The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.
In February this year, Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho made a highly lauded debut recital at Wigmore Hall - a concert which both celebrated Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary and honoured the career of the Italian soprano Rosina Storchio (1872-1945), the star of verismo who created the title roles in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Collapsology. Or, perhaps we should use the French word ‘Collapsologie’ because this is a transdisciplinary idea pretty much advocated by a series of French theorists - and apparently, mostly French theorists. It in essence focuses on the imminent collapse of modern society and all its layers - a series of escalating crises on a global scale: environmental, economic, geopolitical, governmental; the list is extensive.
Amongst an avalanche of new Mahler recordings appearing at the moment (Das Lied von der Erde seems to be the most favoured, with three) this 1991 Mahler Second from the 2nd Kassel MahlerFest is one of the more interesting releases.
If there is one myth, it seems believed by some people today, that probably needs shattering it is that post-war recordings or performances of Wagner operas were always of exceptional quality. This 1949 Hamburg Tristan und Isolde is one of those recordings - though quite who is to blame for its many problems takes quite some unearthing.
The voices of six women composers are celebrated by baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and soprano Yunah Lee on this characteristically ambitious and valuable release by Lontano Records Ltd (Lorelt).
As Paul Spicer, conductor of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, observes, the worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary is as ‘old as Christianity itself’, and programmes devoted to settings of texts which venerate the Virgin Mary are commonplace.
Ethel Smyth’s last large-scale work, written in 1930 by the then 72-year-old composer who was increasingly afflicted and depressed by her worsening deafness, was The Prison – a ‘symphony’ for soprano and bass-baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra.
‘Hamilton Harty is Irish to the core, but he is not a musical nationalist.’
‘After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.’ Aldous Huxley’s words have inspired VOCES8’s new disc, After Silence, a ‘double album in four chapters’ which marks the ensemble’s 15th anniversary.
A song-cycle is a narrative, a journey, not necessarily literal or linear, but one which carries performer and listener through time and across an emotional terrain. Through complement and contrast, poetry and music crystallise diverse sentiments and somehow cohere variability into an aesthetic unity.
One of the nicest things about being lucky enough to enjoy opera, music and theatre, week in week out, in London’s fringe theatres, music conservatoires, and international concert halls and opera houses, is the opportunity to encounter striking performances by young talented musicians and then watch with pleasure as they fulfil those sparks of promise.
“It’s forbidden, and where’s the art in that?”
Dublin-born John F. Larchet (1884-1967) might well be described as the father of post-Independence Irish music, given the immense influenced that he had upon Irish musical life during the first half of the 20th century - as a composer, musician, administrator and teacher.
The English Civil War is raging. The daughter of a Puritan aristocrat has fallen in love with the son of a Royalist supporter of the House of Stuart. Will love triumph over political expediency and religious dogma?
Beethoven Symphony no 9 (the Choral Symphony) in D minor, Op. 125, and the Choral Fantasy in C minor, Op. 80 with soloist Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester, new from Harmonia Mundi.
A Louise Brooks look-a-like, in bobbed black wig and floor-sweeping leather trench-coat, cheeks purple-rouged and eyes shadowed in black, Barbara Hannigan issues taut gestures which elicit fire-cracker punch from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
‘Signor Piatti in a fantasia on themes from Beatrice di Tenda had also his triumph. Difficulties, declared to be insuperable, were vanquished by him with consummate skill and precision. He certainly is amazing, his tone magnificent, and his style excellent. His resources appear to be inexhaustible; and altogether for variety, it is the greatest specimen of violoncello playing that has been heard in this country.’
Baritone Roderick Williams seems to have been a pretty constant ‘companion’, on my laptop screen and through my stereo speakers, during the past few ‘lock-down’ months.
Melodramas can be a difficult genre for composers. Before Richard Strauss’s Enoch Arden the concept of the melodrama was its compact size – Weber’s Wolf’s Glen scene in Der Freischütz, Georg Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea or even Leonore’s grave scene in Beethoven’s Fidelio.
The theme of the third volume of Hyperion’s set of the Complete Songs of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) is Chanson d’amour, which takes its name from a piece in the composer’s opus 27 set – a compilation devoted to the love song.
While the center piece of the collection is the cycle La bonne chanson, op. 61, a series of nine songs with texts by Paul Verlaine, the CD includes a number of impressive pieces. As with the other volumes in this series, the selections involve songs from various parts of the composer’s career, from pieces that date to his youth, like “Puisque j’ai mis ma lèvre,” a charming effort performed engagingly by John Mark Ainsley. As much as that setting of Victor Hugo is admirable, the next song in this collection, “Tristesse d’Olympie,” reflects a more mature approach by the composer in this more extended setting of a demanding text. Stephen Varcoe offers an ardent performance of “Tristesse d’Olympie,” which fits his voice well. Yet the relatively early three-song cycle Poème d’un jour reflects another aspect of Fauré’s facility at song. The three pieces in that work echo some of the stylistic devices associated with Lieder, with accompaniments that resemble those of Schumann or Brahms in their interaction with the vocal line. From “Rencontre” (“Meeting”) to “Toujours” (“Always”) and “Adieu” (“Farewell”), Fauré concisely portrays the life cycle of relationships, and in doing so avoids anything sardonic or, worse overtly saccharine. Ainsley’s reading is appropriately touching and sensitive, with a delicacy that is almost expected of such a seasoned musician.
It is difficult, though, to discuss Poème d’un jour without invoking the later cycle La bonne chanson, and the latter work stands apart from the other pieces in this recording because of its length and intensity. Performed by the baritone Christopher Maltman, La bonne chanson may be regarded as the epitome of Fauré’s efforts in solo song. It is acknowledged as an intense work, with the harmonic idiom and thematic connections between the various songs much more complex than his other efforts in this genre. While excellent liner notes by Graham Johnson help to establish an historic context for the reception of the work, Maltman’s performance demonstrates the attraction of this work. This is, perhaps, one of the more attractive performances of the cycle because of the sensitive phrasing in each of the pieces, as well as the delicacy that helps to capture the meaning of the texts. This recording shows both the voice and piano at their best, with an excellent balance in tone, as well as a fine give-and-take in tempo that suggests the attraction of the cycle for its arrangement with string quintet in piano – the textures that Fauré used evoke chamber music in the best sense. This is quite evident in the intensity of the second song in the cycle, “Puisque l’aube grandit” (“Since day breaks”).
When Fauré offers a self-conscious comment on the text of “J’allais par des chemins perfides”(“I go along treacherous ways”) with its pointed chromaticism, Maltman and Johnson give a fine reading of the sometimes chain of sustained dissonances that ultimately resolve on the utterance of the final word: “joie.” This text and the others by Verlaine dance around the topic of love in a piece associated with Fauré’s beloved Emma Bardac, who was also its first interpreter. Culminating in the song “L’hiver a cessé” (“Winter is over”), a fittingly complex piece that brings together the various elements of the cycle, this piece is a tour-de-force for any singer, and Maltman offers a convincing reading that is difficult to match for its musicality and effective presentation.
Of the other pieces in this recording, the music of the French playwright Edmond Haraucourt’s Shylock, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice offers a glimpse of the composer’s efforts at writing incidental music. Of the six pieces in the suite from Shylock, only two are vocal, the others being instrumental pieces arranged for piano duet. Not a literal translation of Shakespeare’s play, Haraucourt reworked the Merchant of Venice to create an idiomatic drama, and Fauré’s music suggests the tone of the new work. The pieces are engaging in themselves, and the notes that accompany the recording provide the appropriate cues that create the context for each of them as part of the stage business. While this kind of music is not encountered in recordings of French song, it is quite appropriate here, where the instrumental pieces help to establish the context for “Prélude et Chanson” and the song simply entitled “Madrigal.” Jean-Paul Fouchécourt’s pure, clear tenor voice stands out in this recording for its gentle and effective rendering of the music. Fouchécourt recorded two other pieces found on this CD, and his approach to Fauré’s is convincing.
With “Nell,” Fouchécourt delivers an ardent love song that embodies many characteristics of Fauré’s efforts in the genre. The text itself is a translation of Robert Burns’ familiar poem that begins “My love is like a red, red rose,” and in this French version, some of images differ from the English original to intensify the meaning conveyed. Fauré’s music captures the turns of phrase, which emerge clearly in this sensitive performance.
While many of the pieces in this collection are sung by men, the women offer equally effective performances. Felicity Lott is impressive in her interpretations of “Notre amour” and “Le secret,” two pieces in Fauré’s opus. 23 set. A masterful performer, Lott contributes an intensity that seems natural to both her voice and the music chosen. Likewise, Jennifer Smith has the final word in this recording with a late song, “Le don silencieux” (“The silent gift”). As Graham Johnson observed in the notes about this song, the piece shows Fauré composing in a somewhat different style. It is relatively more declamatory than some of his other songs, but the style chosen serves the text well and that is, perhaps, the key to appreciating Fauré’s songs, especially the ones that have texts which deal with various aspects of love.
Chanson d’amour is another fine volume in the four-CD set issued by Hyperion, and those who do not know this recording should find much in it to admire. It is consistent with the other releases in the set with regard to format and presentation, as well as the quality of performance. With the release of the fourth volume, Dans un parfum de roses, the set will be complete, and it should stand well for years as a standard for French song and the music of Fauré.
James L. Zychowicz
Madison, Wisconsin