The two young singers
here have both made something of a name
for themselves in Australia and this
disc provides a welcome showcase for
their talents. Both appeared last year
in the Sydney-based Pinchgut Opera’s
production of Purcell’s ‘The Fairy Queen’,
a production which was received with
some acclaim last December. The conductor
on this disc, Antony Walker, was also
in charge of the performance of ‘The
Fairy Queen’
On this disc they give
us a recital based around duets and
arias taken from Bach’s cantatas, with
the addition of items from the Mass
in B Minor, the Christmas Oratorio and
the Matthew Passion.
Both singers have attractive,
evenly-produced voices; Sara Macliver
with a bright, smooth soprano and Sally-Anne
Russell with a darker, rich-toned alto.
Both voices have a warmth and a cleanness
which means that they blend beautifully
in the duets. Singing together they
have a naturalness that makes one voice
sound like an extension of the other.
Much care has been taken with the details
of voice production to create a remarkable
unanimity. In terms of a showcase for
their talents, this can hardly be bettered.
The disc opens with
a shapely account of the duet "Lass,
Seele, kein Leiden" from Cantata
no. 186, the accompanying orchestra
providing a crisp accompaniment with
a good sense of the duet’s underlying
dance movement. The next duet, "Den
Tod niemand zwingen kunnt" from
Cantata no. 4 is noteworthy for their
stunning way with the work’s lovely
suspensions.
Macliver spins a wonderfully
long line in her ‘Sheep may safely graze’
solo from Cantata 208. In "Vergnüte
Ruh’" from Cantata no. 170, Russell
gives us some beautifully shaped lines
with fine rhythmic support from the
accompaniment. But I missed that sense
of inwardness that these arias need;
the sense of the emotions beneath the
music.
In their duet "Wir
eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten"
from Cantata no. 78, the duo manage
to imbue the bubbling passage-work with
the fine sense of direction that it
needs (after all the opening line is
‘We hasten with faint, but eager steps’).
I found the ‘Christe Eleison’ from the
Mass in B minor well enough done, but
I dislike the way it has been taken
from its context. And this movement
highlighted another feature of these
recordings; at times the voices can
be a trifle over spot lit. In this movement
the singers render their long lines
in a beautifully instrumental manner,
but their fellow instrumentalists are
banished to the background. The singers
should be the first amongst equals,
and this does not always happen. But
in ‘Ich folge dir nach’ from Cantata
no. 159, the two create a hauntingly
beautiful effect as Russell’s elaborate
alto-line unfolds across Macliver’s
singing of the passion chorale.
Macliver renders the
opening of "Mein gläubiges
Herze" from Cantata no. 68 in a
supremely joyful manner, but insufficiently
differentiates when the mood of the
words turns introspective (‘Hence sorrow,
hence grieving, I will simply say to
you: My Jesus is near’). Russell bring
her lovely dark tones to bear on ‘Erbame
dich’ from the St. Matthew Passion and
here she does give us a sense of the
innigkeit, inwardness that this
aria demands. But again, the obbligato
violin is a little quiet and we get
an insufficient sense of the two duetting.
The echo aria from
the Christmas Oratorio somehow lacks
magic, perhaps because it is rhythmically
a little sluggish; something rare on
this disc where the accompaniments are
usually crisp and spot-on. The oboe
playing on "Weichet nur, betrübe"
is stunning and here the instrument
and voice are well balanced, giving
a fine sense of supple dialogue.
For the last three
items on the disc they have created
a nicely judged sequence of duets. The
haunting "Wenn des Kreuzen Bitterkeiten"
from Cantata no. 99 is followed by the
Chorale "Herr Gott, Vater, mein
starker Held" from Cantata no.
37 with its lively cello accompaniment.
The next duet, "Entziehe dich eilends,
mein Herze, de Welt" from cantata
no. 124 finishes in a lively and joyful
fashion.
The diction of the
two singers is fairly clear, but I wished
that they made more of the words. And
here we come to my main gripe. All the
items on this disc are refreshingly
clean and without any awkward moments;
all well and good as far as this goes.
But to make more of these Bach arias
and duets than a pleasant well produced
noise, you need to make much more of
the words and the mood. I felt that
the words never really meant anything
to the singers and that they were content
to create a generalised mood.
They are accompanied
by the Orchestra of the Antipodes playing
on period instruments. This group provide
a lively, flexible and discreet accompaniment
without mining the music for any degree
of depth.
I did wonder whether
some of my strictures might have been
alleviated if the performers had opted
for a slightly different format to the
disc. I am never a great fan of these
highlights discs, even though it does
give us the opportunity to hear these
lovely voices in a variety of Bach’s
arias. But wouldn’t it have helped all
the performers create more dramatic
depth if they had performed at least
a couple of the cantatas complete. Each
aria and duet would then benefit from
something more in the way of context.
This is a charming
and promising, albeit slightly disappointing
disc and I look forward to hearing these
performers in more of this repertoire.
But I feel that, as they develop, this
disc will certainly not be the last
word in their performance of Bach.
Robert Hugill
Sara Macliver (soprano) (a) 