Ama Me
Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879-1936)
1. Il Tramonto (The Sunset) (1914) [15:41]
Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)
2. Cat’s Cradle Songs (1915-16) [4:31]
Arvo PÄRT (b.1935)
3. Es sang vor langen Jahren (1984) [7:13]
Sylvie BODOROVÁ (b.1954)
4. Ama Me (1999) [14:24]
5. Three Psalms (2015) [11:44]
Petr EBEN (1929)
6. Loveless Songs (1963) [16:05]
Eva Garajová (mezzo soprano)
Zemlinsky Quartet (1, 5)
Ludmila Peterková, Jana Lahodná, Marek Švejkar (clarinets) (2)
Jaroslav Svěcený (violin) (3)
Jitka Hosprová (viola) (3, 6)
Katerina Englichova (harp) (4)
Texts and translations included
rec. Domovina Studio, Prague, 2015
ARCO DIVA UP0184-2 131 [70:09]
The rationale for this unconventional-looking programme is
one of music for mezzo with accompanying instrumental forces. The Respighi
and Stravinsky date from the years 1914-16 whilst Sylvie Bodorová, an Arco
Diva favourite, brings the recital pretty much up to date with her newly composed
Three Psalms.
Respighi’s The Sunset takes verses by Shelley and sets them
for mezzo and string quartet, though he was later to arrange it for an accompanying
string orchestra. Respighi laces this passionate love-longing-and-death poem
with refined impressionistic gestures, and vests it with considerable colour.
Quite whether Eva Garajová’s operatically strident singing is appropriate
to the more refined and nature-narrative elements of the poem and Respighi’s
setting of it is a moot question. Irmgard Seefried and Janet Baker are just
two of the most eminent exponents of the string orchestral version on disc
whilst Anne Sofie von Otter and Magdalena Kožená have recorded the string
quartet original. All four - but in this context specifically von Otter and
Kožená - offer far more nuanced and less invasive accounts. Garajová’s
vibrato is unrelieved and as she starts in full operatic mode there’s
not much expressive leeway. Clarity of articulation also suffers.
The remainder of the programme suffers less from this mismatch between means
and expression. Stravinsky’s brief Cat’s Cradle Songs, or Cat
Lullabies if you prefer Arco Diva’s translation, are for mezzo and three
clarinets. These epigrammatic affairs are delightfully done, the whooping
clarinet close of the Tom-Cat song adroitly achieved here. Two thirds of the
Pragart Trio are present for Arvo Pärt’s Es sang vor langen Jahren
- the mezzo, and violist Jítka Hosprová - and they’re joined by violinist
Jaroslav Svěcený. Garajová’s strong chest voice is prominent in
this work - which can also be sung by countertenor - and the ritornello effects
from the two distinguished string players is also mightily effective.
The piece which gives its name to the disc title is a three movement song
cycle that explores familiar concerns to Bodorová. The terse melancholy of
the first, the Ave Maria, and in the central song, Mamo, have a consonance
with some of the music in her Roma settings to be found on the album called
Ja Ra Laj (UP01102-131) whilst the syncopated final song, written by the composer
and Norman Silver in English, is full of joy. Her Three Psalms for voice and
string quartet balance beautifully voiced melancholy and expressive depth,
ending with growing confidence reminiscent of Martinů.
Petr Eben’s Loveless Songs, written in 1963 for singer and viola, offer
some intriguingly abrupt counterpoint as well as some very spare, reserved
and even allusive commentaries by the viola. The third song of six offers
the most declamatory and angry music embodying a brief parlando scream.
With a vivid recording and good notes this recital, with reservations duly
noted, offers attractive and sympathetic performances.
Jonathan Woolf
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