Daniel Barenboim: Lieder

It can be very useful for a pianist to know the Lieder literature, and to play it. First of all, the human voice isthe most direct musical instrument. When you play music that has a text, like the German Lied, you understand what hapens to the music when a vivid word or striking idea comes from the text. For instance, when the word Tod (death) is used in Schubert's songs, something unusual happens harmonically and rhythmically. It is not really important whether this something was a conscious or subconscious act on Schubert's part; the important thing is that it is special. And when you find similar petterns in Schubert's sonatas or impromptus, the experience is that much richer. In other words, there is much to be gained from dealing with different works by the same composer.

Characterisation is clearly of great importance in a Lied. When the piano plays the introduction, an interlude or a clising section, the whole atmostphere should be expressed in it. Sometimes it may be just half a bar - in Schubert's 'Gretchen am Spinnrade', the spinning wheel is first set in motion through the piano. By playing Lieder, the pianist can develop gifts of characterisation- sometimes by very small rhythmical patterns or modulations - which completely change the atmosphrere.

Another factor, which applies also to chamber music with piano and strings but is all-important to the voice, is the use of the pedal. Although the voice is independent of the piano part, as soon as there is any over-pedalling in the accompaniment, both the text and the voice are blurred. Also important is the fact that a sustained vocal line often needs a certain dryness in the piano part to compensate - as a contrast to the mellifluous legato line.