CD Review: Hermann Levi Der letzte Gruss (René Perler, bass-baritone; Edward Rushton, piano) Prospero PROSP018

I have long been interested in the output of performing musicians who also composed. Think of Wilhelm Furtwängler’s symphonies and violin sonatas, or the string quartets and songs by Otto Klemperer and Artur Schnabel. Given the quality of the writing, is not always right to dismiss these works and file them under the label of ‘Kapellmeister music’.

The case of Hermann Levi is an interesting one. Although remembered for his association with Richard Wagner and as the conductor of Parsifal’s first performance at Bayreuth in 1882, in his youth he too composed music in earnest. His output is not vast; it includes a violin sonata and piano concerto as well as a clutch of songs.

Ten of the songs receive their first recordings on the present release. They reveal Levi as a composer with a fine sense of melodic line, to which he sets his chosen lyrics, which is matched in the piano accompaniments that are of a richly Romantic heritage. A couple of the songs contain nods towards the Nibelungen – a foreshadowing of the Wagnerian association to come, perhaps.  Whilst Wagner sought to exploit the boundaries of tonality, resolution and expression, Levi never approached these boundaries.

René Perler’s bass-baritone voice captures the mood of the sorrowful songs effortlessly. The briefer instances of light and humour do not escape him either. His skills as a lieder singer and exponent of lyrical poetry are used to good effect also in the selected songs by Brahms, Schumann and Herzogenberg which usefully provide some context for the Levi songs. Just occasionally does one wish that Perler varied his timbre on repeated words or phrases, as he has a tendancy towards vibratoless expression.

Perler’s accompanist, playing Wagner’s own Steinway concert grand, is Edward Rushton. He provides excellent and discretely stylish yet pointed support throughout. The tone of the instrument suits the repertoire: it is warm and characterful in the lower to mid registers and brightly penetrating in its upper reaches. The recording, made by Swiss Radio during August 2020 in the Salon at Villa Wahnfried, is quite the best I have heard made in the Villa; it presents both pianist’s instrument and singer with admirable clarity in a natural acoustic. The notes about Levi and Wagner’s piano in the opulently illustrated booklet are interesting, the texts and translations are useful additions.

Two slight quibbles spoil what would have been a positive recommendation on all fronts. First, it is a pity that Perler’s notes on Levi’s compositions are provided in French only. Second, the inclusion of four songs by Henri Duparc seems a touch odd, as these are the only non-German language items. Perhaps the intention was to have them as an example of French song writing around the time of Hermann Levi’s compositions. However, as they are placed last on the track list rather than within the programme, they sound something of an afterthought. It might have been better by far to use the time they consume to present a recording of Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder in their place. Given that recordings of the Wagner cycle by a bass-baritone are few, the recording location, the piano used and the working association between Wagner and Levi, surely that’s an opportunity missed. However, that said, this recording can be strongly recommended to all adventurous lovers of lieder.