SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Oxford Lieder Festival 2010 - Wolf,  Mörike Songs: Sophie Daneman (soprano), Anna Grevelius (mezzo-soprano), James Gilchrist (tenor), Stephan Loges (baritone), Raphaela Papadakis (soprano), Sholto Kynoch (piano). Holywell Music Room, Oxford. 22-23.10.2010 (RJ)

Schumann, Chopin and Mahler seem to have had the lion's share of attention this year, while Hugo Wolf, who also celebrates an important anniversary (the 150^th anniversary of his birth), has languished in the shadows. But as the temperatures drop, things are starting to look up for the composer, thanks in no small measure to Sholto Kynoch and the enterprising Oxford Lieder Festival which devoted two evenings to Wolf's fifty seven settings of poems by Eduard Mörike (the fifty three from the Mörike-Liederbuch plus four earlier settings).

Even more encouraging is the news that the Oxford Lieder Festival plans to issue a recording of the recital next year. This will form the initial stage of an ongoing project to record Wolf''s complete song output – an enterprise which, apparently, will be a world first!

Given the sheer variety of the poems and their settings, it was a sensible idea to share the load between four established singers. They were joined by the up-and-coming Raphaela Papadakis in the second recital who performed three of Wolf's earlier songs: Suschens Vogel (Suzy's Bird), Mausfallen-Sprüchlein (Mousetrap Incantation) and Die Töchter der Heide (The Daughter of the Hearth). Miss Papadakis injected plenty of vitriol into the latter song in which a cast-off girl plots to gatecrash her former lover's wedding and wreak her revenge - much to the audience's delight.

The baritone Stephan Loges introduced us to the fourth of the early songs, Der König bei der Krönung (The King at his coronation), sung with touching solemnity. As a native German-speaker he seemed especially sensitive to the words and their meaning, and his contributions to both evenings bore the stamp of authenticity. The quiet dignity he brought to Verborgenheit (Seclusion) in which the poet prays for a life free of extremes; his dreamy, relaxed tone in Im Frühling (In spring); the edgy atmosphere he created in Um Mitternacht (At midnight); all revealed a mastercraftsman at work. He was at his most impressive in Wo find ich Trost (Where shall I find comfort) in which he poured out his sorrow like a tragic hero in opera.

It is always a pleasure to hear Sophie Daneman, and she was in top form both in the more whimsical songs, such as Der Knabe und das Immlein (The lad and the bee) and Nixe Binsefuss (The water-sprite Redfoot), and in the more reflective ones, such as Zum neuen Jahr (A New Year poem) , the quizzical Frage und Antwort (Question and answer) and An den Schlaf. (To sleep) with its hint of mortality. She displayed a strong empathy with the plight of Das verlassene Mägdlein (The abandoned girl) lighting a fire at dawn, while her elation bubbled over Er ists (Spring is here).

The Swedish mezzo-soprano Anna Grevelius grew in stature as the recitals progressed. Like Sophie Daneman she approached the fairy poems and other whimsical items such as Elfenlied (Elf  Song) with an engaging child-like innocence. Her performance of the complex Lied vom Winde (Song of the wind) felt like a hurricane, but there was a heartfelt poignancy and sense of resignation in Agnes, in which another Mörike's jilted girls pours out her soul. Miss Grevelius' slightly understated interpretation of the famous Denk' es, o Seele (O soul, remember) hit just the right note for this subtle poem which anticipates Mozart's death, and she expressed utter desolation in Seufzer (Sighs).

 

Mörike was a country parson, though not a particularly good one, so it is perhaps no surprise that religious feelings should permeate a number of his poems. James Gilchrist really should have been kitted out with a dog collar since he was called upon to sing a sizeable proportion of them, including both the Auf einer Christblume (To a Christmas Rose) poems, Karwoche (Holy Week), Gebet (Prayer) and Schlafendes Jesuskind. His tender, almost whispered, rendition of the Christ-child song was the perfect ending for the first of the recitals. However, he missed no opportunity to let off steam as in the jaunty Der Jäger (The huntsman), Der Feuerreiter with all its urgency and excitement, and in the witty Auftrag (Commission).

 

After the angst and ruminations on mortality of some of the Mörike songs I was relieved that the finale to this marathon was a more lighthearted affair. Anna Grevelius transformed herself into an old crone warning young girls not to be swept off their feet in Rat einer Alten (Old Woman's Advice); while Sophie Daneman laid on the irony of Bei einer Trauung (At a Wedding) with its dirge-like accompaniment as a society couple face up to a loveless marriage. In Selbstgeständnis (Self-confession) James Gilchrist confessed nonchalantly that, as a spoilt only son, six of the best would have done him no harm at all. Stephan Loges brought the house down with his performance of a habitual drunkard suffering from a hangover in Zur Warnung (By way of a warning) ; and finally rounded on someone who criticised his large nose by kicking him downstairs (not literally, of course) in Wolf's hilarious Abschied (Farewell) – as Sholto Kynoch pounded out Viennese waltzes on the piano.

The audiences were treated to a series of outstanding and revelatory performances by all concerned. However Sholto Kynoch, who accompanied each of the singers with such empathy and consideration, deserves to be singled out for his remarkable contribution. Partnership would be a better way to describe the singer-accompanist relationship since in all the songs the piano is an equal partner and often has the last word, and songs, such as Der Feuerreiter, Lied vom Winde and Abschied demanded considerable virtuosity.

I first came across Mörike when I was a first year undergraduate (which is a little while ago!) and was left in no doubt that he was the greatest of all German poets and that his poetry was pure perfection. I sensed that my lecturer disapproved of Wolf's attempts to gild the lily, but after hearing the entire output of Wolf's Mörike songs I have to dissent from her view. The imagination, lyricism, intensity, whimsicality and humour of Mörike combined with Wolf's inventiveness and sensitivity to his poetry and language and make for a potent brew, and with these two concerts the Holywell Music Room, I feel sure, was witnessing history in the making. I trust that the Oxford Lieder Festival's bold initiative will lead to a reappraisal and a better appreciation of the genius of both Wolf and Mörike, and feel sure it will.

Roger Jones

For further information on the CD of Wolf's settings of Mörike poems contact www.oxfordlieder.co.uk.