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.
Superlatives to describe Lise Davidsen’s voice have been piling up since she won Placido Domingo’s 2015 Operalia competition, blowing everyone away. She has been called “a voice in a million” and “the new Kirsten Flagstad.”
Besides her Norwegian roots, she shares with the distinguished Wagnerian soprano a warm, gold-flecked timbre and full, incandescent top notes. Hers is a Rolls-Royce among voices. Now in her early thirties, Davidsen’s schedule is already booked up with engagements at A-list opera houses. This is not the first record she appears on, but it is her debut solo album for Decca, with whom she has an exclusive contract. With two Wagner arias and familiar songs by Richard Strauss, the program contains no surprises, just Davidsen claiming the repertoire that is her birthright by virtue of her exceptional talent.
The recital opens with Elisabeth’s two arias from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, a role in which the soprano will make her Bayreuth debut this year. With big dramatic voices there is always the challenge of capturing their full breadth on recordings. It’s like trying to stuff a silk parachute into a matchbox. Climactic notes, such as at the conclusion of Dich, teure Halle, are indeed too resonant for mere living room speakers to handle. But, on the whole, the technical team has done an excellent job, beautifully preserving Davidsen’s velvety warmth. In Elizabeth’s prayer, she sustains the measured lines with no difficulty, but also evokes the pathos, if not the fragility, of this broken woman. Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra accompany her in Wagner with athletic vigor and in Strauss with bright, glinting colors, but this recital is all about the diva. If the Wagner excerpts hold the promise of memorable Elizabeths, Elsas and heavier roles such as Isolde, the sole Strauss aria, from Ariadne auf Naxos, benefits from Davidsen already having sung the role in staged productions, including ones at Glyndebourne and Aix en Provence. She sings Es gibt ein Reich sumptuously, but also with nuance and a tinge of melancholy that lingers. She brings the same gorgeous wistfulness to orchestrated songs by Strauss such as Ruhe, meine Seele! and Morgen. Meeting the narrative demands of Heimliche Aufforderung, Davidsen emerges as an intelligent painter of text, and her voice bursts effortlessly in the rapturous Cäcilie.
In Malven, the very last song Strauss composed, the voice is lightened against Wolfgang Rihm’s 2012 orchestration, which evokes summer flowers teased by the wind. There are several fine interpretations of Strauss’s Four Last Songs (technically, the last four but one), but this one joins the list of those most gorgeously sung. There is no register or hue in which Davidsen’s voice doesn’t ripple, glide and soar, making any voice-loving heart skip a beat or two. No doubt she will sing these songs of introspection and resignation many times and on many stages and her insight into them will deepen with age and experience. But, catching her in youthful opulent freshness, this transfixing account will demand to be played over and over again. In fact, the whole recording invites unabashed wallowing in a rare voice coupled with the communicative power of a true artist. So wallow away, and let’s hope that, even though the golden times of studio recordings are long gone, this will be one of many tracking the path of this golden voice.
Jenny Camilleri