Carole
Farley – singer and champion of repertoire.
Interviewed by Anne Ozorio
Starring
as Lulu is an achievement for any singer,
but Carole Farley debuted in it and
has sung it over 80 times. She’s much
loved as an opera singer, particularly
in Strauss, but Lulu is no ordinary
role to characterize. I asked her if
the experience had shaped her approach
to art song. "I love song,"
she said, "I like the combination
of music and drama." Songs, for
her, can be little operas, with scope
for imaginative presentation.
On
June first, she will be singing a recital
at the Wigmore Hall in London. It’s
a very unusual recital, because the
pianists will be no less than the composers
themselves, William Bolcom, and Lowell
Liebermann. Ned Rorem was scheduled
to come too, but could not make it at
the last moment. Fabio Zanon and John
Constable will also be playing. What
a line up of talent! Given the frantic
schedules of musicians these days, I
was impressed at the logistics involved.
Fortunately, Ms Farley has known and
worked with all of them for years, and
they were enthusiastic about the idea.
The Wigmore Hall is, of course, hallowed
ground for composers and imaginative
programming. Moreover, the concert will
be a benefit for ILAMS, the Latin American
and Iberian Music Society, and Mr Holland's
Opus foundation, which enables young
people to learn music.
Bolcom,
his wife Joan Morris and Ms Farley have
been long-term friends, and she has
performed his opera A View from the
Bridge.
When she asked if she could explore
his songs, he gave her a free hand to
choose. For the concert, and for her
soon to be released CD of Bolcom Songs
on Naxos, she chose an eclectic mix,
which showcases the variety of his style.
The cycle "I will breathe a mountain",
first written for Marilyn Horne, based
on texts by eleven American women poets
is important art song. Nonetheless,
Ms Farley shares Bolcom’s wry sense
of humour and couldn’t resist his cheeky
"The Digital Wonder Watch".
The cycle of vignettes, "Songs
to dance" has never been recorded
before. Even Bolcom had never heard
"Costa del Nowhere" performed.
Ned
Rorem has written so much song that
much of it isn’t in regular performance.
When Naxos started their American Composers
series, Ms Farley asked if he would
accompany her. They recorded in a church
in Nantucket, near his home, with beautiful
acoustics. One of the songs they played
was "Nantucket" to the beautiful
poem by William Carlos Williams. It
was a wonderfully atmospheric experience
in such a setting. The recording sold
extremely well, over 18,000 copies in
a short period, but the great pleasure
was to present so many songs that had
never been recorded. Lowell Liebermann
also chose particularly beautiful poems:
he and Ms Farley will be performing
his Walt Whitman settings at the London
concert. She hopes to sing yet more
of his work, perhaps in orchestrated
form because the songs might lend themselves
well to that approach. Is singing with
the composer "special"? Even
with Ms Farley’s experience, the answer
is equivocal. Some composers, like Bolcom,
give the singer complete freedom. She
says she’s fortunate that the composers
she sings with are all good pianist
technically – not all are – and that
helps because they understand technicalities,
and that means a good rapport between
them.
For
Ms Farley song is a living art, with
ever developing promise. Being a naturally
adventurous person, she is drawn to
new repertoire. Trained as a musician
before she became a singer, she has
an ear for interesting but less well
known music. Hence her championship
of living composers, and of the vast,
untapped world of Latin American and
Spanish song. She’s fluent in Spanish
and appreciates the riches of Hispanic
culture. Last year, she released an
acclaimed recording of the songs of
the Cuban composer, Ernesto Lecuona.
Tracking
down Lecuona’s work was a major adventure.
She was intrigued by the scope for presenting
his understated style. She approached
the composer’s publishers, who sat her
down at the table in the boardroom,
and then brought up from the storerooms
hundreds of scores, many of which had
not been looked at in 70 years. Later
she tracked down more scores, some still
in manuscript, some in Miami, some in
New York. She also found a recording
of the composer himself playing.
She
developed her approach by studying the
composer’s piano works and texts, but
understanding the background was crucial.
In La Comparsa, a procession
moves solemnly through a small town
as they still do all over the Hispanic
world. Ms Farley explained, "I
tried to get that effect of coming in
from a long way out of town, getting
to the central plaza, and then continuing
outwards again". Placido Domingo’s
recording of the songs with grand orchestration
is admirable, but she "wanted to
approach Lecuona in a different way,
not as an opera singer, but as if a
lady in Cuba then might have sung them."
So she took out the vibrato in her voice
and used her lowest possible registers,
to create the right atmosphere, keeping
the sound simple and personal. She works
her way into new music by playing it
on the piano – even whole operas – then
learns the text and practices it, until
the music "cooks". And it
continues to develop as she develops
for a singer sings from "within".
Ms
Farley’s future plans are exciting because
of her unique approach. Research is
one of her great gifts. Her ability
to go beyond the mainstream and assess
new works is a very special talent because
it "grows" the repertoire,
enriching all of us who love art song.
Song, for Ms Farley, is not a closed
museum, but a living, vibrant genre.
Exploring its variety can stimulate
its vitality. Among her current projects
are the very diverse works of Franz
Schreker and Carlos Gustavinho. Good
research needs dedication and methodology,
but Ms Farley brings to it the added
value of practical experience as a singer.
What she is doing now to support repertoire
will benefit generations to come. Her
appreciation of Spanish language music
in a world where Hispanic culture is
underrated has social value, too. She
told me about a concert she’d given
of Cuban songs in Palm Beach. The audience
was responding much more intensely than
usual. Then she realised that for them,
the songs weren’t merely songs, or entertainment,
but expressed something of their identity
that they recognised. Song is a basic
and direct form of communication, and
universal. Ms Farley, for me, is an
inspiration because she understands
that this creativity is the soul of
art.
Anne
Ozorio
