Yesterday's installment of Juilliard's Wednesdays at One series was devoted to the vocal arts and featured five talented singers and their accompanists in an hour-long program of songs written by a wide variety of composers, some of whom had previously been unknown to me.
The program began with baritone Dominik Belavy and pianist William Kelley performing selections from Songs of Travel (1901-1904) by Ralph Vaughan Williams, all of which used as texts poems from Robert Louis Stevenson's 1896 collection of the same name. The three selections sung here were "The vagabond," "Whither must I wander?" and "The roadside fire." I found these songs the most evocative performed at the recital, but that is no doubt because the texts were in English and of such a profoundly wistful nature. The loneliness and sense of transience that is always inherent in any poetic work dealing with travel can't help but affect the emotions of even the most stolid audience.
Mezzo-soprano Natalia Kutateladze and pianist Valeriya Polunina took the stage next and performed a selection of four Russian songs. These were (in English translation) Tchaikovsky's "None but the lonely heart" (text by Lev Mei based on a poem by Goethe), Rimsky-Korsakov's "What I secretly dream about" (text by Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov), Tchaikovsky's "In the middle of the noisy ball" (text by A.K. Tolstoy) and Yuri Alexandrovic Shaporin's "Your southern voice is languid" (text by Alexander Blok). I had known Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov primarily from their orchestral works and, to a lesser extent, their operas. It was fascinating to hear their genius brought to bear on an entirely different genre. I was also intrigued to learn that Tolstoy had written the text used by Tchaikovsky in one of his songs. It's been many years since I read any of Tolstoy's works - most recently the novel The Vampire - but I remember having enjoyed his style much more than that of his dour cousin Leo.
The third singer was tenor Matthew Swensen; William Kelley was once again accompanist. Together they performed three Scandinavian songs - Edvard Grieg's "A dream" (text by Friedrich von Bodenstedt), Sibelius's "Was it a dream?" (text by Josef JuliusWecksell) and "The girl came from meeting her lover" (text by Johan Ruhenberg), and finally Hugo Alfvén's "I long for you" (text by Ernest Thiel). The real surprise here was the Sibelius piece. I had heard Leif Ove Andsnes perform several of Sibelius's piano pieces last month at Carnegie Hall and had not expected such sensitivity from a composer whom I had previously known mainly for his fervent nationalism. It was also the first opportunity I'd had to hear any of Hugo Alfvén's music, though the Swedish composer was apparently quite prolific.
Afterwards. bass Daniel Miroslaw, accompanied by pianist Michael Biel, came onstage to perform two songs from Four Love Sonnets by Tadeusz Baird that took as their texts Shakespeare's Sonnet 56: "Sweet love" and Sonnet 97: "How like a winter hath my absence been." They then performed Henryk Czyz's "Farewell" (translated into Polish from a poem by Pushkin). I have to admit I'd never heard of either of these two composers before attending this recital. But then again Polish music, other than that of Chopin and occasionally Wieniawski and Szymanowski, is rarely given the attention it deserves. It was hard to get a sense of Baird's and Czyz's artistry from such brief pieces as were performed here, but I would definitely be interested in hearing more of their music.
The final performer was soprano Alexandra Razskazoff; the indefatigable William Kelley returned as accompanist. Together they performed four selections from On this Island, Op. 11 (1937) by Benjamin Britten with texts by W.H. Auden - "Let the florid music praise!," "Now the leaves are falling fast," "Nocturne" and "As it is, plenty." These works complemented very well the Vaughan Williams selections that opened the program. Stevenson and Auden possessed completely different sensibilities as poets and their respective settings highlighted the differences between the two British composers who took them up. Nothing can provide greater insight into the character of any artist than studying the poets who are most meaningful to him.
I very much enjoyed this recital, especially as it provided such an interesting sampling of works from composers of different nationalities and cultures. Aside from the Singers in Recital series offered by Carnegie Hall, there are not many opportunities even here in New York City to hear recitals by gifted vocalists. Juilliard's offerings are all the more appreciated then for allowing listeners the chance to hear works that are otherwise not available except perhaps on hard to find recordings. They are for that reason alone exceptionally valuable resources.
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