In choosing a programme of so many well-known songs, Groop is inevitably treading on dangerous ground. Listening to her generalized interpretations of song after song, one longs to go to the shelf and take down a version that enlivens the piece from within by dint of tonal variety and verbal acuity. Groop sings practically everything at the same dynamic level, around mezzo forte, and when she does attempt something a shade quieter, as in Feldeinsamkeit or Die Mainacht, her tone tends to lose focus.
Her big, vibrant voice may nowadays be happier on the larger canvas of opera, and it is indeed in the more dramatic songs here that she fares best. The tempest-tossed thoughts evoked in Auf dem Kirchhofe and the urgent emotions of Von ewiger Liebe are given the histrionic treatment they demand, but you only need to recall what Hotter made of the former, Kipnis and Ferrier of the latter, to hear what is missing in Groop’s honest but uneventful readings. Here, as elsewhere, the pieces seem to be simply read through, not lived with over a long period.
At the start, in a series of folk-song settings, many of them familiar from memorable performances by Schwarzkopf, Ludwig and/or Popp, Groop is simply too heavy, too forceful to bring out the many subtleties of these glorious settings; and where, later, is the humour and variety for Vergebliches Standchen, given in too straight-faced a manner? At the end of the recital Groop undertakes the two viola songs where her generous tone and broad phrasing are certainly worth hearing, but even here the inwardness so many mezzos before her have found is missing. The viola player is impressive and Lubimov throughout is a faithful partner, positive but never upstaging his singer. The recording is excellent.AB