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.
Mahler: Urlicht is a recording of selected songs for voice and piano from various collections of the composer’s Lieder, including his early settings from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, the later Wunderhorn Lieder that Mahler set in the 1890s in versions with both orchestral and keyboard accompaniment, and also his Rűckert-Lieder, performed by the young mezzo soprano Christianne Stotijn accompanied by Julius Drake.
The liner notes indicate that this is the first recording made in the Menuhin Hall at Stoke D’Aberdon in the UK, which took place between 10 and 13 April 2006. While Eveline Nikkels’ comments about the Lieder are prominent in the booklet, it is unfortunate that it lacks information about the criteria for the selection and, more importantly, any background on the talented performers involved. Stotijn has much to recommend, and audience are just learning her fine talent as she takes on increasingly more roles in opera and continues to perform Lieder recitals that include the kind of repertoire found in this CD.
In “Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz” Stotijn has some moments of dramatic intensity that set Stotijn apart from others. Her approach is reminiscent of Ferrier’s effective declamation in some passages of “Von der Schőnheit” in Das Lied von der Erde. In other pieces, though, Stotijn reveals a rich contralto, as in “Der Schildwache Nachtlied,” with the full voice effectively moving in the lower register. That song also contains some remarkably lighter sounds, as Stotijn captures the drama and lyricism of that well-known song in ways that certainly exceed some conventional interpretations of the song. Yet the apparently closely placed microphone overemphasizes the vibrato that Stotijn used in this song. It begs the question of how differently the voice and performance would appear with another recording configuration.
“Nicht Wiedershen” is another song in which the expressive palette of Stotijn’s voice becomes apparent, with some of the iterations of “Ade” rendered in a fully supported half voice. With “Urlicht,” the song used as the title of this collection, Stotijn is equally effective, and the upper part of her voice is as solid in softer dynamic levels as it can be in the more boisterous passages of some of the other songs recorded here. Her fervent interpretation of “Urlicht” has a parallel in “Um Mitternacht,” which is appropriately intense. “Um Mitternacht” fits Stotijn’s voice well, and gives a fine sense of the capacity of this young singer.
Julius Drake is a fine accompanist, who gives Stotijn excellent support in “Um Mitternacht” and all the songs in this collection. The attention that characterizes some of his earlier recordings with such singers as Sophie Daneman is present in this set of Mahler’s Lieder. His pauses and careful placement of sonorities suggests a performer who knows not only the literature but the singer with whom he is working. His chamber-music approach to “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,” with its interplay between voice and piano is highly effective. In these and other pieces, Drake does not only set the tone, but helps the singer to achieve it as he subtly brings out various nuances in the piano part.
This recording of Mahler’s Lieder should introduce Stotijn to an international audience. With a solidly conceived program of songs that fit her voice, the selection has much to recommend. She clearly has an affinity for Mahler’s music that bears hearing in additional performances of the composer’s Second Symphony, something she has done to good effect already in her career. While the literature performed on this recording is known, the freshness of interpretation that Stotijn and Drake offer here bears rehearing.
James Zychowicz