Isabel Bayrakdarian (soprano)
La Zingarella
Mark Fewer (violin)
Juan-Miguel Hernandez (viola)
Gryphon Trio
rec. 2021, Humbercrest United Church, Toronto, Canada
Sung texts with English translations enclosed
Reviewed as downloaded from press preview
AVIE AV2506 [67]
“Through Romany Songland” is the subtitle to this collection, and it is derived from a book with that title, written by Laura Alexandrine Smith and published in London in 1889. On the frontispiece, which is reproduced in the booklet, is an anonymous quotation that says:
“Only in the Land of Dreams is Freedom,
Only blooms the beautiful in Song.”
And below that another quotation from Henry Kilgour, saying:
“In ancient Germany there was a town by the name of Singone,
and referred to by Ptolemy; it is believed that in all probability our English word ‘sing’, in Dutch ‘zingen’ and its various forms in other languages,
were derived from the habit of singing of the gypsies”
This also rhymes with Isabel Bayrakdarian’s own philosophy: ‘We opera singers are just travelling musicians – we pack our bags, we travel and perform, we pack our bags again, and travel again. In performance we are all equal, whatever ethnicity we have. And we are united by one language – music.’
Music is international, like Romany, and this programme is truly international. Here we have music of Hungarian, German, Czech, Basque, Spanish, French, South American and North American origin, in the last case, Victor Herbert, who was of English and Irish ancestry. A lot of the music is well-known, but you can’t expect to have heard any of these pieces in this form before – apart from the Carmen Habanera. All the others are presented in brand-new arrangements by Peter Tiefenbach (1–9, 17–21, 24–27) and John Greer (10–16). Some readers may turn up their noses at the idea of arranging the great masters’ originals but do give them a try. I won’t promise to eat my hat if you dislike what you hear, but I would be very surprised if there will be a public outcry.
Take the opening Die drei Zigeuner by Franz Liszt. He was Hungarian and interested in the music of the gypsies, as his Hungarian rhapsodies bear witness of – and he was a cosmopolitan. Here it is the Zigeunerprimas, who begins with that special lilt that is so characteristic for the gypsy music. One only imagines a powerful chord on the cimbalom to follow, but it is a Steinway Grand – and why shouldn’t Liszt be played on a Steinway? And when Isabel Bayrakdarian comes in it is a voice that grabs the listener. Being Armenian her heart is still in Armenia, but she emigrated to Canada when she was fourteen and has travelled the world since then, she is international – and the only language that is international is music, she feels at home geographically everywhere. This makes her a safe guide during this world tour. And this bewildering opening raises expectations.
Johannes Brahms also appreciated Romany music. Alla zingara is the instruction in several of his works, and he talked about his 21 Hungarian dances as his Gypsy children. Arranged here for string quartet and piano, his eight Zigeunerlieder are closer to the original than one can imagine, since they were originally composed for four-part choir, so the arrangement for four strings was already sketched by Brahms. They are well-known and lovely, based on traditional Hungarian songs. Ms Bayrakdarian sings them as they are intended: simply and naturally, and the arrangements are wonderful but not self-assertive. My personal favourite is No. 7, Kommt dir manchmal in den Sinn, but the whole lot is very appetizing.
Dvořák’s Cigánské melodie are not as often heard as the Brahms’ but they are well worth the acquaintance. Everybody knows No. 4, Když mne stará matka, better known under its German title Als die alte Mutter or the English Songs My Mother Taught Me. The singing is lovely, just as lovely as Victoria de los Angeles’ legendary version from the 1960s, but don’t miss the other ones, for instance No. 3, A les je tichý kolem kol. The text is worth pondering on. In English it says:
The forest is quiet all around,
Only the heart disturbs the peace.
As black smoke gushing,
Tears flow down my cheeks and so they dry.
They need not dry –
Let other cheeks feel them!
The one who can sing in sorrow
will not die, but lives and lives on.
The Basque composer Sebastian Iradier (or Yradier) may not be a household name, but he wrote one of the greatest hits of all time around 1860. The title is La Paloma and Radio Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) has estimated that there are more than one thousand versions of it, and said that, together with "Yesterday" by The Beatles, it is one of the most recorded songs in the history of music. (Wikipedia). His other compositions are more or less forgotten today, which is a pity. Listen to Juanita ó la perla de Aragon (tr. 17), it is delicious, and Isabel Bayrakdarian embellishes it tastefully and even indulges in some elegant coloratura. La Perla de Triana is another pearl, and when you hear El arreglito you say: My God, he has borrowed it from Bizet! But it is the other way around. Bizet heard this song and thought it was a folk song, then he changed it a little, but basically it is Iradier’s music we hear when we go to the opera, so in principle Iradier wrote two world hits.
To let us hear how close the two songs are, Isabel Bayrakdarian sings Bizet’s version, and she is a great Carmen, seductive and scheming. While in Spain we are also treated to Valverde’s once popular Clavelitos. It was recorded by many of the greatest singers of the 78-rpm era: Lucrezia Bori, Conchita Supervia, Antonina Nezhdanova and Elvira de Hidalgo, to mention just a few, but also latter-day greats like Victoria de los Angeles and Teresa Berganza.
A giant leap then across the Atlantic to the Americas. Henry F B Gilbert, born in Massachusetts, was a composer and collector of folk songs. He took the texts for the Two South American Gypsy Songs from the book Through Romany Songland, mentioned in the beginning of this review, then he translated them into English, but Isabel Bayrakdarian has replaced them with the original Spanish texts from the book. Both songs are gems.
The four last tracks in this delightful journey through Romany Songland takes us to the world of operetta. Maurice Yvain became popular as a songwriter in the 1920s and wrote for idols like Mistinguett and Maurice Chevalier. Mistinguett’s Mon homme (1920) is probably his best-known song. He also started writing operettas that in the 30s became popular also in Germany, Hungary and Austria and also reached Broadway. Chanson gitane is a rather late work, premiered in 1947. Mitidika’s entrance song, titled La Zingarella also became the title of this disc. It’s a charming song, and something of a rarity today.
Franz Lehár was born Hungarian but settled in Vienna and was the leading composer in what can be called the second Viennese Operetta School. Zigeunerliebe was written in 1910, and naturally there is a csárdás for Zorika in the third act. It is the best-known number from this operetta and Isabel Bayrakdarian sings it gloriously. Sylvia’s entrance in Die Csárdásfürstin by Lehár’s compatriot Emmerich Kálmán is also one the great hit songs in the operetta repertoire, and the singing gives at least this listener goose pimple. Victor Herbert’s The Fortune Teller from 1898 was one of his earliest successes. I can’t remember hearing anything from it, but this Gypsy Love Song is beautiful – and of course beautifully sung – but it seems it was sung in the operetta by the gypsy leader Sandor and not Musette, the fortune teller.
Be that as it may, but it is a fine song and a nice finale to this utterly attractive programme. The accompanying musicians deserve armfuls of roses for their sensitive playing, Peter Tiefenbach and John Greer ditto for their arrangements and that I am unreservedly enamoured by Isabel Bayrakdarian’s singing, you should have glimpsed now and then in the previous paragraphs.
Göran Forsling
Contents
Franz Liszt
Die drei Zigeuner
Johannes Brahms
Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103
Antonín Dvořák
Cigánské melodie Op. 55
Sebastián Iradier
Juanita ó la perla de Aragon
La Perla de Triana
El arreglito
Georges Bizet
Habanera from Carmen
Joaquin Valverde
Clavelitos
Henry F B Gilbert
2 South American Gypsy Songs
Maurice Yvain
Air d’entrée from La Zingarella
Franz Léhar
Hör’ ich Cymbalklänge from Zigeunerliebe
Emmerich Kálmán
Heia, heia, in den Bergen from Die Csárdásfürstin
Victor Herbert
Gypsy Love Song from The Fortune Teller
