Ze Bromances

The most important piece I think you noted in this blog was, “the ease of technique” which has is an aspect you’ve hinted at in class. Good singing technique involves proper language approach as well. Sometimes the way in which you sing a oo vowel can brighten the pitch or darken it depending on how forward you’re speaking it. As it relates to the language, the technique of the vowel can be bad enough to flatten or sharpen with your pitch in context to the entire phrase you are singing.

More than I notice the language of Mr. Wunderlich in Dies Bildnis, more obvious is how musical he is with the language. He has a very measured and calm way of singing that knows exactly its size but doesn’t spend too much time on any one note or consonant. His consonants [ç] and [x] are incredibly soft, but vibrates through every voiced and unvoiced consonant. “ich fühl' es”;”Doch fühl' ichs” His line is impeccable. Throughout his singing he definitely keeps a consistent ring, no matter what dynamic. And hey, if I sounded like that I’d probably tilt my head back as much as he does as well. 

In the 1st Schubert Song, there is an incredible change in the color of his voice from the more operatic works. He was more breathy with his tone, especially on the descending passages “Röslein auf der Heiden.” he puts the breaks in the words in such a way that you still know what they are. I also loved the t’s at the end of the high “rot” every time. It wasn’t a separate event, nor did it take away from the phrase itself. In two spots before this, however, he didn’t voice very well the “n” in “doch kein Weh” or “es eben leiden.” But it sure did sound good. In this situation I’d probably sacrifice the ’n’ just a little bit if it meant having a good as line as Mr. Wunderlich.

Having heard Die Forelle so many times in class, it is refreshing to hear such a clear interpretation by this man. He isn’t too text-y in that he (like as in all the other songs) keeps singing more about the phrase than the words. He doesn’t clip “rute” like some people do, and in addition, he doesn’t spent as much time on his “s” initial consonants, instead he focuses more on the vowels.

OK, I hate this guy. Really, in that last song his voice sounds so honest and pure, with a fine tenor ‘ping’ to it. Having never heard this song, it trumps and sounds better than my favorite Tom Jones song… Delilah. It is crazy to think that this song isn’t in it’s original language. It’s as if it is possible to make anything inherently German. His voice seems in a way, immortalized. I would have loved to hear what he sounded like 4-10 years with him not enduring a freak drunken stair accident.