Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Der Wanderer, D 489
Totengräbers Heimweh, D 842
Der Tod und das Mädchen, D 531
Wehmut, D 772
Schwanengesang, D 957
Six Lieder d'après Heinrich Heine
Der Taubenpost, D 965

Andreas Bauer Kanabas, basse
Daniel Heide, piano

La voix est franche comme l’or, quitte à avouer en de rares exceptions une justesse relative, mais pour Schubert, que les basses, même alertes comme celle d’Andreas Bauer Kanabas, désertent, c’est au fond une chance, et plus encore pour les grands cycles. D’un chanteur si musicien et surtout avec le piano visionnaire de Daniel Heide, j’espérai plutôt "Winterreise". Ce sera "Schwanengesang" cet autre voyage non vers la mort, mais vers les fantômes. Dans la profondeur de son timbre Andreas Bauer Kanabas dissimule des visions, des hallucinations dont l’inquiétude parait déjà en filigrane derrière "Liebesbotschaft", "Frühlingssehnsucht", caressés de mots vifs sur un piano qui se mordore. Diseur, ce maitre chanteur l’est comme jadis le fut ici Hans Hotter, colorant les mots jusque parfois dans un sfumato, et comme Hotter il se saisit avec une pointe d’amertume de "Ständchen", et fera paraitre la nuance d’effroi qui ira grandissante pour les poèmes de Heine : ce "Doppelgänger" vous poursuivra en rêve. Commencé avec le cycle avec un quatuor de Lieder versé déjà dans l’Hadès, le disque se referme sur la tendresse désarmante de "Die Taubenpost", dit plus que chanté, merveille de simplicité qui sacre un beau chanteur idéalement schubertien. Puisse "Winterreise" suivre, car du coté des basses je n’avais pas entendu si justement émouvant depuis la triade Hotter-Moll-Talvela. (Discophilia - Artalinna.com) (Jean-Charles Hoffelé)

The first group of songs on texts by Ludwig Rellstab starts out in a relatively carefree, rapturous tone: a mood of spring is in the air. In Frühlingssehnsucht, “swelling desire” is colorfully illustrated by images of nature such as the silvery gurgling brook – an evocation of splendid vitality. But clouds soon darken the horizon: the brook becomes a raging torrent of negative emotions. Euphoria gives way to disappointment. The rapturous attitude is curbed: we hear of farewell, with a clear touch of bitterness. In the next group of settings of texts by Heinrich Heine, the story returns to its onset: now less rapturous, somewhat more aloof, and with even more bitterness at the end. We have chosen to order these songs in a meaningful succession that begins with the awakening of love and soon reaches its prompt demise. Is this about love, or only lust? Why does everything feel so unsatisfactory and painful in the end? Are the fisher maidens of this world too clueless to sense that the poet has some truly admirable qualities? Otherwise, why does it always end in defeat? “My heart is entirely like the sea: there are storms, there is ebb and flow, but in the depths, you can find many beautiful pearls.” Does this passage hold the key? With cheerful frankness, he who longs for fulfillment starts out by admitting he has a tendency toward capriciousness and seduction. He feels helplessly pulled to and fro by his emotions as if they were ocean tides. Pressing his suit, he longs to win the fisher maiden’s trust – but she would have to dive very far down to find a beautiful pearl. By the time we have reached the next song, the two are staring at one another in sheer incomprehension. Tears flow silently, and separation is already underway. “And oh, I cannot believe I have lost you,” we hear in the second-to-last song. He who searches and never reaches his destination, never achieving redemption or a homecoming, ultimately suffers under his own nature. The “world of sorrows” he must bear is nothing else than his own unfulfilled yearning: a yearning to be loved, and to love. The CD closes with Die Taubenpost, which stands for itself, yet also allegorically summarizes what all these songs have in common: yearning. (Andreas Bauer Kanabas)