There are artists who manage to engage and become a family for an audience. One of them is Christian Gerhaher (Straubing, Germany, 1969), capable of filling the Teatro de la Zarzuela every time he visits us and there are already twelve, two in just weeks. On this occasion with a somewhat peculiar Malherian monograph since, along with the “Rückert-Lieder”, a couple of nations of the “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” cycle and another of “Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit”, were two pages of ” The Song of the Earth ”, opening and closing program.
It started cold, but soon managed to get warm helped by an interpretation without any pause, a rather remarkable fact, because he was singing for more than forty minutes in a row in the first part and almost as much in the second. His personality is already well known to us, in fact his voice is clearly distinguished by its impeccable diction, the lyric baritonal timbre, the ease of handling dynamics from pianos to forts with an exquisite play of half-voices. Impressive the qualification of each “Gute Nacht” of “The Drum Officer” that closed the first part, with a final step of the forte to the piano of authentic teacher. Addressing “The Farewell” of “The Song of the Earth” with piano accompaniment and not an orchestra is not easy for the pianist or the singer. Perhaps that is why the lessons of his teacher Fischer-Dieskau were exaggeratedly felt, resulting in excessive dawning in his permanent intention to “live” the lieder, to express his loneliness, sadness and despair.
It was a sad atmosphere recital, with that final farewell that should not have resulted in a tip, however “Ulricht” it was. There are times when a tip is a sin and this was one of them. He should not have granted it no matter how much the audience that filled the theater applauded.
Gonzalo Alonso
