Hans Willi Hausslein & Heinz Rehfuss & Frank Martin - Heinz Rehfuss - The Decca Recitals (2017)

In several valuable and newly remastered releases under ‘The Decca Recitals’ banner, Eloquence has compiled tributes to several fine singers of the 1950s whose vocal personality particularly fitted the demands of art song: among them Jacques Jansen, Irma Kolassi and Oda Slobodskaya. They are now joined by an 82-minute, single-CD issue of the song recordings made for Decca by the Swiss baritone Heinz Rehfuss. Rehfuss was an authoritative and keenly sympathetic presence on sets of Pelléas et Melisande (directed by Ernest Ansermet and reissued on Eloquence and the St. Matthew Passion (with Hermann Scherchen) which have attained the status of classics. Other Ansermet reissues on which he features include rarities by Ravel and Stravinsky.

However, his crystal-clear enunciation of text and cultivated technique were especially suited to German art songs which he performed and recorded in a long partnership with his fellow Swiss Frank Martin. Several of the Schubert Lieder on this 1955 recording – including Der Wanderer, Auf dem Donau and Gruppe aus dem Tartarus, all now acknowledged if grave masterpieces – were receiving first recordings: a testament to the baritone’s ambition and imagination. Martin’s own masterpiece in the genre is the Six Monologues from Jedermann. The cycle was later made famous by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, but this, more naturally cantabile reading by Rehfuss was honed in close collaboration with the composer.

Another regular recital partner of Rehfuss was Hans Willi Häusslein, founding director of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera. When they recorded a French translation of the Songs and Dances of Death by Mussorgsky in June 1953, this cycle was also rarely taken on by non-native singers, but throughout his career Rehfuss showed a determination to put his art at the service of unfamiliar and progressive music including the premiere of Nono’s politically motivated opera Intolleranza 1960. Above all, as John Steane remarked in The Grand Tradition, in these recitals may be appreciated ‘A beautiful voice, trained to sing beautifully, and a brain and heart to guide it – but the beauty comes first’.

TRACKLIST

01. Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death-3. Trepak - Heinz Rehfuss & Hans Willi Hausslein
02. Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death-1. Lullaby - Heinz Rehfuss & Hans Willi Hausslein
03. Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death-2. Serenade - Hans Willi Hausslein & Heinz Rehfuss
04. Mussorgsky: Songs and Dances of Death-4. The Field Marshal - Hans Willi Hausslein & Heinz Rehfuss
05. Wolf: Michelangelo-Lieder-1. Wohl denk' ich oft - Heinz Rehfuss & Hans Willi Hausslein
06. Wolf: Michelangelo-Lieder-2. Alles endet, was entsteht - Heinz Rehfuss & Hans Willi Hausslein
07. Wolf: Michelangelo-Lieder-3. Fühle meine Seele - Hans Willi Hausslein & Heinz Rehfuss
08. Wolf: Eichendorff-Lieder-1. Der Freund - Heinz Rehfuss & Hans Willi Hausslein
09. Wolf: Eichendorff-Lieder-2. Der Musikant - Hans Willi Hausslein & Heinz Rehfuss
10. Wolf: Eichendorff-Lieder-3. Verschwiegene Liebe - Hans Willi Hausslein & Heinz Rehfuss
11. Wolf: Mörike-Lieder-46. Gesang Weylas - Hans Willi Hausslein & Heinz Rehfuss
12. Wolf: Mörike-Lieder-48. Storchenbotschaft - Heinz Rehfuss & Hans Willi Hausslein
13. Schubert: Der Strom, D.565 - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss
14. Schubert: Der Wanderer, D.649 - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss
15. Schubert: Totengräbers Heimwehe, D.842 - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss
16. Schubert: Auf der Donau, D.553 - Heinz Rehfuss & Frank Martin
17. Schubert: Fischerweise, D.881 - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss
18. Schubert: Der zürnende Barde, D.785 - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss
19. Schubert: Gruppe aus dem Tartarus, D.583 (Op.24/1) - Heinz Rehfuss & Frank Martin
20. Martin: Sechs Monologe aus "Jedermann"-1. Ist alles zu Ende? - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss
21. Martin: Sechs Monologe aus "Jedermann"-2. Ach, Gott, wie graust mir - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss
22. Martin: Sechs Monologe aus "Jedermann"-3. Ist als wenn ein gerufen hätt - Heinz Rehfuss & Frank Martin
23. Martin: Sechs Monologe aus "Jedermann"-4. So wollt' ich ganz vernichet sein - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss
24. Martin: Sechs Monologe aus "Jedermann"-5. Ja! Ich glaub' - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss
25. Martin: Sechs Monologe aus "Jedermann"-6. O ewiger Gott! - Frank Martin & Heinz Rehfuss