What
are Master classes for? Well, in my case,
I can cite one, or rather one series, which
performed a very definite function: that of
putting me off any notion of ever becoming
a professional musician (in my case that would
have been as an accompanist). One might say
that Elizabeth Schwarzkopf’s Master classes
at the 1976 (I think) Edinburgh Festival,
when I was a mere student, etched so sharply
upon my mind the reality of what an accompanist’s
life might be like, that, probably mercifully,
I abandoned any such ambition there and then.
The accompanist on those occasions was the
wonderful Roger Vignoles, as calm and urbane
now as he was then, and I realized, watching
him during those stomach-churning hours at
the Freemasons’ Hall, that only a complete
character transplant could ever make me into
the kind of pianist who could play with elegance
and tenderness whilst enduring all that such
a great diva – and I use the word in its correct
sense – could inflict.
It was
sobering to reflect that one of the participants
in the present Master class, the luminous
soprano Emilie Pictet, was born just 24 years
ago – four years after my Schwarzkopf experience:
fortunately Emilie did not have to endure
much more than the odd ‘Weniger Sprechen!’
from Matthias Goerne, himself startlingly
young at 36 to be conducting a Master class
– yet, a master he surely is, ‘Ein Meistersinger’
if ever there was one, and during the course
of this very long evening he gave ample evidence
not only of his own vocal standing – every
time he opened up his voice he blew everyone
else off the platform, yet without remotely
showing off, every example given being done
with a spirit of helpfulness – but of the
fact that a Master class like this one can
serve not only to introduce promising singers
to a ‘real audience,’ but to enlighten that
audience with new insights into a very familiar
work.
Goerne
is an excellent teacher: above all, he understands
the need to balance praise and censure, and
each criticism was tempered with encouragement.
In ‘O die Frauen’ the tenor and baritone began
with a rather wooden sound, characterized
by Goerne as being too contained, too staccato,
too ‘old’ in style – by the end, they were
sounding like Nicolai Gedda and Giuseppe Taddei,
‘Sehr schön’ as Goerne said, with a beautiful
legato line as well as vivid characterization
of the words. It is here that we see Goerne’s
major concern: the marriage of fine legato,
smooth without blandness, and alertness to
meaning, acute without overstatement.
Particular
attention was given to the characterization
of ‘Ein kleiner, hübscher Vogel,’ in
which Colin Balzer came in for plenty of detailed
criticism ‘Sie sprecht zu gut…aber mehr legato…’
all of which he took with aplomb, especially
since Goerne was finally able to praise him
fulsomely – and rightly so, for this is a
real talent to watch, a bright, gleaming tenor
voice with an heroic edge, allied to a confident
stage presence. Tyler Duncan seemed to struggle
to please his teacher, but won through in
the end – his voice is beautiful but perhaps
on the soft side, and he needed to make his
consonants crisper as well as avoiding having
his tone covered by the soprano: he produced
ringing tone in ‘Schlosser auf’ however, and
showed himself a quick learner in ensemble:
Goerne’s advice to the singers to really listen
to each other and make the sound closer together
was evidently well heeded by them all.
Alexander
Schmalcz was on hand to give quiet yet purposeful
advice to the young accompanists, and Goerne
too had much to say to them, with plenty of
well-earned praise. Goerne’s concern was clearly
to encourage that elusive sense of a voice
singing as though it is somehow arising naturally
from the piano, as though both instruments
are one, and this was achieved by the end
of ‘An jeder Hand die Finger’ which Emilie
sang very beautifully (after some advice about
softening her consonants) and ‘Ihr schwarzen
Augen’ which revealed Tyler at his best.
It was
very easy to envisage this fine young quartet
as the lovers in ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ with Stefanie’s
mellow, dulcet tones and light verbal inflexions
particularly ideal for Mozart roles: she was
perhaps the most confident of the four, the
least in need of tutelage, but like the others
she responded gracefully and positively to
Goerne’s suggestions. No need to ask what
these particular Master classes are for –
they are for students to learn, and to do
so from one of the great Masters of our time,
and along the way for an audience to absorb
some of what has been taught in the furtherance
of their own greater understanding.
The
students will give a full performance of the
‘Liebesliederwalzer’ with some of Brahms’
solo songs, on Thursday, and the Master himself
will give a recital of Beethoven (beginning
with the sublime ‘Resignation’), Strauss and
Mahler on Saturday – both concerts, of course,
warmly recommended.
Melanie Eskenazi
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