Word: baer
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Baritone Olaf Baer joined the orchestra to sing seven Schubert songs. This is the 200th anniversary of Schubert's death, and everyone is programming his music. Cleveland tried to pick seven crowd-pleasers, but the lied, an intimate genre for solo voice and piano, does not always survive orchestration. The two songs that Brahms transcribed, "Memnon" and "An Schwager Kronos," not surprisingly, were very successful. But Kurt Gillman's "Du Bist Die Ruh" and Felix Mottl's "Standchen" invited exuberance and high volume where restraint and calm would have better served the lilting melodies...
...Baer gave "Memnon" a competent if unremarkable reading, but was immediately captivating and wonderful in "Der Wanderer." Though hindered by an unfortunate entry of the brass and Robert Fanta's heavy-handed orchestration, he communicated the song's vast unrest perfectly, and ended in just the right whisper...
Throughout "Ganymed," Dohnanyi kept a close eye on Baer, and so achieved the evening's fullest blend of vocal and orchestral sonority. The ascending melodic and harmonic figures of the music succeeded in evoking Goethe's poem about the beautiful boy snatched up into heaven. Baer and the strings went high and stayed there for an excitingly long time...
...original "Du Bist Die Ruh," the piano keeps repeating a gently undulating phrase that is the ideal accompaniment for the song's simple melody. It is not a phrase for a harp to pluck--this "Ruh" was more irritating than peaceful. Baer seemed uncomfortable with the music being made around him, yet the strength of his voice did not waver. Like most people, he probably regretted Gillman's decision to end the song with a drum roll...
...Baer agreed, and the two men made a heated case. Fast food was part of Clinton's bad old image: the burger-munching, sax-playing juvenile-in-chief. That Clinton had gradually given way to a grayer and graver President, with an optimism that seemed more deeply felt. Penn and Baer were aghast that Clinton might take a step backward. Sperling thought this message business was getting just a bit out of hand...