ConcertPulse
NDR Vokalensemble: Schubertiade
Elbphilharmonie, Großer Saal (Hamburg)
Silvery, trembling chords awaken a sense of moonlight, a rapturous tenor voice soars over the piano and the male choir responds like an echo. As here in »Nachthelle«, Franz Schubert knew how to create poetic worlds with just a few means of expression. The NDR Vokalensemble and pianist Julius Drake, under the direction of its chief conductor Klaas Stok, dedicate a programme to this master of sonic miniatures, which mainly revolves around Schubert’s choral songs. For a romantic sound, a string quintet joins the eight-part choir in works such as »Gesang der Geister über den Wassern«. An enthusiastic follower of the pioneering Romantic composer was also Arnold Schönberg. The inventor of twelve-tone music would have been 150 years old this year. And so the NDR Vokalensemble is adding some Schönberg songs to the Schubert programme. Both composers wrote wonderful works for the voice, often infused with subtle humour. While Schoenberg even named his Opus 28 »Three Satires«, Schubert’s humour is more subtle. In his »Ständchen«, the soloist sneaks up to her sweetheart at night, »hesitantly quietly« according to the text. But in the original version, she is accompanied by a whole male choir. Does the sweetheart dare to come to the window with such concentrated masculinity?