Always accept sweets from strangers...
well, at the Wigmore Hall, anyway, and when the stranger in question
is a charming pianist about to play there in two weeks’ time: it’s not
often that someone introduces themselves to you in this august little
space, since most regulars are part of the furniture and would rather
chat amongst their own coterie, and this little interlude was nicely
illustrative of the informal atmosphere which prevailed at this curious
concert. The programme was an oddity in both senses: the title of ‘Town
and Country’ encouraged you to imagine a Graham Johnson-type evening,
when that was not really on offer, and the actual booklet itself was
a rather amateurish affair without a formal listing of works, these
being given with the notes. No matter: unconventional in style it may
have been, but the evening allowed us to hear three of today’s rising
stars in a varied repertoire which genuinely did have something for
everyone.
I have previously remarked on
Emma Bell’s scrupulous musicality and the haunting beauty of her tone
(in a review of her performance as Rodelinda with William Christie early
in 2002) and to these qualities she has now added a very confident stage
presence and a striking variety of timbre, rendering her voice far more
individual than I had previously thought it. Mozart’s ‘L’amerò,
sarò costante’ is ideal to display the dramatic edge to her tone
as well as her skilful control of line, and she was beautifully accompanied
by Andrew West, whose arrangement of the orchestration was played, and
Jane Peters, who gave as lovely an account of the violin obbligato as
I’ve heard.
The Mozart was presumably the
‘country’ part of the evening’s vocal segment, since the groups which
followed were all urban, if not urbane, in subject matter and style.
Ives’ ‘Memories’ has that appealing directness which singles him out,
and Bell sang these pieces with real panache. Poulenc is believed to
have said that the Jardin du Luxembourg was ‘the only countryside that
I like’ and that he approached anything that concerns Paris ‘with tears
in my eyes and my head full of music,’ and his brittle, café-culture
style is heard to perfection in ‘Voyage à Paris’ and ‘Montparnasse,’
both of which were sung with fluency of line if not absolutely perfect
diction.
Walton’s ‘A Song for the Lord
Mayor’s Table’ is to me the least appealing of his works, since the
juxtapositions of high and low life don’t quite ring true, to my ears,
and only ‘Holy Thursday’ reveals the composer of ‘Anon in Love.’ Perhaps
this is partly due to the greatness of Blake’s poem, but in this piece
the vocal line is so finely constructed as to make it sound effortless
to sing, which it surely cannot be, and Emma Bell gave it every possible
expressive nuance, especially in the closing ‘ Then cherish pity, lest
you drive an angel from your door.’
Andrew West is one of the most
intuitively sympathetic accompanists around: I have heard him play for
Mark Padmore and Christopher Maltman and been impressed by the sensitivity
without undue reticence which characterizes his playing, and on this
occasion he began the recital with two pieces which showed that he has
the necessary individuality and showmanship for a parallel solo career.
There were times during Beethoven’s Op. 28 Piano Sonata when he was
a bit heavy on the pedal, but he gave the Andante the gravity and dignity
it requires, and he collaborated with Jane Peters most eloquently in
Schubert’s Fantasy in C (D. 934). This wonderful work (described in
the notes – presumably by the pianist – as ‘something of an oddity’
although I have never regarded it as such) is the ideal introduction
to Schubert’s chamber music for those who know him only through the
songs, since its most noticeable characteristic is its extended variations
on ‘Sei mir gegrüsst’ and Jane Peters played those solemn, arching
phrases (O du entrissne mir, und meinen kusse…) with real beauty of
tone and sweetness of intonation, despite a little awkwardness in the
approach to a couple of phrases. It’s probably not too much to hope
that one or two of the younger-than-usual audience might be inspired
to explore further in the music of both Schubert and the other composers
featured in this enterprising recital.
Melanie Eskenazi
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