Christoph Pregardien has many of the qualities called for by Loewe’s songs and ballads, and awareness of the demands made by a composer with a far wider range than is sometimes allowed. He can be eerie in the blood-curdling Edward and again in Erlkonig (songs that thrilled Wagner), especially by his sensitive and discreet articulation of the words within the melodic line. Edward is powerfully impelled towards the realization of the murder with softly anguished calls of the repeated “O!”. The Erl-King’s threat of force is the more sinister for the underemphasis of the key word, “Gewalt”; and the whole uneasy alternation between major and minor, as spirit and human worlds contest, is delicately balanced until the final, terrible triumph of the Erl-King’s major third in the climactic discord. These are superb performances, in no way under the shadow of Fischer-Dieskau’s classic interpretations and gaining something of their own from the tenor range. The amiable cycle of five songs about a miner, Der Bergmann, is lightly and touchingly handled, with a lively contribution from Cord Garben (a Loewe pianist who in this series has responded notably better to some singers than others).
Pregardien uses his eloquence of line to fine effect in the Goethe songs. The two Wandrers Nachtlied settings, beautifully sung here, are as remarkable as any in the repertory. Still more could be said of the Lynceus triptych. Dazzled by his glimpse of Helen of Troy, in the last of the songs the watcher on the high tower gives thanks for the gift of sight that has brought him so many marvels. Far-ranging arpeggios spread the world beneath him, and the rapt melodic line, wonderingly enunciated by Pregardien, is a prayer of thanks. Here is one of the great German Lieder.JW