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SEEN AND HEARD UK CONCERT REVIEW
François Couperin 'Le Grand': Magnificat anima mea
Marin Marais: Chaconne in A
Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe le fils: Prelude in E minor
François Couperin: Motet pour le jour de Paques
François Couperin: Trois Leçons de Ténèbres (solo; solo; duo)
The concert consisted of exquisite music, immaculately performed. The
Couperin items were miniatures of religious music, written for Louis
XIV. They were designed for intimate and private performance (perhaps at
Marly), unlike the Grand Motets of de Lalande heard in the Chapelle
Royale at Versailles. The result is a collection of motets whose
emotions shimmer with an intensity more private than is usually the case
in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century music. The works are
short; the emotions shift rapidly, yet with ease. Keys change suddenly;
harmonies are often unexpected, dissonant and affecting. Frequently,
attention focuses on particular words or phrases - suddenly and
tellingly. In this respect, the motets resemble song-cycles of well over
a century later.
Carolyn Sampson has a warm, mellow soprano. She projects the baroque
style and its elegance of phrasing with meticulous attention. This was
'period' performance in the truest sense: flawless articulation of the
idiom of the time by a musician thoroughly versed in its direction and
intent. Thus, in the Magnificat, we heard eleven different sections in
as many minutes. She glided seamlessly into each change of emphasis,
bearing in mind the need above all to present the work as a unity - and
also the need not to move out of period by over-emphasizing the emotions
involved. There was a calm and judicious beauty to her singing.
Marianne Beate Kielland complemented her totally. Hers is a rare voice
and a delight to listen to. She has the clarity and sharpness of a
tranquil, pure-voiced, supremely controlled soprano (such as Teresa
Stich-Randall) with the bonus, to a mezzo, of a clear, warm lower
register, not over-rich. This gives her singing great versatility when
shifting from higher to lower pitch. She is capable of variety of vocal
colouring and change of intensity fit to accompany any change of verbal
emphasis.
The Motet pour le jour de Paques and the last of the Trois
Leçons de Ténèbres are duets. The combined voices of Carolyn
Sampson and Marianne Beate Kielland produced a sound of rare beauty. The
two voices - one clearly distinct from the other (warm soprano and
distilled mezzo) - intertwined elegantly and formally, as close and
integrally related as the strands of a double helix. This was singing of
high distinction.
I could hear Robert King from time to time, though not when he spoke to
the audience. Unfortunately, Susanne Heinrich's and Lynda Sayce's
playing reached me at the back of the hall so infrequently, that I can
make no comment on their performances. I am sure they excelled.
Ken Carter