻字正腔圓的唱，不只是詩詞清楚，音符也唱得很大、很有張開的感覺，以唱大曲的心態來小歌。
馬勒《律克歌集》（軌13至17）通常是由女中音演唱，哈特露斯在這兒又再破例。「我與人世隔絕」（軌16）她很強調頭半的悲憤，「午夜」（軌17）她唱到很多女中音都未必唱到的，大自然原始力量蓄勢待發的氣勢，要不是她有這麼強的胸音她也唱不到這麼有力的中低音。
After her run of Tristan und Isolde with Jonas Kaufmann at the Munich Opera Festival, Munich Philharmonic released this recording of Anja Harteros singing three sets of orchestral songs at the helm of Valery Gergiev. Harteros used to have such star power ten years ago but now all that has faded somehow, so perhaps that’s the reason we got to see her more often at the concert stage.
The Wesendonck lieder (tracks 1-5) used to be domain of Wagnerian sopranos. Harteros has several Wagner roles in her repertoire but she never pigeonholed herself as a Wagnerian soprano. In these songs the almost unending waves of melodies surely reminded me of Strauss’ Four Last Songs. Harteros handled them with ease and she tackled the lower registers very well. She might lack the explosive powers of Wagnerians but I prefer her better control, and the equal footings of power and tenderness.
Singers usually presented Berg’s Seven Early Songs (tracks 6-12) as mysterious vignettes. But Harteros’ treated them as grand displays of passion. Her diction was loud and clear: not only the words were articulate but the notes had an expansive force.
Harteros made another exception in Mahler’s Rückert Lieder (tracks 13-17), tackling them as a soprano. She emphasized the indignation of Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (track 16), and her rendition of Um Mitternacht (track 17) was majestic, delivering such primaeval power that escaped many mezzos. Such epic singing wouldn’t be possible without her solid chest voice.