SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD CONCERT REVIEW
 

Mozart, Schubert, Dvořák and Strauss: Edita Gruberová (soprano), Andrew Marriner (clarinet), Stephan Matthias Lademann (piano) Wigmore Hall London 20.3.2008 (JPr)


In 1987 at Covent Garden the acclaimed Slovakian soprano Edita Gruberová was the finest Zerbinetta I am ever likely to hear but time moves on and she has been an infrequent visitor to this country. This recital was her belated Wigmore Hall debut and  her programme of Austrian, German and Czech works was undoubtedly a tale of two halves.

Ms Gruberová’s soprano voice cannot be what it once was and, this is a problem with sopranos of a certain age, it is difficult to reconcile such a light and piercing voice with a more matronly looking figure, even though she still looks wonderful. (In our sexist and ageist world we rarely have a problem with a high male voice from a squat, balding and bearded singer.)  The voice is a delicate instrument and here there was more than an impression of fragility at times. In her opening Mozart group, there were some problems of pitch with much scooping up the register and also with dynamics. Many of the songs at the start of her recital were  sung entirely with her head voice and there were fears, allayed later in the programme, that the Gruberova chest voice was no more. ‘Ridente la calma’ and ‘Un moto di gioia’ were the best of the Mozart offerings and in the former, the phrase ‘nell’alma si desti’ was beautifully floated. In the latter , at the word ‘tiranno’ she employed a deep chest voice and then a secure coloratura for ‘il fato ed amor’, so basically all aspects of  the voice were clearly still intact even if she was not firing on all cylinders at this point.

Increasing vocal ease was gained during the next group of songs by Schubert. Stephan Matthias Lademann, the polite and unshowy pianist, began the first of these,  ‘Der Jüngling an der Quelle’ with a very apposite rippling brook-like accompaniment. By ‘Im Haine’ and the words ‘Stilles Sausen, Lauer Lüfte’ Ms Gruberová was employing more of the full range in her voice and here I ( as also in the more technically troubled Mozart)  she  seemed to embody the naturalistic impulses of the texts so  that we almost felt those ‘Balmy breezes, murmuring softly’ with her. Mignon’s plight was depicted  very well and in the Shakespeare setting An Sylvia there was an object lesson how to illuminate rather perfunctory music with pure tone and attention to  textural detail.  ‘Gretchen am Spinnrade’ ,  the first and probably the best of Schubert’s Goethe songs with  tone-painting and drama here of astonishing maturity for a 17-year-old composer, followed. This  was sung introspectively and indelibly marked a young girl’s guilty recollection of her first kiss at the phrase ‘Und ach, sein Küss!’ After a pause,  Ms Gruberová and her accompanist returned to the platform with the clarinettist, Andrew Marriner, to sing ‘Der Hirt auf dem Felsen’ which Schubert wrote for the singer Anna Milder, whom he never actually met. Singer, piano and clarinet perform as a trio throughout the seven stanzas and highlights included the clarinet's melancholically echoing of the singer’s lonely words ‘Ich hier so einsam bin’, and its trill heralding spring and the ensuing duologue with the soprano which memorably ended the first half of the programme.

As soon as she began her selection from Dvořák's ‘Love Songs’ (Op. 83) it was clear that the singer was now fully warmed-up. The voice was more forward and its delicate quality felt less like a fault of age and much more the product of an  experienced and firm  technique. All of these songs held the audience’s rapt attention through Ms Gruberová's often gentle phrasing and thoughtful use of varying  timbre. Her pianist should not be forgotten in all this either, and once again his subtle agitation was a most suitable opening to ‘Gentle slumber reigns over the countryside’ and when Ms Gruberová was at her most empathic at ‘jen bolesti ruch!’ or ‘the torment’s tumult’. The best of these songs was the final dream-like one ‘Oh, dear matchless soul’ with a wonderfully sweet pianissimo opening. The singers's diction during these Czech songs was much clearer than either her German or French was during the rest of the recital.

Four Strauss songs ended the programme and in the ‘Die Nacht’ (Op.10, No.3) Ms Gruberová's vocal art reached a zenith of sensuousness. While overall the Strauss selections were not as good as the preceding Dvořák songs, this was  probably because she reined in her power once more for these generally reflective items. Nevertheless,  in the more outgoing ‘Zueignung’ (Op.10, No.1) she seemed heartfelt and sincere when she repeatedly sang ‘Habe Dank’ and was given suitably passionate support by her collaborator, Stephan Matthias Lademann.

As an ordinary member of the public rather than as a reviewer,  I might have been inclined to leave at the interval to be contented with my memories of this fine singer. In the end I was glad I stayed as in a jokey and  joyful encore Ms Gruberová revealed through coloratura runs and exposed high notes that her upper register in still in excellent shape.  For that, if not for all of the somewhat inconsistent programme, ‘Habe Dank’.

Jim Pritchard


Back to Top                                                    Cumulative Index Page