For once my enthusiasm for a disc in the Hyperion Schubert Edition is somewhat limited. Indeed this CD's drawbacks bring to the fore a couple of doubts about the series's production that have been hovering in the back of my mind. Is it always wise to have one singer performing some 70 minutes of music? Might it not sometimes be preferable, as would certainly have been the case here, to spread the burden among several performers—wise for both the artists and the listener (though no doubt it may bother a singer's ego)? My other reservation concerns the absence of any German or Austrian Lieder singers to date in the series (though Elly Ameling must come as close as possible to that). I know Brigitte Fassbaender is included but I hope that singers such as Lucia Popp (adopted German), Uwe Heilmann, Wolfgang Holzmaier (especially him), Hans Peter Blochwitz and Robert Holl, to mention just five eloquent Schubert interpreters, may soon find their way into the Hyperion lists, even if it isn't possible for contractual or financial reasons to claim Peter Schreier, Olaf Bar or Andreas Schmidt for the series.
These thoughts came from the back of my mind to the front when listening to Arleen Auger, a pleasing enough artist, but one whose monochromatic, sometimes distinctly uncomfortable tone very quickly tires the ear and whose German diction is clear but neither idiomatic, nor very individual in utterance. In addition, her voice, to be frank and ungallant, now sounds decidedly worn in the upper reaches. That, added to the fact that her assignment includes some of Schubert's more mundane pieces (those written to Italian texts), makes the disc a mixed pleasure.
Of course there are some unfamiliar gems—as ever in this series—re-animated by Graham Johnson's advocacy (and incidentally his playing here is a constant pleasure). Most of these come in the disc's middle section, which is devoted to the depiction of specific heroines. Daphne am Bach, described by Capell as ''the dullest of Schubert's brook songs'', is anything but that as given here. The stiff-upper-lip Lambertine (a Stoll setting) is among Schubert's most accomplished adumbrations of a girl's developing character. The timeless spirit of Thelka and the ingenuous Lied der Delphine are both brought before us through Schubert's genius even when the interpreter's imaginative temperature is low. Auger is most suited by simple pieces where her range isn't taxed, such as the familiar Romance from Rosamunde and the four Italian Canzonen.
The last five works on this disc, which has the overall theme of ''Schubert and the Theatre'', are 'shepherd' songs. I'm sure the first three are more interesting than Auger's lacklustre singing makes them. For instance in Der gute Hirt she displays little of the joy and innocence described in Johnson's note. Possibly inspired by the greatest music on this disc, or by Thea King's superlative clarinet obbligato, Auger comes into her own in Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, where her tone is fresher, her attack more buoyant and her phrasing more subtle. With Johnson's sensitive piano in support, this is altogether a most satisfying interpretation, ending the programme on an upbeat. Which perhaps proves my point that we should have a varied group of singers on each CD (remember in the old days Walter Legge, on the Hugo Wolf Society, very carefully chose the singer for the song). The recording, as is the case on most of this Edition, doesn't give quite enough forward presence to either voice or piano.'