All you who sleep tonight (1996) [22.15]
Ariel (1998) [19.43]
Out of winter (2003) [18.47]
Cut my shadow (2011) [10.23]
Claire Booth (soprano: Ariel), Patricia Bardon (mezzo: Tonight, Shadow), Nicky Spence (tenor: Winter), Andrew Matthews-Owen (piano)
rec. Menuhin Hall, Cobham, Surrey, 1-2 April and 5 May (Ariel) 2014
NAXOS 8.573080 [71.10]
A couple of years ago, when reviewing
the Naxos release of a number of Jonathan Dove’s partsongs under
the title The passing of the year, I particularly commended his
solo song My beloved is mine. It's an example of something
that might well find favour with folksong societies because of its simplicity
and emotional impact. These song cycles give the listener another opportunity
to engage with the composer’s writing for solo voice. All of them
except Ariel here receive their world première recordings.
Although texts are not provided in the booklet, they are available on
the Naxos website. In fact the words are almost invariably clear in the
excellent diction of the singers and the carefully judged piano accompaniments.
The disc begins with the cycle Out of winter to words by the
famous tenor Sir Robert Tear (1939-2011); I was aware of his volumes of
entertaining autobiography, but must admit that I was ignorant of his
parallel career as a published poet. The first performance was given by
Tear as soloist, and Nicky Spence here sounds very like his distinguished
predecessor in both tone and style although more youthful. The cycle was
written as a response to Britten’s Hardy settings in Winter
words. There are indeed some similarities in the manner of the composition,
not least in the train journey depicted in the second (untitled) song,
and the fourth which features the vicar from Hardy’s The choirmaster’s
burial in a poignant series of wry observations. In his
informative booklet notes, pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen describes the
second song as “rather monotonous” but in fact there is plenty
of variety of mood here and the final song makes for a barnstorming conclusion
to the cycle.
The second cycle on this disc, Cut my shadow to words by Federico
Garcia Lorca in an English translation by Gwynne Edwards, makes quite
a contrast to its predecessor with its sense of fevered tragedy. There
are only three songs here, all of them with a piano accompaniment which
even in the second song The guitar builds up quite a dramatic
momentum. This music is less accessible than in Out of winter,
but the emotional impact is unmistakable; the booklet notes correctly
observe that “they are unique, in [Dove’s] catalogue of song
cycles so far, for their unyielding tragedy.” Patricia Bardon encompasses
the wide vocal range without any sense of strain, and her diction again
is commendably clear.
Ariel, which employs selected extracts from Shakespeare’s
Tempest — not merely the expected songs but also passages
of dialogue — is written for unaccompanied soprano who provides
her own wordless commentary on the text by various onomatopoeic devices.
We are here in similar territory to My beloved is mine, with
long sustained lyrical lines contrasted with almost folk-like dance sections.
The earlier recording by Patricia Green on the Blue Griffin GR279, released
in 2013, comes coupled with a collection of songs for unaccompanied voice
by various composers. This reading therefore has the advantage of being
heard in the context of other cycles by Dove. On the alternative recording
Green makes rather more of her imitations of the sea, but her voice is
less full than Claire Booth here, and her diction is distinctly less clear
with an unsteadiness on sustained notes which detracts from the overall
result. The recording on this new Naxos release is also more closely observed,
which works to the advantage of the music. It also unfortunately reveals
a cough at track 14, 0.54 — apparently from a member of the audience,
although there is otherwise no indication that this is a live recording.
The final cycle on this disc is the earliest, All you who sleep tonight
being a setting of thirteen short lyrics by Vikram Seth. Only two of these
are more than a couple of minutes in duration. They were originally written
for Nuala Willis as a cross that could be “sung somewhere between
a night-club and the Wigmore Hall.” They seem to lie nearer the
latter end of the spectrum, especially when given such a serious performance
as here by Patricia Bardon, and they lack the easy accessibility that
one finds in the later composed cycles. Nonetheless these songs do
remain immediately accessible, reflecting the moods of Seth’s poetry
with a sure touch. Dove makes sure that we can hear the words, often reducing
the piano accompaniment to a slow-moving series of chords as in Night
watch (track 24) in order to do so. At other times the piano reflects
the more perturbed nature of the poetry, as at the opening of Voices
(track 25) with its insistent ostinato writing which then subsides into
reflection. Bardon’s engagement with the text, and her diction,
remain a constant source of enjoyment.
Apart from his excellent booklet notes, Andrew Matthews-Owen is a superlative
pianist, and he is well treated by the resonant recording. Throughout
these cycles one is grateful to encounter a composer whose writing for
the voice, and his understanding of its technique, is so approachable.
We must be grateful to Naxos for making these works available in such
excellent performances.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Support
us financially by purchasing this from |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |