SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Oxford Lieder Festival 2100 - Schubert, Berlioz, Granados, Rossini et al: Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano). Holywell Music Room, Oxford. 28.10.2010. (RJ)

Forty years ago very few concert promoters in this country would have risked their shirts by putting on a song recital, more especially if the songs were in a foreign language. Even ten years ago if anyone had suggested building a music festival around twenty song recitals, the idea would have been greeted with sceptical looks. Yet the Oxford Lieder Festival, now in its 9^th year, has succeeded in mounting twenty-two such recitals spread over sixteen days and found a ready audience for its offerings. Indeed, several of the recitals were completely sold out!

I counted thirty-eight events in this year's Festival brochure, including master courses led by Ian Partridge, Roger Vignoles and Stephan Loges; a workshop for adult singers; and performances of Schumann's three string quartets by the Doric String Quartet. An impressive line-up of singers has graced the stage of the Holywell Music Room, including Wolfgang Holzmair, Katarina Karnéus, Stephan Loges, Sophie Daneman, Felicity Palmer, James Gilchrist, Jonathan Lemalu and Sir Willard White; and rising stars of the younger generation, such as the Bevan sisters, Catherine Hopper, Sarah-Jane Brandon, Angela Bic and Stuart Jackson (winner of this year's Oxford Lieder Scholarship) have also featured.

I feared that the recital by Clara Mouriz and Joseph Middleton might attract only a small audience; firstly, because the repertoire - all in Romance languages - was relatively unfamiliar, apart from the Berlioz song cycle; and secondly, because it occurred late in the festival – just before the grand finale. I was delighted to be proved wrong. - and found the Oxford audience especially receptive to the programme. This was in no small measure due to the artistry of the two performers who had clearly prepared the songs with tremendous care and had adjusted their performance to the intimacy of this wonderful eighteenth century venue.

Schubert's settings of three songs (in Italian) by Metastasio opened the recital. Mio ben ricordati (Remember, beloved) revealed Clara's exceptional ability to sing pianissimo and with feeling. Joseph came into his own in the dramatic accompaniment to the youthful So fra l'onde (I among the waves) which seemed to anticipate Der Erlkönig.

We are more accustomed to hearing Berlioz' Les Nuits d'Été in the orchestral version, but the original version with piano accompaniment enables one to appreciate the words more easily, and Clara made every word and phrase count. The opening Villanelle with its reference to nature was perfection itself, and was followed by a haunting, wistful account of La spectre de la rose. One could feel the pain leading through bitterness to utter desolation in Sur les lagunes, and the beautiful Absence was sung quietly and with exceptional control. The darkness of La cimetière was followed by the daylight of L'Île inconnue in which the singer seemed buoyed up on a wave of happiness as she sails towards the land of love.

Then it was on to some early songs from Clara's homeland – Spain - which proved to be absolute gems: Condiado jilguerillo (Trusting little linnet) by Antonio Literes (a contemporary of Bach) was delightful, and Rodrigo's modern setting of Serranilla by the 15^th century Marquès de Santillana, in which a young blood woos a milkmaid from Finojosa (unsuccessfully), was great fun. Pablo Esteve's Alma, sintamos! (Soul let us feel) seemed dreadfully serious, but, in actual fact, the lady featured was a singer who had feigned death in order to elope with her French lover!

La Maja Dolorosa by Granados is an epic work, and I expected a lament – Moorish-style – with a strong outpouring of emotion. Clearly my views on Spanish women are stereotypical and outmoded. Clara chose instead to internalise her grief and pain rather than act it out in public. While her bitterness may have been repressed early on, the joy of love flowed out in the third song , De acquel majo amante, and developed into a feeling of nostalgia in the fourth, Ni en el Mentidero.

As if to demonstrate her credentials as an opera singer, Clara Mouris concluded with Giovanna d.'Arco (Joan of Arc), a quasi-cantata that Rossini dedicated to his newly acquired mistress Olympe Pélissier after his retirement from opera composition. This is quintessential Rossini beginning with an extended piano introduction leading into Joan's reflections on the nocturnal silence. Adopting a more strident tone she resolves to leave home and assist her King, reassuring her mother with a confident aria. For the second recitative and aria Miss Coulis displayed some impressive coloratura singing.

The Rossini work sounded incredibly jolly and outgoing compared with the rest of the recital which had been on a much more intimate plane. Both Clara and Joseph had an excellent rapport both with themselves and their audience, who clearly appreciated their artistry and acclaimed them with numerous bravos.

Roger Jones

NB The first of the Wolf Mörike-Lieder CDs mentioned in an earlier review of the Oxford Lieder Festival will be issued by Stone Records (www.stonerecords.co.uk) in January or February 2011. For further details you should contact info@oxfordlieder.co.uk.