Andreas Scholl: "Songs of Myself"
Songs by Oswald von Wolkenstein. With K. Dineen; Shield of Harmony, C. Young. Texts and translations. Harmonia Mundi HMC 902051
Poet, composer, politician and diplomat Oswald von Wolkenstein is one of the most intriguing medieval musicians, a fifteenth-century throwback to the earlier minnesingers and wandering poets. His songs are all about travel and sex, with music both tuneful and accessible, especially as presented by the imaginative Andreas Scholl. The German countertenor has once more forged a happy alliance with expert colleagues, in this case Shield of Harmony, a quartet of medieval specialists, all connected through one of the world's foremost early-music training programs, the Schola Cantorum of Basel.
Oswald lays out his story of leaving home at age ten to travel the world in the autobiographical song "Es fügt sich," which Scholl breaks into three large sections to punctuate the opening, middle and closing of the disc, with soaring and dipping vocal lines accompanied by the improvisations of gently undulating harp sounds. Oswald's adventures eventually landed him in prison twice, but this blithe tale of life as "messenger, runner, cook and groom, also an oarsman — that was hard work" is immediately appealing (especially in music director Crawford Young's expert translations). Who wouldn't be charmed by a guy who admits that ladies liked him better when he donned a monk's habit?
Of his 130 songs, many are contrafacta, or retexting of existing compositions. Oswald chose French pieces, which he likely encountered on diplomatic excursions to major international Church Councils. Scholl presents several of these hybrids, including Vaillant's well-known birdcall piece "Der mai mit lieber zal," and their melodic contour, harmonic language and atmosphere set them radically apart from Oswald's own tunes, which are delightfully rhapsodic.
Scholl's voice, with its dark yet sweet timbre and sturdy production, clearly outlining the antiquated language — recognizably German but with funky twists — rings out nicely in the warm church acoustic. Irish soprano Kathleen Dineen blends beautifully with Scholl in several duets, such as the curious, upbeat lament "Ach, senliches leiden" and the fugal "Nu rue mit sorgen" with its slow, steady melodies and racy text interweaving sensuously.
Scholl drops into a baritone range for "Durch Barbarei, Arabia," and his reduced range of expression perfectly embodies the depressed narrator who lists all the exotic places he can no longer go because he is "caught in marriage, which makes me miserable." The children (Oswald had seven) annoy him, their mother shouts shrilly, and Oswald admits, "I am horrified at her anger, yet how often I see it, razor-sharp." The short, rhyming lines trot along, with the vielle (an early bowed string instrument) droning relentlessly like a musical prison, until Scholl pulls rhythm and melody apart, highlighting portions of the text in a sort of Sprechstimme or speech-song.
Various plucked instruments, including gittern, lute, harp and dulce melos (dulcimer), lend a transparency to the texture that supports and frames the voice. Ensemble member Marc Lewon's edition of Oswald's music is soon to appear in print. It is an elusive style to sing, but for listeners, Songs of Myself serves as a most attractive and appealing anthology.
JUDITH MALAFRONTE
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