A MUSICAL MINIATURIST Hanna-Elisabeth Müller songs by Robert Schumann, Francis Poulenc, and Alexander von Zemlinzky

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Hanna-Elisabeth Müller

Hanna-Elisabeth Müller is a musical miniaturist who, ever faithful to the texts of an album of songs by Robert Schumann, Francis Poulenc, and Alexander von Zemlinzky uses a full palette of vocal hues to tell stories about the human condition.

With the perfect partnership of Juliane Ruf, Müller takes the listener on a voyage of discovery throughout thirty-two songs that range from the six  Lieder in the Opus 107 of Schumann through both of Poulenc’s La courte paille and Fiancailles pour rire, and on through Zemlinky’s Six Waltz Songs.

Müller’s lyric voice is pristine, flawlessly on pitch, effortlessly produced, and never-ever pushed past its limits: those of a light lyric soprano with a bell-like upper-range and a warm, supple middle voice. In art song volume is a non-issue but I hasten to mention that at the end of Zemlinzky’s cycle Müller puts out a healthy amount of sound in the closing song.

Her German being her first language is supple and not pedantic, her French that of a native speaker. Her way with the sensuality of Poulenc’s Violon is as inviting as a real seduction, and her summoning of the ethereal in Fleurs a thing of wonder. Her depiction of the mix of emotions in Schumann’s Meine Rose is as memorable as any interpretation of this gem in memory.

The 2020 Pentatone issue of great songs by a heretofore lesser-known artist (to Americans) is perfectly engineered by Martin Sauer and exquisitely produced by Renaud Loranger, both factors that will no doubt help introduce Hanna-Elisabeth Müller to the wider public she so richly deserves.

Rafael de Acha                 http://www.RafaelMusicNotes.com

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”