United Kingdom Mendelssohn and Liszt: Lucy Crowe (soprano), Karim Sulayman (tenor), Julius Drake (piano). Wigmore Corridor, London, 14.1.2025. (MB)
Mendelssohn – Abendlied, Op.8 No.9; Erntelied, Op.8 No.4; Keine von der Erde Schönen, WoO 4 No.1; Schafloser Augen Leuchte, WoO 4 No.2; Pilgerspruch, Op.8 No.5; Frühlingslied, Op.8 No.6; Das Waldschloss, WoO 17 No.1; Pagenlied, WoO 17 No.1; Romanze, Op.8 No.10; Hexenlied, Op.8 No.8; Todeslied der Bojaren, WoO 18 No.2; Ich hör ein Vöglein, WoO 18 No.1; Volkslied, Op.63 No.5; Maiglöckchen und die Blümelein, Op.63 No.6
Liszt – Tre sonetti de Petrarca, S 270/2; Freudvoll und Leidvoll, S 280/2; Wieder möcht ich dir begegnen, S 322; Lasst mich ruhen, S 317; Ihr Glocken von Marling, S 328; Verlassen, S 336; Blume und Duft, S 324; Freudvoll und Leidvoll II, S 280b; Angiolin dal biondo crin, S 269/2; Go not, glad day, S 335
An fascinating recital of songs by Mendelssohn and Liszt raised questions regarding what we anticipate of and in a Liederabend. Contrasts are usually factor, but may they impede the event of a guiding thread making the night greater than the sum of its elements? Can the opposite case additionally show an issue? How do concepts switch from paper to efficiency? Although we applaud versatility and journey, complaining when performers and venues give us the identical previous repertoire time and again, how a lot ought to a programme be constructed round performers’ acknowledged strengths?
Usually underestimated on account of his ‘Victorian’ status, Mendelssohn appears perpetually in want of reassessment. An assortment of songs, given in pairs by Lucy Crowe and Karim Sulayman, accompanied by Julius Drake, may need been simply the factor, but was the choice, ranging removed from the crushed monitor, at the least in some methods extra fascinating than satisfying? Crowe at any fee provided a properly contrasted opening pair, although Drake’s piano elements at instances sounded a bit of stiff. Though that partially mirrored the writing and there was profit in laying naked the counterpoint ‘as written’, not least in voice main, extra overt advocacy may additionally have helped. Sulayman’s first pair, Byron settings (in translation), proved extra ardent and imploring, revealing a ravishing lyric tenor, Crowe responding in Pilgerspruch with a well-placed ‘early Romantic’ method rising from earlier Classicism, but in colouring extending past it.
On the whole, the place Mendelssohn grew to become extra ‘Romantic’ – distancing himself from fashions that have been maybe extra operatic (their fruits tended to sound a bit of fussy within the live performance corridor) – the stronger the impression grew to become. Narratives equivalent to Das Waldschloss (Sulayman) and Hexenlied (Crowe) have been circumstances in level. The extremely uncommon Todeslied der Bojaren additionally grabbed the eye, its dramatic starkness arresting and stunning, Sulayman imparting an nearly visionary high quality to it. In an enthralling Ich hör ein Vöglein, he hinted at waters operating deeper, with out attempting to show the track into one thing it isn’t. And the strangeness of the late Tennyson setting, Go not, glad day, was relished.
In Liszt, the report was additionally blended, maybe extra so. Crowe’s Sonetti de Petrarca, earlier than the interval, acquired dedicated performances from her, though Drake may need provided a bit of extra in the best way of Romantic abandon. Whether or not they have been fairly her factor, although, lingered as a query. While a way from strained, there have been passages through which the longer, cantabile line proved elusive. There was a correct sense of a brand new world, new aesthetics, and so forth, but it was solely within the third of the set, ‘I’ vidi in terra angelici costumi’, taken at a helpfully swift tempo, that the longer line actually emerged. Her second-half Angiolin dal biondo crin additionally benefited from being heard as if in a single breath, revealing maybe unsuspected riches in a Liszt rarity (his first track, albeit in its 1850s revision).
Liszt’s songs should not for everybody. Fischer-Dieskau, sport to take them on, lacked among the requisite Italianate high quality (not the one one, however a sine qua non) for the Petrarch sonnets. Sulayman’s Liszt performances, bookended by two of his settings of Freudvoll und Leidvoll, tended largely in the direction of a world of reverie, the ultimate of these Goethe settings providing welcome distinction in its tumult. If I didn’t particularly thoughts, I puzzled whether or not a bit of extra distinction may need helped: a sequence of a number of sluggish songs, tending, because it have been, towards the listless, lacked selection. That mentioned, the desolation of Verlassen, the quiet ecstasy, piano bells and all, of Ihr Glocken von Marling, and the perfume and flowers of Blume und Duft have been all in themselves extremely welcome.
Maybe anticipating potential criticisms, Drake introduced that now, ultimately, we should always hear the 2 singers collectively. In conclusion, Crowe, Sulayman, and Drake gave two vocal duets by Mendelssohn. Sensitively performed and, particularly within the case of the second, Maiglöckchen und die Blümelein, Op.63 No.6, winningly animated, they arguably imparted a way of what may need been, but have been nonetheless a delight. As an encore, we heard the weird, intriguing Suleike und Hatem, a Goethe setting by Fanny Hensel. It had a lot in frequent together with her brother’s songs: finely crafted, clearly in a Classical line, although maybe not fairly totally contained in the Lied custom. Whether or not that means we would revise our conceptions of the latter, based (too strongly?) on Schubert, Schumann, et al., is a query value asking on occasion.
Mark Berry
