In the Shadow of the Opéra - Graham Johnson Wigmore Hall

Graham Johnson chose the title "In the Shadow of the Opéra" for his recital at the Wigmore Hall, London, with Lucy Crowe and Christopher Maltman. Given the renaisaance in French opera, it's good that we should be thinking of the nature of French song and its relationship to French opera and culture. The engraving shows the salon of Pauline Viardot (1821-1910), the singer with connections to many of the composers on this programme,

This was an extremely ambitious programme. A friend, who has been going to the Wigmore Hall for 40 years, exclaimed "Some of this material we don't know!" There was so much to take in that it will take time to fully sink in. It would be worth replicating the programme at home, to study it further.

Johnson divided his recital into four main themes : On Wings of Song (Love in flight), Mélodies and arias, Vers le sud (Exoticism) and Seascapes and Landscapes. The first two sections focussed on form, the last two on subject matter.

First, he focussed on lyrical mélodies like Charles Gounod's Tombez mes ailes! The image is of a butterfly in joyful flight, but to protect her offspring, she must tear off her own wings and die. It's a metaphor for the artist who must struggle and sacrifice in order that art might grow.  The gravitas of the final line undercuts the flightiness that's gone before. Christopher Maltman sang the final line "Il faut vieller,  et travailler" with great force.  Just as Maltman's voice is dark, Lucy Crowe's voice is every light and sweet, good for a 19th century heroine. In this section she sang light-hearted uieces like Massenet's Le sais-tu? and Reynaldo Hahn's Si mes vers avaient des ailes. This made Maltman's songs have stronger impact : Georges Bizet's La Coccinelle (to a poem by Victor Hugo) gave Maltman a chance to show his skills as a character actor. The ladybird has such personality she could become a role in music theatre. Songs like Lucien Hillemacher's Villanelle lay too high for him, but the point was made : there's more to singing than getting the notes right.

Théodore Dubois (1837-1924)  was one of the most successful composers of his day, but was despised by the young Gabriel Fauré, one of Pauline Viardot's inner circle. Johnson pertinently laced Dubois's Madrigal with Fauré's Fleur jetée. Dubois' delicate lyricism outclassed by Fauré's pounding rhythms. Ironically, Madrigal is more conventionally a piece for the theatre and Maltman dramatized it well. Dubois's poet, Henry Murger, inspired Puccini's La bohème. Fleur jetée, however, is by far the more distinctive piece in musical terms, which is why it's fairly well known and a favourite of many high sopranos. But it's not really a piece for big houses, and Lucy Crowe's voice was challenged by the loud crescendo in the final line. Johnson followed the song with Fauré's La chanson du pêcheur, which Maltman delivered in an almost conversational style. This you could imagine embedded in a larger work. Debussy's Apparition (Mallarmé), with its watery imagery and sparkling piano  textures, suggested Pelléas et Mélisande, though it was written as early as 1884. It's even less sympathetic to voice, set extremely high in the style of the time. Massenet had the last laugh though, with a splendid duet Horace et Lydie (1886) to a poem byAlbert de Musset. Mélodie or aria? The song describes Horace and Lydie's past romance, the voices deftly cutting across each other. At the end, they resolve their dilemma and sing in harmony.

One of the key themes in French culture is Orientalisme. It was a means of exploring "unknown territory" in many ways. Orientalism garbed ideas in strange, alien  ways, so artists could express unusual thoughts in dramatic context. Strangely, there was no Délibes in this recital but we had Hector Berlioz Zaïde (1845) a florid narravtive song set in Granada and the palace of Aladdin "qui vaut Cordovie et Séville!"  More Gounod, too. Maltman sang Maid of Athens (1872) partly in English because the text is Lord Byron, but the chorus is in Greek, reflecting Byron's passion for Greek independence. Two "exotic" languages in one song. Giacomo Meyerbeer's Mina (1837) is a jolly piece, fine for music theatre. Perhaps I'm the only person to have discovered Meyerbeer through his songs (excellent recording by Thomas Hampson) but at least that made me appreciate how interesting his work can be.

Xavier Leroux (1863-1919)  was a new discovery for me, because Le Nil (1890) is a gorgeous song, intensely atmospheric. Lucy Crowe sang the mysterious introduction quietly, just above a whisper, so we could imagine we were floating along the Nile at night in a small boat. The poet, Armand Renaud, contrasts the bacarolle with the image of the Great Sphinx and the wide plain beyond the river.  Thw lovers and their moment of happiness dwarfed by vast historic forces, A beautiful song I'd like to hear again. Two songs about guitars completed the section - Eduard Lalo's Guitare (1885) and Camille Saint-Saëns Guitarres et mandolines.

Operas on the grand scale can evoke huge panoramas of time and space. But so can song. Bizet's Douce mer (1867 )(Lamartine)  and Fauré's Les Bercaux (1879) (Proudhomme), are charming mood pieces, the former embellished with an exotic cry which suggests that the Mediterranean setting might even be North Africa. Debussy's Nuit d'étoiles was perhaps the best known song in the recital, pleasantly done, if the phrasing and intensity wasn't quite up to the standards of, say, Véronique Gens or others who have made it a trademark.  Massenet's Joie (1868) (Camille Distel) ended the evening on a cheerful note, but Johnson and his singers wisely chose to repeat Saint-Saëns Viens! (1855) (Victor Hugo) as an encore. It's an enjoyable duet where the voices intertwine rather like traditional rounds. So perhaps folk song got its way into this programme after all.

Les Roses d'Ispahan

Pierre de Ronsard this rose is named, after the poet. It's a hybrid from the French nursery Meilland, who've been breeding roses for over 100 years.  Leconte de Lisle's poem inspired Gabriel Fauré to write Les roses d'Ispahan, such a beautiful song that one could swoon, intoxicated by its scent. But beware!

Les roses d'Ispahan dans leur gaîne de mousse, Les jasmins de Mossoul, les fleurs de l'oranger, Ont un parfum moins frais, ont une odeur moins douce, Ô blanche Léïlah! que ton souffle léger. 

Mais le subtile odeur des roses dans leur mousse, La brise qui se joue autour de l'oranger Et l'eau vive qui flue avec sa plainte douce Ont un charme plus sûr que ton amour léger! 

Ô Leïlah! depuis que de leur vol léger Tous les baisers ont fui de ta lèvre si douce Il n'est plus de parfum dans le pâle oranger, Ni de céleste arome aux roses dans leur mousse.

Oh! que ton jeune amour, ce papillon léger, Revienne vers mon coeur d'une aile prompte et douce. Et qu'il parfume encor la fleur de l'oranger, Les roses d'Ispahan dans leur gaîne de mousse. 

Full text on Emily Ezust's wonderful Lieder and Song Texts site) Photo: Manfred Heyde.

Divine Véronique Gens Wigmore Hall

Véronique Gens's recital  at the Wigmore Hall was an almost ideal distillation of of the belle époque.in song. Over the years we've heard many specialists in French song at the Wigmore Hall, but Gens perhaps outshines them all.  With her background in baroque, lucid purity comes naturally, but she sings with exceptional intelligence. It's hard to explain why she's so distinctive, but her final encore (of three) might suggest an answer. Roses, jasmine and orange blossom infuse Gabriel Fauré's Les roses d'Ispahan. The vocal line moves gently like the breeze in the text. Yet the song is not about flowers but lost love. It's all the more poignant because it's so subtle. Gens doesn't dramatize, but lets the perfumed elegance convey depth of emotion. 

Last December, Gens created an esoteric selection of relatively little known  songs by Massenet, Gounod and Reynaldo Hahn. Read about it here. Now she chose a more familiar programme: Fauré, Chausson, Debussy, Duparc and more Hahn.  Fauré's Au bord de L'eau (op8/1 1875)  and Après un rêve (op7/1 1877) were poised, but Gens created even greater interest with Lydia (op 4/2 1870) to a poem by Leconte de Lisle. "Je t'aime et meurs, ô mes amours. Mon âme en baisers m'est ravie!" Love and death so intertwined that we can't be sure that Lydia is alive at all.

Henri Duparc's L'invitation du voyage (1870)  is so famous that it's true meaning can be missed.The poet is Baudelaire, after all.  The piano part (Susan Manoff) is limpid and delicate. These rippling waters might suggest Schubert, but the idiom is entirely different. No "gothic" histrionics here. The passion is cool but sinister. Similarly, Duparc's Romance de Mignon (1869) is decidedly un-German though it's based on Goethe's Mignon song Kennst du das Land.? The drama's more muted, though the feelings are just as deep. These days it's fashionable to disregard idiom but for me that's bad taste. What's the point of performing different composers in the same way? Musically-informed is much more literate. Gens and Manoff show how Duparc's Mignon springs from a different aesthetic. Gens followed with Debussy's Fleur des Blés (1881) and Nuit d'etoiles (1880) which are almost her signature tunes. Her recording of Debussy, Fauré and Poulenc with Roger Vignoles (2000) is very good indeed. 

Normally I don't describe what a singer wears, but Gens returned after the interval in a remarkable dress slit up to her midriff, but discreetly held together with tulle. Strikingly elegant, raising gasps of admiration from the audience. She seemed inspired, her performance in the second part of the programme quite divine. Like the hummingbird in Ernest Chausson's Le colibri (op2/7 1882) Gens glistened "comme un frais rayon s'échappé dans l'air". Her Les papillions (op 2/3 1880) hinted at erotic secrets in a refined manner. The sorrow in Les temps de lilas (op 19 1886) was expressed with elegant dignity. Gens and Manoff concluded with seven songs by Reynaldo Hahn. Hahn imbibes from exotic sources, so idiosyncrasic and so over the top. In three songs from Études latines (1900) Lydé, Tyndaris, Pholoé), he gets carried away with Leconte de Lisle's elaborate fanstasies of fake Antiquity. Gens and Manoff catch Hahn's effusive high spirits.  These put the famous A Chloris (1916) into context. Hahn's hamming up again, this time with Bach. Beautiful as the song is, it's mischief in music. Appropriately, Gens and Manoff concluded this evening of songs ostensibly about flowers and birds with Hahn's Le printemps (1899). Hahn's ebullient, exuberant and exhilirating - banished are the "flowers of evil". "Te voilà, rire du Printemps!", sang Gens, with a glorious flourish.

Sandrine Piau, Roger Vignoles, Wigmore Hall

Sandrine Paiu and Roger Vignoles teamed up  for the latest concert in Vignoles's "Perspectives" series at the Wigmore Hall.  Piau's background is in the baroque, where the ethereal purity of her voice seems to illuminate the music. Yet she's also passionately involved in 20th century French music, and has worked with innovative ensembles like Accentus.

Piau and Vignoles are a well-balanced partnership, and on the basis of this concert, should work together more often. Piau brings out the best in Vignoles. He was playing with great refinement, as if inspired by her distinctive "white" timbre. Piau's Fauré songs were good, but her Chausson set even better. Her Amour d'antan (op 8/2, 1882) glowed, legato perfectly controlled so lines flowed seamlessly. In Dans la forêt du charme et de l’enchantement (op.36/2, 1898) Piau observes the tiny pauses between words in the first strophe so they're brief glimpses of elusive fairies. Then Piau's voice darkens. The fairies aren't real. "Mirage et leurre", she sings, desolated. Piau sings almost unaccompanied in Les Heures (op 27/1, 1896), Vignoles playing with restraint so as not to break the fragile mood of the song. Hear these again on Piau's recent recording "Après un rêve" (details HERE).

In the more robust Liszt songs,  like Der Fischerknabe, (S292), to a poem by Friedrich Schiller, Vignoles's playing sparkled delightfully, like the waters that seduce the fisherman's boy. "Lieb' Knabe, bist mein!" sings Piau sharply, as the boy is pulled under the waves. Piau's voice maintains its innocence, but the piano with its sharp lunge downwards tells us that it's a malign spirit who drags the boy down. Der Loreley (S273, 1856) is even more dramatic, Piau intoning the word "Loreley"  so you hear the tragedy behind the loveliness.

Piau's 2002 recording of Debussy Mélodies with Jan van Immseel, is still one of the best available. Ten years later, Piau's voice is still fresh. Her Ariettes oubliées (op 22) to poems by Verlaine, was a pleasure. Long, arching lines, thrown out effortlessly in Il pleure dans mon coeur, expressing sadness, tinged with a very French decorum. "Quoi? null trahison? .....ce deuil est sans raison". You feel the smile behind the tears. In Chevaux de bois, Vignoles plays lines that move in circles, while the voice part leaps up and down. The image of a merry-go-round, where wooden horses seem to prance when there's music. "Tournez, tournez", sings Piau with a hint of sorrow, for soon the fair will end. You can hear the chucrch bells toll  in the piano part and guess at what they mean.

Piau sang some of the Zemlinsky and Strauss songs she recorded a few years ago with pianist Susan Manoff.  This time they seemed livelier, perhaps because Vignoles's style differs from Manoff's. This specially benefits Zemlinsky. The brightness of Piau's timbre gives his songs a lift they don't often get. For various reasons, he's not well served on recording. Piau sang Richard Strauss's Mädchenblumen (op 22 1891) with similar grace and charm. Two Poulenc sets rounded off the evening : Deux Poèmes de Guillame Apollinaire (1938) and Deux Poèmes de Louis Aragon (1943). In Allons plus vite and Fêtes galante, Piau demonstrates impeccable diction at breakneck speed. The words busrts out like machine gun fire. Poulenc is taking aim at the complacent bourgeosie, shaking them out of their torpor. In the famous and very lovely song C, Piau and Vignoles are even more moving. "J'ai traversé les ponts de Cé", sings Piau recalling French history flowing like a river. "O ma France! O ma délaissée". France is occupied by the Germans. It's a cry of pain, a dose of harsh reality after all those fairy songs and flowers.

Full review here in Opera Today.

Sandrine Piau is the soloist in a special concert at the Wigmore Hall on 15th October with Ian Page and Classical Opera titled "Ruhe sanft : A Mozart Kaleidoscope". Be there.

 If you liked this concert you would have loved these Wigmore Hall concerts :  Véronique Gens : Massenet, Gounod..... Florian Boesch Die schone Mullerin........Werner Gura Schubert songs .....Sandrine Piau Schubert Transcribed.

Wigmore Hall 2012 2013 season announced

"Artistic excellence, innovative programmes and profound communication are the three qualities of the Wigmore Hall's 2012-13 season" states the announcement. It's true. As John Gilhooly says, "The Wigmore Hall must continue to be a hub of innovation and original thinking....I like to encourage artists and ensembles to see the world in their own way and reflect their perspectives in the programmes they bring here. By promoting artists' invention and independence of mind, alongside the best of our own ideas, we can look forweard to many distinguished contributions to out programmes in years to come". Please see the video on the Wigmore Hall site for more.

Schubert Forever is one of the many highlights. The Wigmore Hall introduced Die schöne Müllerin to British audiences in 1904, and his music remains a cornerstone of the Wigmore Hall tradition. Imogen Cooper leads a series of Schubert's complete piano sonatas (including the Grand Duo in C major with Paul Lewis). "Independence of mind and searching musicianship are part of Imogen Cooper's artistic DNA", says the Wigmore Hall, where she's performed for many years and is dearly loved. Numerous song recitals, and complete Schubert string quartets and violin sonatas. Rarities, too, like the Vocal Exercises for two voices D619 and the Kantatas zum Geburtstag des Sängers Johann Michael Vogl, Schubert's distinguished friend.

A Festival of Britten, starts on Noivener 22nd, St Cecilia's Day, which would have been Britten's 99th birthday. The Canticles, Phaedra, (see HERE) The Holy Sonnets of John Donne and many others, plus works for string quartet and for cello, an instrument Britten loved.  The Wigmore Hall will also focus on Frank Bridge, Britten's influential teacher who opened his ears to European music.

Keyboard Visionaries. "The Wigmore Hall today presents more solo piano music than any other venue in Europe" says John Gilhooly, and, I'd add, of an extremely high standard.  András Schiff will play the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, continuing on to 2014, including a marathon performance of both Beethoven's Diabelli Variations and Bach's Goldberg Variations.

Fauré and the Spirit of France will deepen appreciation of Fauré's genius. Chamber music with Quatuor Ebène and the Capuçon brothers, and a five concert song series devised by Graham Johnson. The emphasis is on the programme, not the singing.

Christian Tetzlaff and the Tákacs Quartet  are new Resident Artists and Bernarda Fink is singing a new series of recitals. All this, plus the glorious offerings the Wigmore Hall usually presents. Get your Friends Membership now for a good chance of getting into the many concerts that will sell out fast. Full details HERE. (photo: Russ London)

Fauré Mirages - filming art song

It is my honour to present Gabriel Fauré's Mirages in these videos by Corinne Orde. Art song is poetry expanded through music, expanded further by performance. And in this case, exceptionally vivid filming, which absolutely enhances the experience.  So an organic flow between the ideas that inspired the poet (Mme la Baronne Renée de Brimont) to the way Fauré sets the poems, and the way they're expressed in this performance. Study these well, for they are a lesson in how art song interpretation can be extended through intelligent film making. Look how beautiful the camera work is, too! Even the translation is way above average, much more natural and poetic than most available. This one should be the standard.  An observant eye for nature, too (nature filning is also a specialist genre). Altogether an impressive Gesammstkunstwerk, extremely sensitive and creative.  Not many people possess this wide range of skills. Pretty unique. Just sourcing the locations would be hard work. Please read more about Corinne Orde HERE and explore her other films of French songs (I love her Ravel Histoires naturelles) Here is a link to  her youtube channel, to which I've subscribed, but these films are so good that they should be screened in performance events.Please see lots more on nthis site about filming nmusic and music on film,