A restless soul: Matthias Goerne & David Fray in late Schubert

Schubert with friends Johann Baptist Jenger & Anselm Huttenbrenner - Chalk drawing, 1827, by Josef Eduard Teltscher

Schubert: Schwanengesang, Piano Sonata in B flat D960; Matthias Goerne, David Fray; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 9 September 2025

Matthias Goerne opens Wigmore Hall's new season with a remarkably intense account of Schubert's last song cycle paired with one of the late piano sonatas

Baritone Matthias Goerne was intended to open Wigmore Hall's 2025/26 season in recital with pianist Maria João Pires in a programme of late Schubert pairing Schwanengesang with the Impromptus. This was not to be, and on Tuesday 9 September Matthias Goerne was joined by pianist David Fray for a programme that paired Schwanengesang with Piano Sonata in B flat D960.

On the concert platform, Matthias Goerne proved to be a remarkably intense performer with a restlessness that seemed to suggest a need to express the music in movement as well as vocal gesture. Throughout his performance his body swung wildly from left to right, never fixing his eye on any one spot. There was little sense of operatic staging here and there were only a few moments when you might describe Goerne's performance as operatic. In fact, he had an admirable tendency to sing legato and emphasise a sense of line, somewhat remarkable in a singer whose operatic output stretches to Wagner. He also used the colours and timbres of his voice significantly to articulate the drama in the songs.

We last saw David Fray in 2024, coincidentally in a duet partnership in Schubert but then it was with pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja in a joyful rendering of the late Allegro in A minor at Lucerne's Le Piano Symphonique [see my review]. At Wigmore Hall, David Fray made a poised, sympathetic accompanist. Never imposing himself, Fray had a deceptively relaxed, fluid approach which hid a nervy attention to detail.

Unlike an artist like Mark Padmore, Goerne made no attempt to create a narrative through Schwanengesang, these songs were simply a series of states of mind. Yet Goerne's protagonist was clearly an intense man, feeling everything deeply. 'Liebesbotschaft' began with both singer and pianist presenting us with gently flowing music, though there was little that was relaxed about Goerne's physical presence. Yet he gave us a fabulous legato line along with fine words. 'Kriegers Ahnung' had a strong sense of inner drama as Goerne moved between strong, dark, emphatic delivery (mirrored by Fray's piano) and something lighter and more legato to highlight the moments when the warrior dreams of his beloved. It almost became an inner dialogue.

'Frühlingssehnsucht' began with Fray's lightly characterful piano and Goerne's eager and engaging yet still serious manner. Goerne indeed took a serious approach to the song, using his vocal timbre and colour to shape the drama. 'Ständchen' was very present with an intensity to the vocal line, certainly here Goerne was interested in more than just vocal beauty and there was an inner melancholy to both his and Fray's performance.

In the storms of 'Aufenthalt', Fray's piano was strong but not overly so and Goerne's performance had a trenchant quality. His way of squeezing top lines to make them more intense did sometimes feel mannered here, and the final verses were dark and restless. We were promised an extra song, the late Rellstab setting Herbst which is related, but this did not seem to happen. Fray's piano in 'In der Ferne' was stark and concentrated matching Goerne's deep, dark melancholy. As Goerne screwed up the tension in the song, his attention to the quality of line did not cease and the final verse had some magically light moments. The final Rellstab setting, 'Abschied' saw Fray bringing strong accents to his characterful piano playing, and there was a vivid character to Goerne's performance, serious yet with sometimes a sense of wonder as the poet bids farewell to everything around him.

'Der Atlas', the first Heine setting, saw a real change of mood. Goerne and Fray began the song so strongly it was almost overwhelming. They relaxed in the middle, but this overwhelming power returned at the end. 'Ihr Bild' was quietly intense with Goerne's long, drawn-out lines supported by Fray's troubled piano. The sound world here was very distinctive and after the second verse the two seemed almost suspended in time. Yet at the end, the piano postlude provided a strong response. Fray's light piano in 'Das Fischermädchen' with its sprung rhythms was not matched by Goerne's more serious approach with each word and phrase carefully shaped and coloured.

Fray set the scene wonderfully in 'Die Stadt' with his piano contributions at the beginning and after each verse being superbly eerie. Goerne's poet was deep and dark. For all his innate lyricism here, Goerne made the song a distinctly uncomfortable farewell. 'Am Meer' moved between the dark, intense and the lighter legato moments, almost delineating present and past. There was a very expressionist feel to 'Der Doppelgänger', concentrated and dark in its intensity at first, but then Goerne made individual notes more distinct until the ending which seemed pushed right to the edge.

As presented in the programme, the performance omitted Die Taubenpost whose text is by Seidl and may or may not be related to the other songs. [Discuss!] But Goerne and Fray gave it to us as an encore. As might be expected there was a strength to this performance yet at times Goerne almost seemed to dance to the music.

After the interval we turned to one of Schubert's three late piano sonatas. Works whose distinctiveness (and sheer length) did not always endear them to admirers. Fray's approach was again deceptively relaxed, yet his ability to conjure poised magic contrasted with the moments of vivid intensity and power. There was an inner restlessness here, beyond the surface beauty and lovely fluidity of his playing. In the first movement, Fray's magical, quietly flowing interpretation of the first theme meant that its returns felt almost like a motto, especially as our ears detected a link to the earlier songs. Yet the limpid quality contrasted with striking mood changes, though the finger tremolo seemed an almost constant.

There was a controlled atmosphere to the slow movement too, its sense of time suspended interrupted by moments of intensity along with a faster, warmer middle section. The third movement was light and busy, engaging yet full of contrast with a middle section where Fray's off beat accents heightened the disturbance. The finale was urgent and febrile, yet there was an uncompromising quality to Fray's performance, this wasn't sheer fun. There were flourishes of fantasy and powerfully vibrant moments.

Overall, this did not feel like the last testament that some performances can be. Instead we encountered a restless poet whose surface poise hid dark depths.

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