Transcript

Ben Zander:

Very good, beautiful. Superb.

You have a beautiful singing voice and a wonderful, expressive personality.

Rafael Delsid:

Thank you.

Ben Zander:

Which is great. And this is a song you haven’t done before, and I asked you to do it because it’s a companion to the next one, and I wanted to_… But you’re doing a beautiful job. There’s not enough drama in this performance. We don’t know enough. It sounds beautiful, people get lost in the emotion, but it isn’t clear what’s happening. So the first thing is that we get is the softest possible sound you can hear on a piano, a B flat so soft that it’s almost inaudible. Let’s have that first. Good, that’s beautiful. Can I suggest you put your finger on the edge of the keys? Right on the edge here, look, and play it like this. And you can get it even softer. Yes.

Now, that sense, a sense of wonder, a sense of amazement. What on earth is going to happen? That’s what those two B flats are saying. And then in the softest possible way, you sing, “I stood in a dark dream, and stared at her picture.” Probably in a brooch, something like that. “I stood in a dark dream, and stared at her picture.” Now I want you to notice that when I say that, I say it in two, not in four. “I stood in a dark dream, and stared at her picture.” What you’re singing is “I stood in a dark dream_…” In four.

Rafael Delsid:

Right.

Ben Zander:

Right? And he wrote it in two.

Rafael Delsid:

Yeah.

Ben Zander:

So shall we do that? The slow two?

Rafael Delsid:

Okay.

Ben Zander:

Wait, with the very slow pianissimos_… You can do it softer. I promise, if you do this_… Just touch it. That’s beautiful.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Good. That’s beautiful. And over the piano, there’s a slur over the whole thing, which isn’t in your part, but it’s assumed that it is.

Rafael Delsid:

Right.

Ben Zander:

All right? And when you get to the sixteenths, make them a little “(Singing).” Otherwise it’s great. Once again. Can you sing even softer, as if you were in a complete daze?

Rafael Delsid:

Okay. (Singing).

Ben Zander:

Now that’s a totally amazing thing. You stared at this picture, and suddenly this beloved, this portrait_…

Rafael Delsid:

Came to life, yeah.

Ben Zander:

_… came to life like that. And that’s why the crescendo, the crescendo is your excitement. This incredible moment. The opening was beautiful. Sixteenths exact.

Rafael Delsid:

Okay.

Ben Zander:

Right, one more time. So it isn’t too slow, it’s still in two and 1, 2, 1, 2.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Beautiful. Now stop thinking about singing, and get yourself into the state of you’re standing in a dark dream, and you are looking at this, right? Beautiful, otherwise, everything was perfect. Now the mood.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Now, you’ve got to get two things; your love for this smile of this beautiful woman who you adore, and the total amazement and eeriness that this is happening.

Rafael Delsid:

Okay.

Ben Zander:

Two emotions there. You’re amazed, you’re dumbfounded, and you’re in love.

Rafael Delsid:

Right. Okay.

Ben Zander:

Great. Each time the piano comments on what you’ve just said, right? The first time she’s in darkness, dark dream. The second time she’s expressing your amazement and your love for this woman who’s come to life. It’s beautiful. Should we do the second phrase?

Rafael Delsid:

Sure.

Ben Zander:

That beautiful face suddenly began to live.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

She comes to life.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

That’s the smile.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Yeah. That little turn, that little turn. A little break in the voice. That’s what that is, a break in the voice. Beautiful. And from those tears of sorrow, glimmered in her eyes, she’s smiling, and at the same time, through the smile, come the tears on her face. Amazing idea. And that sense of wonder should be there in your voice all the time. You’re doing beautifully. Shall we do from here? All pianissimo.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Do you notice that this time there’s no crescendo? This time, it’s just about his falling tears. “My tears fell down from my cheeks as well.” And there’s no hope anymore, and so he goes down and down and down, and stays soft. Bravo. Would you do just before, “boom, boom”?

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Now, bravo, it begins in pianissimo. Oh, oh. Can you cry? Can you shout in pianissimo? You know what I mean? “Oh, ah. I’ve lost her. I cannot believe I’ve lost her.” So would you do the phrase before? Now.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Can you do it with so much feeling you are literally shouting, but you can’t get it out? Just do the chord.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Good. Schubert has a very special relationship between the voice and the singer. Sometimes the pianist does what the singer is unable to do. And in this case, the last word is in the piano. That absolute anger and desperation and sadness is in the piano. You make a diminuendo, but she doesn’t. Right, shall we just do that last phrase? So you make a crescendo, and then from here. from the moment you go right down to nothing, and then you take it over and give everything you have, right? The last phrase. Can you do that with the diminuendo? Do it again, it’s hard to control. Pianissimo.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

All the emotion you wanted to give, and couldn’t, is in that piano. Bravo. Yeah. Wonderful. Beautiful. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, that’s a song you haven’t absorbed yet completely, but you’re on the way, it’s going to be great.

Rafael Delsid:

Thank you.

Ben Zander:

I’d love to work with you some more. Should we just, I’m torn, because we have very_… Just sing the other one, let’s see. It’s a very similar story, actually.

Rafael Delsid:

It is, yeah.

Ben Zander:

By the same poet, just quickly tell the story. He meets this beautiful fisher girl in the first song, and now_…

Rafael Delsid:

And so, in essence, I guess, I’ve_…

Ben Zander:

Not “I guess”.

Rafael Delsid:

It’s hard, there’s so many layers, it’s hard to just_… But this song is, I’m singing about meeting this woman and we’re looking out into the sea, and_… Ugh. There’s so much to it!

Ben Zander:

Well, is it good news or bad news?

Rafael Delsid:

I think it could be either way, depending on how you think of it. Only because the last sentence I’m saying_… Well, earlier I say I see her tears fall in her hand, and then I drink them and they become my own, and_…

Ben Zander:

In order to console her.

Rafael Delsid:

In order to console her.

Ben Zander:

And_…

Rafael Delsid:

But ever since then, I’ve been consumed by them, and I’ve been poisoned by her tears.

Ben Zander:

Right. And so how do you think it’s ending up?

Rafael Delsid:

I mean_…

Ben Zander:

Not too good. “This wretched woman has ruined my life,” is what he says at the end.

Rafael Delsid:

Yeah.

Ben Zander:

Right. So it’s not good news. They’ve broken up. And the evening scene, the sun is going down, they’re looking at the sun going down, and that’s the end of the evening, and also the end of their relationship. Always, in Schubert, nature and the human experience. So what’s going on in nature is going on in their heart. So this is a extremely sad song, and a nihilistic one, actually, because he’s been poisoned by this relationship. Wow, it’s shocking, isn’t it?

Rafael Delsid:

Right.

Ben Zander:

Okay, let’s hear it, and we’ll spend a minute on it, and_… Ah, so beautiful.

That should actually give it away to you right there. Listen to that. How sad can music get?

Rafael Delsid:

Yeah.

Ben Zander:

That’s the description of the end of their relationship. Isn’t that amazing? Do it again.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Bravo. You answered your own question by the way you sang it.

Rafael Delsid:

Yeah.

Ben Zander:

There’s no question, it’s the most heartbreaking song, almost, he ever wrote. And the fact that it’s in major, so much of it, and in that high tessitura, is only the memory of their love, not the experience of it. And the fog rising, which is so beautifully described in the piano, the fog rising up. The first time, it’s the fog gathered, and the water swelled, and a seagull flew back and forth. That’s the experience in nature. In his own experience, since that moment, “My body has died, my soul has died, from the longing. My soul has died from the longing. This wretched woman has poisoned me with her tears of love.” Heartbreaking.

And that was beautiful. And this moment, that’s the moment we know it’s absolutely hopeless. Should we just do the last phrase with the fog coming again, and the crescendo up to the high F? That’s such a despair from the second time. Or do even the passage just before, Dina, the pianissimo, three Ps.

So just before, yeah. Right. It’s very rare for Schubert to say three Ps. Two Ps, a huge amount. Three Ps is very rare. So every time, this is something truly special.

And remember that he has just gone down on his knees to drink her tears to console her, and this is the result. All right.

Rafael Delsid:

(Singing).

Ben Zander:

Pianissimo. Pianississimo.

That’s about the saddest C major chord that I know. Well done, you’re beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful. I want you to look around the people in the room, and see how much you reach them. You can see by looking, you have a great gift for that.

Rafael Delsid:

Thank you.

Ben Zander:

Great gift. Your vocal production is that of an Italian opera singer, and there’s a sound which goes in German Lieder, which is a little different, you know that. And that hasn’t become your main thing yet. When it does, I think you’re going to become a wonderful Lieder singer. Your German is terrific, which is great.

Rafael Delsid:

Thank you.

Ben Zander:

Don’t have to worry about that.

Rafael Delsid:

Yeah, I was born there.

Ben Zander:

Oh, I see!

Rafael Delsid:

So hopefully it’s good!

Ben Zander:

So you’ll understand, my father lived in a town called Erfurt, a small town in Germany.

Rafael Delsid:

Oh! Yeah, yeah.

Ben Zander:

You know Erfurt?

Rafael Delsid:

Yeah, I was just in Weimar in January.

Ben Zander:

Really? Right next door, yeah. He used to know Liszt’s housekeeper, used to go and visit her. He had the story. Anyway, one day he told, there was a lady who sat down on a bench. No, at first, she didn’t stand. She saw a Black man sitting on the bench. And she was very surprised in Erfurt. And then eventually she sat down on the bench and sat there for a while. And then she bucked up her courage and said, “You’re not from around here.” That’s why. Beautiful. Well done.

Rafael Delsid:

Great, thank you so much.

Ben Zander:

You were wonderful. Come back.

Rafael Delsid:

Yes, absolutely.