The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 10/18/07 Section: Arts

Media Credit: Courtesy Baritone Christian Gehaher, accompanied by Gerold Huber, performed a program of Schumann lieder before a sparsely attended CFA concert hall Saturday evening. [Click to enlarge]

Page-turning can be a stressful activity, especially when the page-turner is thrust on stage, score in hand, with an alien ensemble, expected to follow along despite being unfamiliar with the music. If the ensemble is good, all the worse for the page-turner, who must keep him or herself from being distracted by the sonic frenzy. I used to think of it as one of those sing-a-longs - "Just follow the dots, follow the dots," I told myself. I spent most of last week in earnest excitement for page-turning Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber concert on Oct. 13, not knowing quite what to expect. A part of me was slightly disappointed when I learned that because pianist Huber found page-turners nerve-racking, he had photo copied his score so that he would not have to deal with the page-turner's shaky hand creeping across the page every 40 bars.

Sitting in the audience rather than on stage I found baritone Gerhaher an unobtrusive stage presence and pianist Huber a tense and meticulous accompanist. They seemed to be a match made by Robert Schumann himself. The pair performed a series of Schumann Lieder to a sparsely occupied concert hall in spite of Gerhaher's announced illness the previous night. Gerhaher seemed pale towards the end of the program, but his burnished tone was consistent throughout, and he managed to convey the most intense moments of the songs with energy and aplomb. If his voice was in bad shape Saturday night, what is he like on a good day?

Schumann's lieder, whose subjects include wandering knights, despondent lovers and wailing maidens, risk becoming antiquated in an age when songs must be blatant to the point of being mind-numbing in order to convey whatever sophomoric message is intended. As required with music of this relative subtlety, Gerhaher and Huber's apparent perfectionism obscured whatever prejudices one might hold. Both artists were dressed in tails, and their polished interpretations had an appropriately aristocratic air. Compared to some of his other music, Schumann seemed to let his hair down in some of these songs. Take the descending triplets of "Fruhlingsnacht," juxtaposed against a hearty, Romantic melody - this musical gesture does not have the consciousness of, say, the double canon that closes his Piano Quintet op. 44. In his

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