Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor Rob Barnett Editor in Chief
John Quinn Contributing Editor Ralph Moore Webmaster
David Barker Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf MusicWeb Founder Len Mullenger
Surprise - Measha Brueggergosman William BOLCOM (b. 1938) Cabaret Songs (orch. William Bolcom)
Surprise! [0:42]
The Actor [1:31]
Song of Black Max [3:20]
Amor [3:08]
Toothbrush Time [3:19]
The Total Stranger in the Garden [1:54]
George [3:31] Arnold SCHÖNBERG (1874–1951) Brettl-Lieder(Cabaret Songs) Gigerlette [1:48]
Jedem das Seine [4:39]
Mahnung [4:37]
Galathea [3:09]
Der Nachtwandler* [3:34] Einfältiges Lied [2:16]
Der genügsame Liebhaber [2:19]
Arie aus dem Spiegel von Arkadien [3:10]
Orchestration: Patrick Davin, Arnold Schönberg* Erik SATIE (1866–1925) La Diva de l’Empire [2:40] Tendrement [4:13] L’Omnibus automobile [2:52] Daphénéo (orch.Robert Caby) [1:27] Je te veux (orch. William Bolcom) [6:14]
Measha Brueggergosman (soprano)
William
Bolcom (piano: Satie 1-3)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/David Robertson
rec. May 2007, Maida Vale Studio, Delaware Road, London DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4776589 [60:22]
I’d better begin by confessing that this was sent to me
about three months ago as a “Press Kit”. This contained the CD
itself, a promotional DVD with bits of the sessions, interviews
with
Brueggergosman, Bolcom and Robertson, plus a booklet with
a presentation by Edward Seckerson and a resumé of the soprano’s
career thus far. The idea of the “Press Kit” being that,
when the critic gets the record itself, he’s ready to move
fast. So, having duly listened, I held my fire and awaited
the post … Well, the real record still hasn’t reached me,
but as it’s now in the shops and has been reviewed in several
places, it doesn’t look as if it’s going to. So I’ll get
on and review it on the basis of what I have here. What the
purchaser actually gets in the way of a booklet, and whether
it has words or translations, I obviously have no idea (They
are included in the release CD - Ed.).
Another point about the “Press Kit”, I suppose, is that the critic
who can’t work out whether a new singer is good or bad by
just listening, gets full priming by the composer of the
main offering, the conductor of it all and a friendly, smiling
interview with the lady herself, not to speak of Edward Seckerson
on hand to tell us that “nobody sleeps while Measha Brueggergosman’s
on”. More than a “Press Kit”, it seems intended as a surreptitious “Review
Kit”.
Well, not mine, though I hasten to say this is not a prelude to slating
a very gifted young lady. She has a rich, vibrant voice with
an almost contralto-like timbre, but carried up effortlessly
to the soprano range. By her own account, hers is a word-oriented
approach to the song repertoire. Her words are certainly
clear, but this is where I begin to wonder if the “Review
Kit” isn’t trying to make us hear more than is really there.
Or whether she is not yet quite able to put over all she
intends.
Some time ago I waxed lyrical about Malena
Ernman’s disc of cabaret songs (see review). Her selection
of 12 Bolcom songs has 6 in common with the 7 chosen here.
Well,
surely Brueggergosman’s got to be the real thing. A young
Canadian soprano whose artistry has inspired Bolcom himself
to make an orchestral cycle out of songs he originally
wrote to be sung by his wife to his own piano accompaniment.
Not so fast! The young Canadian soprano is very, very good,
there’s no doubt about it, and the orchestral garb will
take these songs to places where they otherwise wouldn’t
be heard. But does the bigger accompaniment, with its sometimes
onomatopoeic illustrations of points the piano leaves to
our imagination, like the harmonica in “Black Max”, do
more than underline the obvious? Does it not rob these
miniatures of their small-scale intimacy?
Turn now to the singing. Take the various cries of “Amor” in the song
of that name. Ernman finds a different tone, a different
timbre for each one; with Brueggergosman they come out about
the same each time. Or the verse in “Black Max” beginning “There
was knitting-needle music…”. I defy anyone to listen to the
two and not recognize the difference between Ernman’s inspired
artistry and someone doing a good job. Ernman seduces the
ear with a continually changing palette of chest-tones, dulcet
little-girl tones and speech rhythms. Just hear how she rasps
off “though he walked like a woman”, then the whispered “He
must be still alive”, and the long pause she makes before “Ah
poor Marco had the syph”. It’s interesting that even in spoken
insertions, such as the telephone call in “Toothbrush Time”,
it’s Ernman who gives that little bit more.
But, you may say, Ernman’s is an intimate, even microphone-oriented
approach. With an orchestral accompaniment, it’s necessary
to sing out more. This is arguable. For me, it’s an argument
for keeping the songs to the environment and accompaniment
originally intended.
Or else, you may say, is Ernman going over the top? After all, Bolcom
himself seems thrilled with Brueggergosman. This may be.
Bolcom himself joins her at the piano for a couple of Satie
songs. I’ve heard various interpretations of “La Diva de
l’Empire” but never, I think, one which aimed at Mendelssohnian
understatement. So perhaps he really does prefer a straightforward
interpretation, leaving the music to speak for itself. The
trouble is, the composer himself may not be the best person
to realize that, while some of these songs might go down
as 20th century classics – “Black Max”, “Amor” – others,
including the title song of this disc, “Surprise”, are really
just empty vessels, worth no more than the singer can put
into them? It thereby follows that they’re worth more when
Ernman sings them.
Much the same may be said of the Schoenberg group. Schoenberg’s own
bizarre arrangement for a small ensemble of “Der Nachtwandler” might
have been a useful model, but Patrick Davin opts for a more
generalized lushness. Again, fine singing, but Brueggergosman
hardly drips sensuality mingled with irony in, for example,
the pathetic “Der genügsame Liebhaber”, where the unfortunate
young man gets a sexual kick out of stroking the cat his
adored one holds in her lap.
All this must sound terribly picky. This is a gifted singer with a
remarkable timbre, but it won’t help her or anyone else to
pretend she is not at the beginning rather than the apex
of her achievement. Since I’ve also seen snippets of her
on DVD I’ll add that she comes across in the interview as
a charming personality, not at all the haughty prima donna.
At the sessions themselves, she has a way of throwing her
head up enthusiastically as she starts each new phrase which
can be quite infectious at first. Except that the gesture
is identical each time, so even the body language is limited
as yet.
Reviews
from previous months Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the
discs reviewed. details We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin
Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to
which you refer.