BWW Reviews: Follow the Lieder, Part One--GERALD FINLEY at Carnegie's Zankel Hall

When I last heard bass-baritone Gerald Finley in New York, he was a nameless prisoner in a dungeon during the Spanish Inquisition, in Dallapiccola's IL PRIGIONIERO with the New York Philharmonic. But even the eponymous title character of that 12-tone opera seemed less tortured than the singer of Schubert's "Die Winterreise," which Finley brought magnificently to Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall last week.

Of course, this was a different kind of torture: the mental torment of a spurned lover. Finley and his knowing accompanist, Julius Drake on piano, made this song-cycle into a series of tiny monodramas, some lasting no more than a dozen lines, or less, but each one to be savored. It was good to hear these art songs (lieder) in Zankel Hall, where the intimacy of the performance could be well appreciated (and the faint rumble of the New York subway seemed fitting).

A set of 24 songs composed to poems by Wilhelm Müller, "Die Winterreise" (literally "Winter's Journey") portrays the anguish of man, a traveler, wandering through a harsh landscape mirroring his inner bleakness. (It was not lost on the performer or audience that many had braved the day's snowstorm to be there.) Everywhere he goes, the man finds some reminder of the love he has lost.

These two dozen pieces call on all a singer's resources--to tap into their mournful nature, as well as to differentiate them. Finley and Drake--looking so alike when they came on stage that I thought I was seeing double--had the audience totally enraptured. From the introductory "Gute Nacht (Good Night)" through to "Die Leiermann (The Organ-Grinder)." Finley's expressive baritone, with its inherent sweetness, brought poignance and eloquence to songs.

If I had to single out a few of the songs where Finley shone, for me at least, there were a couple. In "Die Post (The Mail Coach)," he responded to music that had a throbbing unusual in the cycle, with upbeat moments even as the sentiment was not. In "Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree)," Finley moved against the piano as if trying to commune with it in a dreamlike state that extended to the song. "Fruhlingstraum (Dream of Spring)" started out light, but the darkness soon took over, with shadows flowing across his face, as well as his voice.

With "Die Leiermann," putting himself in the shoes of an organ-grinder--"No one cares to listen, No one looks at him..."--Finley ends the cycle in, almost, a trance. The audience, which had given their rapt attention during the 80-plus minutes, rose to cheer him.

Photo Credit: Sim Canetty-Clarke

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