The idea of Greece: Robin Tritschler and Jonathan Ware in a wide-ranging recital from Schubert, Loewe & Wolf to Shostakovich, Dvorak, Berkeley & Ravel

Photo: Antonio Beato, 19th century Brooklyn Museum

Greek Songs: Schubert, Loewe, Wolf, Conradin Kreutzer, Ludwig Berger, Shostakovich, Dvorak, Lennox Berkeley, Ravel: Robin Tritschler, Jonathan Ware; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 8 January 2025

Composers different ideas of Greece from Schubert’s experimental, architectural songs, to Shostakovich’s workers songs and Ravel’s French-influenced folk songs, along with some rather rare Dvorak and Berkeley.

In their programme, Greek Songs, at Wigmore Hall on Wednesday 8 January 2025, tenor Robin Tritschler and pianist Jonathan Ware explored the idea of Greece in composers’ minds. None of the songs set any Greek, though some used translations of the original, and as far as I can tell, none of the composers visited Greece. This was an exploration of the idea of Greece in the Western mind. We began with Schubert, seven of his settings of Mayrhofer’s mythological-based texts, followed by similarly Greek-inspired work from Carl Loewe and Hugo Wolf. As a sort of palate cleanser in the middle of the recital, there were songs by two of Schubert’s older contemporaries, Conradin Kreutzer and Ludwig Berger, and then we moved to the 20th century for Greek-inspired songs by Shostakovich, Dvorak, Lennox Berkeley and Ravel.

In 1818 Schubert spent the Summer as a music teacher to the family of Count Johann Karl Esterházy at their château in Zselíz. When he returned to Vienna, he moved into a one-room apartment with his friend Johann Mayrhofer, a poet who was ten years older than Schubert and the two would live together until 1821. Mayrhofer was almost certainly homosexual and the relationship with Schubert is one that continues to tantalise as critics theorise without much concrete evidence, one way or the other.

Mayrhofer had a fascinating with Greek mythology and used it, sometimes to autobiographical effect, in his poems (such as Memnon). We heard a group of seven of Schubert’s settings, dating from 1817 and 1820. The songs are all serious and full of sober intensity, there is almost something architectural about Schubert’s writing. In many ways, these Mayrhofer settings feel as if Schubert is experimenting with arioso and dramatic recitative rather than lyrical song.

Fahrt zum Hades began dark, intense and serious, developing into a vivid narrative that was almost an accompanied recitative and at the end, instead of the aria, Schubert returned us to the opening material. Der entsühnte Orest moved from contained yet intent, through more dramatic moments to quiet contemplation though with a dark piano postlude as the triumphant Orestes approaches Diana. Then in Der zürnenden Diana we appreciate the goddess’ wrath, yet the song moved from vigour to joy to positive intoxication as the poet drinks in the goddess’ radiance.

Memnon, setting a poem that may well be autobiographical, was very confiding and personal, with Tritschler and Ware filling the narrative with lovely detail, moving from the dramatic to something lighter at the end as the poet contemplates being united with the goddess. Philoktet was dramatic with vivid changes of mood, and then we returned to Orestes with Orest auf Tauris, a sort of dramatic arioso with very serious intend, and a quiet ending that was anything but comfortable. Finally, Atys, setting a long poem more about the idea of Greece rather than the personal point of view of a particular character. Here Schubert gave us lyrical flow, sometimes ardent and sometimes vivid, leading to an intent, urgent final verse with its sudden end and rather Schumannesque postlude.

There is something wonderfully sculptural about these songs, large in concept if not in scale, along with the sense of Schubert trying out ideas. The fact that he was close to Mayrhofer at the time of writing the songs, makes you wonder how involved the poet was. Were these joint challenges? For the audience, hearing seven songs side by side was a fascinating exploration, but also it must be admitted something of a challenge without any lighter relief.

Carl Loewe’s Das Grab zu Ephesus from 1837 gave us a complete change of mood. The detailed narrative retained a real lyrical intimacy, and throughout Tritschler was highly communicative with an amazing variety of tone and address. Hugo Wolf’s Anakreons Grab from Goethe Lieder of 1888-90 was quiet and intense, full of detail with a rich piano accompaniment. The song was very free, not highly structured, with moments of complete magic such as when the poet talks about Anacreon’s resting place.

Conradin Kreutzer was an acquaintance of Schubert’s in Vienna, and we heard three of his Wilhelm Müller settings from the same sequence as Schubert’s Winterreise though to considerably different musical effect.  These were charming, lyrically engaging songs without the emotional depth of Schubert’s settings. Frühlingstraum was full of real story-telling, Der Lindenbaum had a nice lyrical flow with a sense of being very interior till a brief moment of climax at the end. Die Post had an evocative piano part and was again a lovely piece of story telling.

After the interval we heard three songs by Ludwig Berger who was in Wilhelm Müller’s circle in Berlin and thus linked to the original Die schöne Müllerin liederspiel. Again they mixed delightful lyrical charm with real story telling. 

Then we made a significant move in terms of time period and intention. Shostakovich’s Greek Songs from 1953-54 set Russian texts created from Greek folk songs and political songs spanning the 1821 Revolution to mid-20th century Resistance with an idea of linking Greek struggle to Soviet. Zolongo based on a Greek folksong was an intense lament with a long unfolding vocal line, developing into something powerful and striking, growing in intensity and ending in quiet bleakness. Then Hymn of ELAS (a hymn of the People’s Liberation Army) was a vigorous yet quirky march.

Another intriguing combination followed, with Dvorak’s Three Greek Songs. These set Czech poems based on Greek folk poems, dating from 1878, around the time of the Slavonic Dances. They are immense, demanding pieces with lots of text. We heard two. First Parga’s Lament, moving from quiet, fast, furious yet intense to vivid drama, this was a very striking piece though on first listen did not immediately strike you as Dvorak, which was all the more intriguing. Koljas was more intimate, yet equally full of vivid detail, a lot happens in the song. Both songs had very full, very developed piano parts, creating a terrific partner to the drama.

Lennox Berkeley’s Three Greek Songs date from 1951 and set three different English texts by F.A.Wright. They were rather contrasting, yet I could not quiet get the hang of what Berkeley intended with the cycle. Epitaph of Timas (Sappho) was richly lyrical yet intense and very short, aphoristic. Spring Song (Antipater) paired a delicate yet vivid web of piano and an urgent vocal line, gradually building to a vivid climax, rushing on. There was a quiet intensity and neoclassical bleakness to To Aster (Plato).

We ended with Maurice Ravel, his Cinq mélodies populaires grecques. With these we have genuine Greek folk melodies, collected via phonograph, but reshaped into a typical Ravellian shape. These are more Ravel and folk. Chanson de la mariée featured a light, transparent piano with an engagingly urgent vocal line, conveying real joy. Là-bas, vers l’église was engaging, with an elegant sadness to it. Quel galant m’est comparable was engaging fun and full of vivid character. Chanson des cueilleuse de lentisque has haunting, with Tritschler singing with a hushed beauty of tone and quiet intensity. Finally, Tout gai was vivid fun.

Except that wasn’t quite it. As an encore Tritschler and Ware gave us Ravel’s sixth Greek song, this time with a text in the original Greek!

This was a fascinating recital, full of good things and certainly provided a wide range of contrasts. I am not quite sure whether it hung together as a concept, but individually there were some powerful songs. I think I would have like the Mayrhofer settings interspersed with something of a more lyrical contrast, and certainly I would love to encounter the full Shostakovich and Dvorak settings again.