SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Elgar Songs: Amanda Roocroft (sop), Konrad Jarnot (bar.), Reinild Mees (pno) and Miranda Lakerveld (visual projection.)  Concertgebouw Amsterdam – Kleine Zaal, 30.10. 2007 (DT)


Songs tell stories; this recital to celebrate Sir Edward Elgar’s 150^th birthday combined his songs with projected paintings by his contemporaries.

The 20^th Century Song Foundation, based  in Amsterdam, aims at fanning the flames of enthusiasm for the extensive repertory of songs written during the last century. Many of these, especially those composed between the two World Wars, have fallen into oblivion. The Foundation tries systematically to champion the ‘forgotten’ masterpieces by uniting musicians, scholars, concert halls, CD producers and the public.

It was German baritone Konrad Jarnot who opened the recital with Sea Slumber-Song (1899), the first from the cycle Sea Pictures (opus 37/1) and as the lights had been dimmed in the hall because of the visual projection above the stage it seemed that also the baritone had ‘dimmed’ his voice. Then Amanda Roocroft slipped in from between the velvet curtains and – without leaving time for welcoming applause – modestly started with In Moonlight (1904), vocally catching the atmosphere which the audience could see above her in James Abott MacNeill Whistler’s pictures. And so the tone was set for Elgar’s musical translation of what can be called a ‘reflective’ nostalgic ideal which, in the swift changing world of the upcoming 20^th century, was not some conservative dream about lost times or places, but more likely a deep longing for worlds in which magic, nature and love occupied a central place.

Of the 10 songs before the interval Yeats’ poem There are Seven that Pull the Thread (1902) Roocroft caught beautifully the strange world of the seven spinsters who spin the destiny of the human being with a sureness of tone and fine legato. As the last spinster is ‘lost’ the mysterious summing up (it is) prevented (that) the song from ending with any traditional religious dimension or sentimentalily.  Roocroft’s rendition gave it a moving image of life’s mystery. With Sabbath Morning at Sea (opus 37/3) Jarnot’s voice was in full bloom and at his last outcry in “To the full Godhead’s burning” the belief in balm on the wounds of the industrial era sounded heartfelt. The pianist Reinild Mees played Love’s Greeting (or Salut d’amour, 1888) written by Elgar for piano solo as an engagement present for his later to become wife, Caroline Alice Roberts  in a refined and tender way.

With ten more songs after the interval,  the format of showing paintings raised a question: Isn’t music, and especially vocal music, meant to concentrate on words and to be listened to? The danger of distraction by musing on irrelevant aspects of a different art – especially when it is also close to your heart – is something to be considered in this era of visual ‘overkill’. Too often people nowadays speak of having seen a concert, opera, recitalist etc. Divided concentration may lead to ‘a bit of both’, which doesn’t do justice to either of these beaux arts.

Particularly remarkable in the second half of the recital were the songs The Self-Banished (1875) based on a poem by Waller, in which Roocroft convincingly used all her soft vocal tones to convince both her lover and herself of ‘the vow I made to love you too’, and Jarnot with In Haven  (opus 37/2) on a poem by Elgar’s wife. His is a baritone voice which sounds refined in every syllable. This was an interesting recital in which the ‘unknown’ songs by the composer of that masterwork The Dream of Gerontius, Sir Edward Elgar, were shown to be worthy of attentive listening. There is much to discover in them.

Diny Tecker  

Diny Tecker is a producer / presenter for classical music at RTV Amstelveen in Amsterdam, Holland. She also contributes regularly to the Dutch Schubert Foundation. Her principal musical interests are song repertory in all kinds of languages, opera and chamber music.

The RTV Amstelveen web site is HERE  and the Dutch Schubert Foundation site is HERE

 

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