Ian Koziara and Bradley Moore: Silenced – Unsung Voices of the 20th Century
Cedille Records

In featuring songs by Franz Schreker, Vítezslava Kaprálová, Viktor Ullmann, and Alexander von Zemlinsky, the title tenor Ian Koziara and pianist Bradley Moore chose for their release is quite literally true. All four composers' lives were profoundly affected by the Third Reich in different ways: when Hitler rose to power in 1933, Zemlinsky left Germany to eventually settle in New York but achieved little recognition thereafter; born to a Jewish father and Catholic mother, Schreker's professional rise was thwarted when antisemitism led to his resignation from the directorship of Berlin's Hochschule für Musik and death in 1933 from a stroke. Even more tragic are the cases of Ullmann, who was sent to the Terezin concentration camp in 1942 and died in October 1944 after transferring to Auschwitz, and Káprálová, whose accomplishments as a conductor and composer ended prematurely when she died from typhoid fever (some accounts suggest tuberculosis) in Montpellier at only twenty-five. (In-depth liner notes by Roger Pines provide far greater biographical detail than can be included here.)

While recordings by the composers are available, their music has been under-recorded. As these examples of their song artistry show, their material is consistently expressive in the way it eloquently encompasses the spectrum of human emotion. On this nearly seventy-minute tribute, three songs by Schreker appear and five by Zemlinsky, but fittingly the greater share are by Ullmann (seven) and Káprálová (ten). Their voices in particular deserve to be heard. Ullmann's indomitable creative spirit is shown by the fact that he wrote his Hölderlin-Lieder and Drei Lieder, each featured on the album, during his Terezin internment (incredibly, he composed more than twenty works at the camp). Káprálová's extraordinary talent is well-accounted for by Dve písne and Jablko s klína, the works also performed by the recital duo.

Koziara can sing with the kind of stentorian force and passion befitting a tenor who's sung at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and Oper Frankfurt. The Chicago native's been called “an exciting Wagner tenor” (The New York Times), and a number of performances on Silenced reflect the power needed to deliver the composer's epic works. But Koziara's as capable of adjusting the volume to sing with tenderness when the material demands it (see Kaprálová's “Ukolébavka”), and in accompanying his voice with Moore's piano the recording is generally more intimate than boisterous. The pianist has been a recital partner to artists such as Renée Fleming and Susan Graham and complements Koziara with immense sensitivity. Both musicians benefit from the arrangement when their individual and collective artistry is vividly accentuated by their pairing.

Three songs from the five composing Schreker's Fünf Lieder introduce the album. The lyrical exultations of “Unendliche Liebe” (Endless Love) suit the tenor's voice splendidly, its impact bolstered by Moore's dramatic accompaniment. Suitably radiant is “Frühling” (Spring), whose title and rapturous tone recall Richard Strauss; plaintive by comparison is “Wohl fühl ich wie das Leben rinnt” (I feel how keenly life slips away), which articulates clearly the desperation of one anticipating oblivion.

Written when Kaprálová was but seventeen, Dve písne follows the rhapsodic sparkle of “Jitro” (Morning) with the melancholy “Osirelý” (Orphaned), the composer's gifts already obvious. For her Jablko s klína, she set four songs to texts by the Czech poet Jaroslav Seifert, with “Ukolébavka” (Lullaby) affecting in its tenderness, “Bezvetrí” (Calm) ominous and crepuscular, and “Jarní pout” (Spring Fair) joyful, even giddy. A third song cycle by Kaprálová, Navždy, sets music to poetry by Jan Carek for two songs and Seifert the third, longing permeating “Navždy” (Forever), anguish infusing “Cím je muj žal” (What is My Grief), and lyricism “Ruce” (Hands).

Dated 1942, Ullmann's Drei Lieder sets music to texts by nineteenth-century Swiss writer Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, with “Schnitterlied” (Song of the Reapers) and “Die Schweizer” (The Swiss) exuding acerbic, Weill-esque liveliness and the calmer “Säerspruch” (The Sower's Saying) brooding. For Hölderlin-Lieder, Ullmann adopted texts by the German poet-philosopher, the opening “Sonnenuntergang” (Sunset) conveying a sense of calm and resolution, “Der Frühling” (The Spring) buoyed by appreciation for nature's wonders, and “Abendphantasie” (Evening Fantasy) a reflective rumination on youth and old age.

At the album's centre, Zemlinsky's Fünf Gesänge is a definite highlight. A gentle piano introduction establishes a serene mood for Koziara in the reverential “Turmwächterlied” (The Tower Watchman's Song), with the tenor thereafter imbuing the song with a stateliness well-matched to the accompaniment. Executed at a delicate hush and with a soothing flow, “Und hat der Tag all seine Qual” (And Once All the Miseries of the Day) finds the singer, in Pines's words, “describing the spirits of heaven who confront all the miseries of the earth that have floated skyward” and Moore chiming dreamily in tandem. A military, march-like feel naturally informs “Mit Trommeln und Pfeifen” (With Fife and Drums), after which “Tod in Aehren” (Death Among the Corn) conjures the image of a wounded soldier recalling home as he lies dying, the mood wistful and filled with sorrow. Zemlinsky's only represented on the recording by the four-song cycle and “Herbsten,” but his impact is felt strongly nonetheless.

November 2024