It was surprising to find that this was Mark Padmore’s
solo Wigmore debut, and perhaps even more surprising to hear this much
– recorded, experienced, handsomely greying thirty-something gentleman
described as ‘one of our brightest young up – and – coming singers.’
I think it’s safe to assume that Mr. Padmore has well and truly arrived,
and this recital provided much pleasure with a well planned programme
sung and played with commitment and panache.
Tippett’s ‘Boyhood’s End’ is not the easiest piece
with which to launch a recital, with its cantata style and dramatically
varying sentiments, but Padmore and Vignoles rose to most of the challenges,
with only the more florid, Purcellian lines proving a little anxious
for the tenor. The following Schubert group found him much more at home,
especially in ‘Die Gotter Griechenlands’ and ‘Der Jungling und der Tod.’
The former is one of the treasures of the repertoire and just about
everyone seems to have presented it here over the past year, but Padmore
and Vignoles managed to make it sound fresh and newly sharp in its evocation
of a sense of longing for a lost age; Vignoles’ playing is always a
model of sensitivity and here he rendered those hesitant – sounding
phrases with touching grace, and Padmore’s ‘Wo bist du?’ gave just the
right sense of wistfulness without becoming arch or overblown.
Padmore’s voice is beautiful, often sweet in tone and
used with musicianship and intelligence, but to my ears it lacks individuality
and pathos, and when he sings the more dramatic parts of the repertoire
I do not find him sufficiently engaging, but his final selection here
was quite a daring one for a solo debut and did reveal a side to him
of which I was previously unaware. The lady who provided the commentary
for Radio 3 listeners had apparently never before heard of this group
of Wolf songs, but of course to anyone intimate with the Lieder repertoire
they are familiar gems, especially in Fischer – Dieskau’s highly individual
recording. I was surprised at how much weight Padmore’s voice can show,
and how effectively he handled the rumbustious, rollicking motion of
the music, especially in the closing lines of ‘Trunken mussen wir alle
sein’ – his diction in the almost impossibly fast ‘was in der Schenke
waren heute’ was also exemplary. Vignoles’ performance of Wolf’s most
challenging postludes was sheer joy; the whirling, stomping or reeling
phrases, sometimes dancing, sometimes drunken, were played with the
sort of élan that makes you want to stand up and cheer, and Padmore
rightly recognized this.
The hall was only half full on this Bank Holiday Monday,
but the reception given was genuinely warm, and was rewarded with a
beautiful performance of Wolf’s setting of ‘Ganymed,’ an appropriate
conclusion since we had heard Schubert’s version earlier in the programme.
Melanie Eskenazi
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