BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2007, Song Prize Recital 1: 9.6 2007 7.30pm, New Theatre, Cardiff  (ED)

For each round of both competitions, Evan Dickerson offers his impressions of the competitors, their repertoire and the buzz from the audience. Here is his report on the first recital in the Song Prize competition.

SOUTH AFRICA: Jacques Imbrailo (Baritone, born 1978)

Accompanist: Audrey Hyland

Schubert Der Musensohn (Op 92 No 1)

Hyland played the upbeat accompaniment with a fair degree of rhythmic inflection, so Imbrailo had to create an immediate impression, which was possibly not authorative enough. Nerves probably the cause. However, shaded decently within the vocal line and produced good legato.

Schumann Meine Rose (Songs, Op 90 No 2)

Imbrailo relaxed more, and brought out contrasting pathos in his tone to convey appropriate atmosphere. His voice is stronger in the lower range, where he uses it more confidently.

Duparc Phidylé

The siging matched the opening reflective mood of the accompaniment well. Occasionally his attack at the start of phrases lacked bite, however he drew ample motion from the quieter passages.

Dvorak Kterak Trojhranec Muj (Gipsy Songs, Op 55 No 2)

Delivered with more macho charisma, brought enough gypsy-type character to the reading. Notable use of vocal colouring.

Rakhmaninov V molchani nochi taynoy (6 Songs, Op 4 No 3)

The most successful individual song so far, the colouring and expressive range acquired still greater depth, showing something of Imbrailo’s resourcefulness when fully in his stride.

Trad: Op my ou ramkiekie

Combination of gentle lilting accompaniment and the heartfelt yearning of the text worked well. Clearly Imbrailo takes traditional Afrikaans music seriously, and does well to bring it to a wider audience.

General comments about performer

Presentation and appearance good. Grew in confidence and ability to establish himself fully as the recital went on, he finished strongly and was greeted with warm applause.

UKRAINE: Julia Griniuk (Mezzo, born 1977)

Accompanist: Phillip Thomas

Rakhmaninov O, ne grusti! (12 Songs, Op 14 No 8)

The quite throaty placing of the voice created quite an impression and showed Griniuk’s natural ability in this repertoire. Vocal passion was extended by expressive use of the arms. The higher reaches of her voice could ideally have done with a greater degree of certainty.

Britten Cradle Song (Red Cockatoo and other Songs, No 7), When you're feeling like expressing your affection (Red Cockatoo and other Songs, No 2)

Taken as a pair, these songs were not the strongest choices, given the difficulty of immediately switching the vocal placing required for English. Strong colouring still evident in the lower voice, but the higher range can be unruly under pressure. Although some humour was drawn from the second song, hard work went into doing it.

R. Strauss Das Rosenband (4 Songs, Op 36 No 1)

Full voice is floated with ease on occasions; florid ornamentation reasonably integrated. A solid if not totally convincing performance regarding attention to appropriate mood.

R. Strauss Befreit (5 Songs, Op 39 No 4)

Phrasing started a touch unevenly. The fact that Griniuk’s voice could do with a greater variety of shadings particularly in the mid-upper ranges is evident. Long crescendos handled with some flair though.

General comments about performer

Simple, elegant, full-length black dress. Rakhmaninov strong start relative to the following Britten. Uneven programme and performances.

BULGARIA: Ivo Yordanov (Baritone, born 1980)

Accompanist: Llŷr Williams

 

Wolf Gesegnet sei, durch den die Welt entstund (Italienisches Liederbuch)

Sung with simplicity, Yordanov’s depth of vocal tone was immediately apparent in this brief song.

Dobri Hristov Vino Pia

Emotion was relentlessly rung from this brief love song to produce some charm in the interpretation. An occasional hardness can creep into the voice when under pressure.

Rakhmaninov Hristos Vaskryes

A challenging song that requires the singer to evoke the sad tone of an Russian church choir. Bags of feeling in his singing, and the richness of tone was well utilised. Floated quiet lines made for a discrete contrast of emphasis and emotion, as the piano part gently mocked the singer’s role.

 
Falla  El Paño moruno (7 Canciones Populares Españolas, No 1)

Of lighter mood and different idiom. Perhaps a touch undersung compared to how a Spaniard might approach it, but it showed taste and individuality. Two good attributes in any singer.

Brahms Treue Liebe

The text was rather held back in the throat and proved hard to determine for much of the song. In forte passages this was corrected, but much else was lost amongst Yordanov’s slightly too covered tone.

 
Britten The Salley Gardens

Clarity of language much better than in the preceding song – even if the Dublin accent was attempted, but not fully brought off. Captured the reflective mood well with sensitively sung long lines.

Fauré  En sourdine

His French, like his German, needs some work to be passable on a regular basis in recital. As such the expression lost some edge where it could have done with being more pointed. Legato lines were produced with ease throughout the vocal range.

 

General comments about performer

A mixture of the very good and the not so good. Presented himself well, relaxed enough to show appreciation for the audience’s reaction.

 

CANADA: David DQ Lee (Counter-tenor, born 1978)

Accompanist: Simon Lepper

 

Hahn A Chloris,  Quand je fus pris au pavillon

The pair of Hahn songs displayed excellent and clear linguistic ability. Although unusual to hear them sung by this voice type, Lee made it clear that he intends on extending the counter-tenor’s recital repertoire. In itself no bad thing. He showed attentiveness to the turn of the text in both cases, tenderness coming across in the first song, before relishing the upbeat colours of the second.

Poulenc Hôtel (Banalités)

Leaning nonchalantly on the piano, Lee created an atmosphere akin to a smoke-filled Parisian hotel room with ease. Pulling at the rhythm of the vocal line gave an extra edge of individuality, though you could hear in his tendency to sing just on the note the influence of Pierre Bernac and others in this repertoire.

Isang Yun A Letter

This happy song focussing in the perfume of the balsam flower was more than sufficiently imbued with feeling and gentle inflections of tenderness.

Schubert Erlkönig

Lee took on Schubert’s song knowing he could do what no other performer in the competition could: explore three distinct vocal colours to draw out aspects of its narrative. As a counter-tenor is essentially a baritone to begin with before pushing the voice higher through training, he used his baritonal range effectively for death, affected a mature tone for the father, and the child pleaded with some urgency. Tastefully done or not, Lee made his distinctive mark in the evening’s proceedings.

 

General comments about performer

Confident; not afraid to do things differently; played to his strengths.

 

NORWAY  Johannes Weisser (Baritone, born 1980)

Accompanist: Simon Lepper

 

The recital was announced as comprising three pairs of songs.

Schubert Gruppe aus dem Tartarus (Songs, Op 24 No 1)
Brahms Auf dem Kirchhofe (Songs, Op 105 No 4)

Schubert’s group of dead souls beside the Cocytus were an edgy and restless bunch as they waited for the boat to Hades. Perhaps to convey their bodiless state some thinness of tone was apparent particularly in quieter passages. Brahms evocation of a graveyard carried a sense of stillness throughout in his careful handling of a subdued, eternal atmosphere. 

Wolf Auf dem grünen Balkon (Spanisches Liederbuch), Alle gingen, Herz, sur Ruh (Spanisches Liederbuch)

Wolf’s balcony song was perhaps a little too angst-imbued, but if so this served to show the emotions of the poet whose affections are refused. The second song switches the emotional burden to a sleepless girl, whose thoughts were given through gradually gathering emotions. Weisser’s secure tone conveyed much in dying to nothing and lingering at the end.

Grieg Langs ei å (Songs, Op 33 No 5), Våren (Songs, Op 33 No 2)

Move into his native territory, and a significant growth in confidence. Apt use of vocal size to really fill the auditorium. Floated lines produced with ease in the first song, whilst the second was richly lyrical where the security of his voice over the barest of accompaniments showed his abilities well to sustain form and interest.

General comments about performer

The most classic lieder-abend style of programme, and in intelligent programming brought out some significant strengths.

The Buzz From The Audience

Lee caused the first heated ripple of discussion to break out following his Erlkönig. For me it worked, and altogether he showed originality and imagination. If he does not make it to the final the audience might well wonder why.  I would not discount Johannes Weisser completely either. He stepped up to the mark and followed Lee’s strong performance with one that deserves due attention.

 

Evan Dickerson

BBC Radio Song Prize Broadcasts

Recitals 1-4 will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 from Tuesday 12-Friday 15 June between 1pm and 2.30pm. Radio 3 will also  broadcast The Song Prize Final on Saturday 16th June.  Presenter: Fiona Talkington with guest Catherine Bott.

Details of BBC Radio Wales / Radio Cymru broadcasts are Here