SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Oxford Lieder Festival (4): Sophie Daneman (soprano) Malcolm Martineau (piano) 27.10.2007 (WC)

Standing in for an indisposed Lisa Milne, the English soprano and baroque specialist Sophie Daneman gave a charming performance, addressing the audience engagingly (and largely from memory) in songs from Mendelssohn, Mozart, Haydn, Poulenc, Faure and Gounod, all rounded off with some delightful numbers from Noel Coward. 

The Mendelssohn songs, of which Ms Daneman has recorded many for Hyperion,  while not to everyone’s taste, acted as a stand-in curtain raiser instead of earlier repertoire, and provided time for her silvery tone to settle into the recital, gaining warmth along the way. Auf Flugeln des Gesanges brought out dreamy word placing  and an enchanting counter-melody reflected by Malcolm Martineau, so that I did indeed 'feel blessed' to share in their interpretation of Heine’s otherworldly poem. By the time we reached the Mozart, Sophie Daneman was coming into her own in two well-paired songs, the hilariously titled Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte ('As Louise burned her unfaithful lover’s letters' ) and Der Zauberer. In the latter, Sophie Daneman gave a lovely account of an impressionable and naive girl being seduced by a suave young man. This was acted superbly with a well judged sense of situation –  with rapid cooling off when the mother turns up!

Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos returned us to the rather starchy world of sonata form and the ABA song, which had become a sub-theme of the evening. Malcolm Martineau gave crisp and expressive poise to Arianna waking up as dawn rose, and Sophie Daneman gave fulsome expression to Arianna’s plight - Theseus has left her - with a warm, sexy and beautifully mixed chest voice rising admirably to the necessary operatic fireworks on ‘barbaro ed infedel’ which would have had Theseus quaking, if only he were still around.

A French section came after the interval with a set of songs from Fauré and couple by Gounod. This was like having a little nap before the Poulenc to refresh the mind, as while both artists performed these songs admirably, I just could not get sufficiently interested in them, apart from thinking the music tuneful. That said, Au bord de l’eau was beautiful and clearly worked its magic, transporting listeners into that spellbound world which is the true gift of song.

Poulenc’s La Courte Paille cycle, written in 1960, sets poems by Maurice Carệme which capture  the wonderful extravagance and daring of the child’s imagination, combined with that peculiarly French take on the absurd bringing to mind Satie, Jarry and Buñuel. Poulenc joins in too, having a lot of fun (as did the audience listening to this performance) but also giving us one of his most sensuous songs in La Reine  du Coeur, which made me think of another of his iconic songs,  Le Pont du C.

I was delighted that the artists included three songs by Noel Coward as the piquant sorbet to conclude the desserts. A Room with a view immediately brought the audience's attention to a higher level and  If love were all had me on the edge of my seat listening to Coward’s words and sense of reasoning, which both performers put across skilfully. Chase me Charlie, a song ostensibly about a cat, and including my first ever hearing of ‘atta boy’ in a song lyric, should encourage all who love serious song to get more serious about Noel Coward.  


William Coleman

Thanks are due to Will Coleman, a professional baritone who stood in at short notice for Lyndall Dawson who was also indisposed for this recital. Will's web site is www.wmcoleman.org.uk

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