Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
Songs for Soprano with Orchestra
Carole Farley (soprano), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra / José Serebrier
rec. July & November 1997, January 1998, Henry Wood Hall & St Jude’s Church, London
Norwegian texts & English translations included
SOMM ARIADNE 5001 [63:54]
These recordings were made more than twenty years ago by the American soprano, Carole Farley with her husband, José Serebrier conducting the orchestras. It was Serebrier who also orchestrated 14 of the songs. The recordings were originally issued by Dinemic Classics and SOMM Recordings reissued them in their Ariadne series in 2018, although the disc has only just come to my attention.
In a booklet note, Mr Serebrier expresses some surprise that Grieg only orchestrated a handful of his output of more than 180 songs, contrasting that reticence with his willingness to orchestrate many of his piano pieces. This album contains three orchestrations by the composer’s own hand, including one from Peer Gynt. Serebrier explains that he took into account the character of the original music when deciding which songs to orchestrate. In the case of the songs from Op 25, Grieg himself had orchestrated A Swan so the composer’s own scoring gave Serebrier a good basis from which to work. A number of orchestrations by other hands have been added to the mix, including efforts by Max Reger, the Norwegian composer Ragnar Sřderlind, and Frederick Byl, about whom I’ve been unable to learn anything except that José Serebrier says his orchestration of A Vision is “splendid and very rare”.
You might say that it’s Grieg himself who gets the collection under way because the programme opens with ‘Solveig’s Cradle Song’ from Peer Gynt which is in the composer’s own subtle scoring for strings and harp. At once Carole Farley impresses with lovely tone and a seamless line. Her diction is good too. She gives a touching performance. In A Swan, Ms Farley is very communicative and she also makes a fine job of From Monte Pincio. This latter song contains a number of stanzas which are very serious in tone and some which require a lighter touch; she’s equally successful in both sides of this song.
Most of the remaining orchestrations are by José Serebrier but a few are the work of other hands. Frederick Byl’s scoring of A Vision is thoroughly effective and Max Reger’s orchestration of Eros invests what is already a big song with grandeur. Carole Farley sings Eros passionately.
Ragnar Sřderlind clothed four of the Six Songs, Op 48 in orchestral dress; in passing, I wonder why he didn’t also score the last two songs. His work on the first four songs is excellent and, using similar forces, José Serebrier scored the other two songs in a way that seems to me to be completely in keeping with Sřderlind’s work, so the set is complete in every respect. I especially liked Ms Farley’s deeply felt account of ‘One Day, O Heart of Mine’, which is a very serious song – and a fine one. In complete contrast, ‘The Way of the World’ is light-hearted and I found the spirited scoring was really attractive, especially the chirruping woodwind contributions. Carole Farley sings this song with a twinkle in her eye. ‘The Nightingale’s Secret’ is an enchanting song. Ms Farley’s delivery of it is highly engaging and I really liked Sřderlind’s scoring. As I said, José Serebrier’s orchestrations of the remaining two songs dovetail brilliantly with Sřderlind’s work. ‘A Dream’ is particularly successful; much of the scoring is subdued and very beautiful, cushioning the lovely vocal line but when the rapturous climax of the song is reached the orchestration opens out marvellously.
Serebrier’s work is no less convincing in the individual songs he has selected to orchestrate. For instance, in Departed the orchestral colours he chooses complement the melancholy melody and Grieg’s harmonies really well. Time and again in Serebrier’s orchestrations my ear was caught by effective use of the woodwind section; there’s an excellent example of that, perhaps unsurprisingly, in A Bird-Song. Probably the most imposing song on the programme is The Mountain Thrall. Grieg originally conceived this for baritone and a small orchestra of two horns and strings. José Serebrier’s version is for soprano and a larger orchestra. His scoring brings the music vividly to life but so, too, does Carole Farley’s delivery of the song. She tells the story in a very involving way, drawing the listener in. I think this version of The Mountain Thrall is a conspicuous success, both as an orchestration and as a performance.
In a completely different context, Serebrier makes a fine job of Little Kirsten; it’s a charming song – and charmingly sung, too – and his delicate orchestral colours are just right. He opts to score The Mother’s Lament for strings only, keeping all the instruments in their lower registers. The resulting, fairly muted colourings are just right for this deeply poignant song. Grieg’s setting of A Bird Cried Out is highly evocative. I greatly enjoyed Carole Farley’s engaging delivery of the song and the delectable scoring adds an extra dimension to the music.
This is a disc which I enjoyed from start to finish. All the chosen songs are fine ones in their own right. All the orchestrations are tasteful and inventive. For me, without exceptions the scorings add something to the settings yet never do they overwhelm the music or sound unidiomatic. All are completely successful, I believe.
Carole Farley is a singer of whose work I know too little but I was very impressed with what I heard here. The sound of her voice per se is consistently pleasing; she brings a wide range of vocal colouring to the songs and, to my ears, she always gets her approach just right. She never forces the tone yet when a climax arrives, she can deliver it effortlessly. So, for example, she sings Album Lines with intensity, but in so doing she never compromises tone quality or the musical line. I was equally impressed by her soft singing, which is consistently lovely. Vibrato is used sensibly, which is to say it’s not excessive and that has a beneficial impact on the clarity of her diction, which is excellent. I can’t vouch for Miss Farley’s Norwegian pronunciation since I’m not conversant with the language myself. However, I note that she took the trouble to engage a Norwegian language coach for the project so I think we can infer that the pronunciation of a language with which few non-Norwegian singers will be familiar is up to the mark. All the songs are sung in Norwegian with the exception of the Op 48 songs, which are done in the original German.
SOMM’s documentation is very helpful. It includes a good note on Grieg’s songs by Nicholas York and also a short essay by José Serebrier about the orchestrations. All the texts and English translations are provided though, strangely, the texts for Op 48 are given in Norwegian whereas the language in which they are sung is German. The recordings from 1997 and 1998 are very good: the singer is nicely balanced against the orchestra and the engineers allow us to hear all the detail of the orchestrations.
This is a disc which it would be easy to overlook – it’s taken me a couple of years to catch up with it – but it would be a shame to miss it. The songs themselves are really good ones and the performances are top class. Carole Farley is a fine advocate for Grieg and the orchestrations, expertly realised by two London orchestras under the watchful guidance of José Serebrier, add an extra dimension to Grieg’s inspiration.
John Quinn
Contents
Solveig’s Cradle Song (Peer Gynt) [EG] [4:26]
Fiddlers, Op 25 No 1 [JS] [2:40]
A Swan, Op 25 No 2 [EG] [2:20]
Album Lines, Op 25 No 3[JS] [2:01]
With a Water-lily, Op 25 No 4 [JS] [2:21]
Departed, Op 25 No 5 [JS] [1:31]
A Bird-Song, Op 25 No 6 [JS] [3:03]
The Mountain Thrall, Op 32 [JS] [6:20]
A Vision, Op 33 No 6 [FB] [2:07]
From Monte Pincio, Op 39 No 1[EG] [4:59]
Greeting, Op 48 No 1 [RS] [0:57]
One Day, O Heart of Mine, Op 48 No 2 [RS] [2:49]
The Way of the World, Op 48 No 3 [RS] [1:33]
The Nightingale’s Secret, Op 48 No 4 [RS][3:43]
The Time of Roses, Op 48 No 5 [JS] [2:31]
A Dream, Op 48 No 6 [JS] [2:17]
To the Motherland, Op 58 No 2 [JS] [1:42]
The Princess, EG 133 [JS] [5:25]
Little Kirsten, Op 60 No 1 [JS] [2:41]
The Mother’s Lament, Op 60 No 2 [JS] [2:57]
On the Water, Op 60 No 3 [JS] [2:13]
A Bird Cried Out, Op 60 No 4 [JS] [1:46]
Eros, Op 70 No 1 [MR] [3:29]
Orchestrations by [EG] Edvard Grieg; [JS] José Serebrier (b. 1938); [RS] Ragnar Sřderlind (b 1945); [FB] Frederick Byl; [MR] Max Reger (1873-1916)
