The Wigmore Hall season is here again, and the occasion of this opening
concert seems a good time to give thanks for one of the few things in
which we can truly say that London is unrivalled, since this Hall presents
more high – quality song recitals than any other venue in the world,
as well as allowing emergent talent to be heard and maintaining the
most un-patronizing educational programme I’ve ever taken part in. It’s
heartening to read that attendance at song recitals last season increased
by 19.6 % to almost 96% - the result of continued excellence, of course,
and also, one hopes, helped by the constant and (usually) very enthusiastic
encouragement received from Wigmore devotees such as the present writer.
Of course, the place is not perfect: the list for 2002/3
contains the names of a few singers who I would not choose to hear again,
the catering arrangements still need work (it would be nice if they
took AmEx, and if all the staff knew how to operate the card machines;
it would also be an improvement if the bar were open after concerts…)
but otherwise the Wigmore is as near to musical heaven as I can imagine.
Within a two-week period from November 16th – 30th,
I shall hear Matthias Goerne in Bach arias and a recital of Schubert
and Wagner; Juan Diego Flores; Ian Bostridge and Angelika Kirchschlager;
Emma Kirkby and Michael Chance, and John Mark Ainsley with the Nash
Ensemble – and that’s just Song, the instrumental evenings in that same
short period including such delights as Trevor Pinnock playing Bach
and Paul Lewis Beethoven.
To return to last night’s recital, it was not quite
one of the hall’s most memorable evenings, although I am sure that many
would disagree with me there, the performance of the ‘Mignon’ songs,
for example, seemingly having reduced one or two eminent persons to
unaccustomed inarticulacy. Angelika Kirchschlager and Simon Keenlyside
have presented this same programme in Salzburg, they were to have performed
it at the Schubertiade (but Keenlyside was ill and withdrew) and they
will sing it again at many venues in the States. This sort of thing
does make for a certain polish, of course, but I have to declare that
my own preference runs to singers who take a few more risks with the
unfamiliar and who send me home wanting to go straight to the music
to hear it anew. That being said, the evening offered much pleasure
from performances of many well – loved songs, the greatest pleasure
being derived from the luminous playing of Julius Drake, who, as so
often, was the star of the evening.
I seem to be making vaguely sympathetic noises every
time I review Simon Keenlyside, and so it is again; he was obviously
not at his best, whatever had ailed him in Schwarzenberg, and his soft
singing, in particular, was painful to the ear at times, but all credit
to him for going on. The first half of the programme gave only a hint
of how lovely his tone, and how fine his interpretative skills, can
be, with Wolf’s ‘Auf einer Wanderung’ and ‘An die Geliebte’ his best
performances. Keenlyside clearly loves these songs with a passion, and
he gave them everything he had, the effortful nature of the singing
at ‘O Muse, du hast mein Herz berührt…somehow adding to the poignancy
of the sound, and as for the latter song, the wonderful final lines
were breathed with as much love as any singer could possibly muster.
Time and again, I found myself scribbling ‘Piano!’ as Drake echoed and
supported the singer with eloquent, virtuosic playing which gave the
most constant delight; at least as far as Wolf is concerned, Drake is
simply the Gerald Moore of our time.
Angelika Kirchschlager was the image of health and
beauty, and from her first line she had the audience exactly where she
wanted them. She’s a very expressive, demonstrative singer, and well
matched with Keenlyside’s more detached manner. Schubert’s ‘Lambertine’
is an ideal song for her, with its passionate longing and eventual self-control,
and she gives key words such as ‘Seligkeit’ the kind of heartfelt emphasis
which marks the genuinely word-sensitive singer. As with Keenlyside,
Drake gave her the most empathetic support imaginable.
The second half of the concert produced some remarkable
performances, notably in the ‘Mignon’ songs, ‘Ganymed’ and ‘Suleika
II.’ Schumann’s settings of Goethe’s ‘Mignon’ poems provide many challenges
for the singer, and Kirchschlager was equal to them; her singing of
‘So lasst mich scheinen’ would be enough to convince you that this is
as fine a song as Wolf’s version, especially in the final, searing line
‘Macht mich auf ewig wieder jung!’ which may not have the merciless
leaps of the Wolf but when sung like this has just as powerful a capacity
to send shivers down the spine. Keenlyside sang ‘Ganymed’ fervently,
with Drake achieving delicate miracles at the piano, as he did again
in ‘Suleika II’ where the racing heartbeat of his playing could not
have been more eloquent – this is one of my favourite Schubert songs,
and he and Kirchschlager made it the best thing in the recital.
A very enthusiastic audience was rewarded with several
encores, of which the highlight was Kirchschlager’s singing of Schubert’s
‘Florio.’ Keenlyside did not leave her to bear all the extra singing
(it was a long recital) but he should give ‘L’incanto degli Occhi’ a
break from his repertoire, at least when he’s not feeling one hundred
percent. Drake’s playing, once again, was just that – totally supportive
without being needlessly self-effacing, and as musical and poetic as
any I’ve heard in this hall.
Melanie Eskenazi
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